Install MP 1,1 hacked El Capitan OS ssd in 5,1

[Batch68]

My current MP 1,1 has been upgraded to 2,1 and hacked to run El Capitan 10.11.6 on Samsung 255 GB ssd
I am buying 5,1 which has High Sierra installed on 256 GB ssd. Would the 2,1 ssd run on the 5,1?
I could hopefully update to High Sierra and have all my current apps and projects in tact.

 

[flyinmac]

The SSD drive will work in the 5,1. Just plug it in.

Booting your modified El Capitan install probably won’t work unless you undo the mods. Which might be as simple as installing the Combo update.

 

[Batch68]

Thanks for the your quick response flyinmac...

Not aware of the Combo update or how it works
[doublepost=1528459980][/doublepost]How would I go about installing a Combo update?

 

[flyinmac]

The Combo updates are the full updates. They are the ones that can take you from 10.11.0 to 10.11.6 in one update package. Basically they roll all available updates into one package. They will usually overwrite the modifications made to get El Capitan running on the 1,1 Mac Pro.

You can download them directly from Apple’s support pages.

 

[Batch68]

Would I b

The Combo updates are the full updates. They are the ones that can take you from 10.11.0 to 10.11.6 in one update package. Basically they roll all available updates into one package. They will usually overwrite the modifications made to get El Capitan running on the 1,1 Mac Pro.

You can download them directly from Apple’s support pages.

OK I can see the logic there... I'm a fair novice with some of this.

So could I download the update and create a usb to boot up from? With just the modified ssd connected to the 5,1, press alt on start up to select the usb, and run the installer?

 

[flyinmac]

Would I b


OK I can see the logic there... I'm a fair novice with some of this.

So could I download the update and create a usb to boot up from? With just the modified ssd connected to the 5,1, press alt on start up to select the usb, and run the installer?

The easiest way might be to boot it in your 2,1 and install the combo updater on the 2,1.

At that point, it will probably fail to reboot.

Then put it in the 5,1 and boot.

Keep in mind that this is theoretically. I haven’t heard of it being done for this purpose before. But I have heard of people having to reinstall the hacks on their 2,1 after mistakenly running the conbo updater.

As always, I’d do a backup first of any important data. Because it is possible that you’d end up needing to reinstall fresh if something went wrong.

If there isn’t anything on the SSD that’s important anyway, then it might simply be easier to start over fresh with a fresh install on the 5,1.

In that case, you would download the El Capitan (or Sierra, or High Sierra) installer using the 5,1. Then create the bootable USB drive, and then use that to install whichever OS you chose from scratch.

 

[Batch68]

The easiest way might be to boot it in your 2,1 and install the combo updater on the 2,1.

At that point, it will probably fail to reboot.

Then put it in the 5,1 and boot.

Keep in mind that this is theoretically. I haven’t heard of it being done for this purpose before. But I have heard of people having to reinstall the hacks on their 2,1 after mistakenly running the conbo updater.

As always, I’d do a backup first of any important data. Because it is possible that you’d end up needing to reinstall fresh if something went wrong.

If there isn’t anything on the SSD that’s important anyway, then it might simply be easier to start over fresh with a fresh install on the 5,1.

In that case, you would download the El Capitan (or Sierra, or High Sierra) installer using the 5,1. Then create the bootable USB drive, and then use that to install whichever OS you chose from scratch.

Yeah, that's what I was afraid of.

Unfortunately the ssd has crucial stuff on it, some of which might not transfer well onto the new 5,1. I've also been working on a fairly complex project in Logic X for some time now which uses third party Vst instruments and plugins...

I have a CCC clone of the drive but i'm not sure if that could be used to reinstate the modified OS should things go a bit pear. As you say this is untried territory so I'm wary of any unforseen issues that might crop up.

The 5,1 comes with High Sierra installed so yes I might be better off biting the bullet and starting from scratch. Seems pretty daunting prospect at the moment but in the long run...

 

[flyinmac]

Yeah, that's what I was afraid of.

Unfortunately the ssd has crucial stuff on it, some of which might not transfer well onto the new 5,1. I've also been working on a fairly complex project in Logic X for some time now which uses third party Vst instruments and plugins...

I have a CCC clone of the drive but i'm not sure if that could be used to reinstate the modified OS should things go a bit pear. As you say this is untried territory so I'm wary of any unforseen issues that might crop up.

The 5,1 comes with High Sierra installed so yes I might be better off biting the bullet and starting from scratch. Seems pretty daunting prospect at the moment but in the long run...

If you have verified that you can boot from the clone of your hard drive on the 2,1 system, then you should be able to restore from that clone if needed.

Of course, make sure that the clone is current.

One option is to just set up an account on the new machine in High Sierra that matches your account on the old machine. Same user name, same privileges, same password. Then copy over your user folder and applications.

Or even just use the migration tool to automatically move your stuff over for you.

 

[Batch68]

If you have verified that you can boot from the clone of your hard drive on the 2,1 system, then you should be able to restore from that clone if needed.

Of course, make sure that the clone is current.

One option is to just set up an account on the new machine in High Sierra that matches your account on the old machine. Same user name, same privileges, same password. Then copy over your user folder and applications.

Or even just use the migration tool to automatically move your stuff over for you.

OK, got a few options I can try then... really helpful thanks.

Booting from the clone would be first. I'm at work at the moment but I'll try that asa.

The logic behind coding I find a bit alien... is the efi mod part of the OS or is it programmed within the hardware?

 

[flyinmac]

OK, got a few options I can try then... really helpful thanks.

Booting from the clone would be first. I'm at work at the moment but I'll try that asa.

The logic behind coding I find a bit alien... is the efi mod part of the OS or is it programmed within the hardware?

The EFI modification is done in software on the hard drive. It doesn't actually change the computer at all.

 

[Batch68]

The EFI modification is done in software on the hard drive. It doesn't actually change the computer at all.

THanks for that. The clone booted ok so that's a safety net I've got there.

Just waiting for the delivery of Mac Pro 5,1 before looking at the Combo fix you suggested... will let you know how it works out.

 

[flyinmac]

THanks for that. The clone booted ok so that's a safety net I've got there.

Just waiting for the delivery of Mac Pro 5,1 before looking at the Combo fix you suggested... will let you know how it works out.

Hope it works out for you. Experimentation is where the fun is.

 

[hobowankenobi]

I would add that sometimes older Mac OS installs won't boot on a newer machine. The short version is, stuff is missing . Varies widely by hardware, hard to say about specific machines.

Since you booted to the clone, you should be good. But:

If you install the older SSD/OS, and it won't boot even after the Combo update, an easy way to fix that without losing data/configurations would be to boot to Recovery mode, and reinstall the OS. As long as you don't format the drive, Recovery will not move or remove data, just drive new OS components under it. Just need a decent internet connection and let it do its thing.

 

[flyinmac]

I would add that sometimes older Mac OS installs won't boot on a newer machine. The short version is, stuff is missing . Varies widely by hardware, hard to say about specific machines.

Since you booted to the clone, you should be good. But:

If you install the older SSD/OS, and it won't boot even after the Combo update, an easy way to fix that without losing data/configurations would be to boot to Recovery mode, and reinstall the OS. As long as you don't format the drive, Recovery will not move or remove data, just drive new OS components under it. Just need a decent internet connection and let it do its thing.

I haven’t run across that before. Typically Mac OS is a full install. As in any hardware it supports is there.

It isn’t like older versions of Windows that changed how it was installed based on the computer it was installed on.

So if you were to take a factory installation of OS X and move it to a more recent computer, then your assumption would be true.

But, if that installation has been updated with all updates that have come out, then it should boot on any system.

The variable in this particular case, is the factor of a hacked installation being transformed into an unhacked version.

And... whether it’ll work or not, your proposed method may be another option to accomplish the task.

 

[hobowankenobi]

I haven’t run across that before. Typically Mac OS is a full install. As in any hardware it supports is there.

More complicated than that. It has to do with newer hardware, and likely the associated kext files, usually for NICs, GPUs, etc.

Usually a full OS is portable to nearly any similar vintage machine, and always to any machine older than what it was installed on. But occasionally an installed OS, regardless of how it was done, including a full (what used to be called retail) install will not work on specific newer machines. Pretty rare, but it happens.

I have seen it a handful of times over the last 15 years, usually moving older OSes forward (either cloning or imaging) to the latest hardware.

 

[Batch68]

More complicated than that. It has to do with newer hardware, and likely the associated kext files, usually for NICs, GPUs, etc.

Usually a full OS is portable to nearly any similar vintage machine, and always to any machine older than what it was installed on. But occasionally an installed OS, regardless of how it was done, including a full (what used to be called retail) install will not work on specific newer machines. Pretty rare, but it happens.

I have seen it a handful of times over the last 15 years, usually moving older OSes forward (either cloning or imaging) to the latest hardware.

[doublepost=1530115648][/doublepost]My Mac Pro 5,1 finally arrived so I'm back on air... Thanks for your input guys.

Just tried the combo update route but it won't install on El Capitan SSD unfortunately - message saying, 'Update can't be installed on this disk. Requires OS X version 10.11,' which is the version I'm running.

If I moved hacked OS drive into the 5,1, could I go the Recovery route from there?

 

[flyinmac]

[doublepost=1530115648][/doublepost]My Mac Pro 5,1 finally arrived so I'm back on air... Thanks for your input guys.

Just tried the combo update route but it won't install on El Capitan SSD unfortunately - message saying, 'Update can't be installed on this disk. Requires OS X version 10.11,' which is the version I'm running.

If I moved hacked OS drive into the 5,1, could I go the Recovery route from there?

Possibly. Or, you could take the route of putting that drive into the 5,1 and then doing a full El Capitan install over it.

If you are careful not to erase and install, then all your software and files should be there in their expected location.

I’m trusting you still have your backup ready in case something goes wrong.

 

[Batch68]

Backup is good.

So using Command + R on startup to get to macOS Utilities, would I select Get Help Online or Reinstall macOS?

I have Sierra on USB but for some reason this particular computer won't boot into it.

 

[flyinmac]

Backup is good.

So using Command + R on startup to get to macOS Utilities, would I select Get Help Online or Reinstall macOS?

I have Sierra on USB but for some reason this particular computer won't boot into it.

I’ve never done a reinstall from the recovery partition. So I can’t speak from experience there.

But I’d reinstall MacOS as my guess. Just make sure it’s El Capitan. And not an earlier version. If I remember right, the built-in reinstaller downloads whatever originally shipped on that Mac. And installs that.

I think using an actual El Capitan Bootable USB installer would be the most sure way to go.

There’s guides online to create a Bootable USB installer for El Capitan. You just need to have the El Capitan download to build the Bootable drive.

 

[Batch68]

Thanks again for the input..

I created an El Capitan Bootable USB installer but my computer just won't boot into it... I know of Mac users having the same problem on certain computers. Going the reinstall macOS Utilities route, it wants to install High Sierra - which does not work well with Universal Audio software. So I think I'm stuck with using Hibernation Assistant, which I guess is not foolproof. The other option is to finish the current project on my 2,1, which struggles now with last stage editing, and do a clean install on my 5,1 for future projects - I was really hoping to utilise it's processing power to be more creative in finishing off the track.

 

[flyinmac]

One option you could try is a fresh install of El Capitan on the 5,1.

Then use migration assistant to pull your stuff over. Just set up your accounts exactly the same. Username and password and account / short username.

It worked for me pretty well. On one machine.

 

[Batch68]

One option you could try is a fresh install of El Capitan on the 5,1.

Then use migration assistant to pull your stuff over. Just set up your accounts exactly the same. Username and password and account / short username.

It worked for me pretty well. On one machine.

Managed to do fresh El Capitan install as you suggested. I'm in the midst of migrating my stuff over... so far so good.

I'm hoping I can upgrade to Sierra 10.12.6 once everything is running smoothly.

Thanks for all your input, I'm well on my way.

 

[flyinmac]

Managed to do fresh El Capitan install as you suggested. I'm in the midst of migrating my stuff over... so far so good.

I'm hoping I can upgrade to Sierra 10.12.6 once everything is running smoothly.

Thanks for all your input, I'm well on my way.

Sounds like you got a good start.

Once everything is up and running smoothly, and everything is migrated, verify that all your apps and data are working and where you expect them to be.

Then do a full backup of that installation prior to upgrading your OS to 10.12.x

Keep a working backup of your working 1,1 hard drive until you are absolutely confident that you will never need it again.

 

[Batch68]

I've been away visiting family so just getting back to work on my projects.

I must thank you guys for all your suggestions... I've learnt a lot from them.

Although I successfully installed El Capitan on my MP 2,1 it did take me a few attempts, as I came across a two things that had me puzzled for a bit. I thought I'd post them up as they may be useful for anyone coming across similar issues.

1: In Terminal, the target HD did not show after being dragged into position. I eventually realised I could still proceed to the next line just by clicking enter... probably obvious to someone used to working in Terminal.

2: I needed to update Snow Leopard with the latest Combo Install before it was recognised during the installation process.

Once again, much appreciation of your support.

 

[flyinmac]

I've been away visiting family so just getting back to work on my projects.

I must thank you guys for all your suggestions... I've learnt a lot from them.

Although I successfully installed El Capitan on my MP 2,1 it did take me a few attempts, as I came across a two things that had me puzzled for a bit. I thought I'd post them up as they may be useful for anyone coming across similar issues.

1: In Terminal, the target HD did not show after being dragged into position. I eventually realised I could still proceed to the next line just by clicking enter... probably obvious to someone used to working in Terminal.

2: I needed to update Snow Leopard with the latest Combo Install before it was recognised during the installation process.

Once again, much appreciation of your support.

Glad you were able to get it working