Mac Pro Quad Core Intel Xeon hard drive boot up issue.

[El_Kabong]

Greetings

I hope someone can help.

I have a Mac Pro Intel Xeon 2006 model that I can upgrade no further than OS Lion.
So I got a 2012 Mac Pro with Processor 3 2GHz Quad Core Intel Xeon with operating system High Sierra.
I can't boot from my 2006 model hard drive or from a cloned copy on a portable hard drive when I install it in the 2012 model.

I want to be able to use my 2006 hard drives. Can I clone the hard drive to the 2012 model?

Thanks

 

[hobowankenobi]

The issue could be that the OS from 2006 is too old to boot the 2012. Every Mac has a minimum OS that it will boot, based on hardware and drivers. You can "use" the older hard drive, but not as a boot device....with the current OS.

According to EveryMac, a 2012 Mac Pro will boot to OSes from 10.7.4, to 10.14. (depending on the model, it could be different).

So, you can install 10.7.4 or later on a different HD, and then use Migration Assistant to copy everything from the old HD to the new one with a fresh OS.

How to pick an OS? Unless you have some specific software that has limitations, I would go up to at least 10.11 for better secuirty and web compatibility. But you could also go 10.8 or 10.9 first. Really depends on what you need, and what you want to run.

One other issue is that the installer run on the old Mac did not install everything needed on the new one...as Lion is 10.7. If this is the case, running the 10.7 Combo updater may resolve the issue.