New to Mac: Copying OS to Bigger Drive?

[gvdv]

Hi,
Up to a couple of months ago I was a PC person, but I recently purchased a Mac Pro for audio recording and video editing, and have a few questions about specific preparations that I want to make for these purposes.

I bought the computer with a 250GB hard drive, and have read that apps/programs need to be run from the same drive that has the OS on it.

Given that several of the programs that I'll be using will take up more space in total than the size of my current drive, and given that I will need to work with several hard drives to edit video, I have bought a 1TB Seagate with 32 MB cache, and plan to add at least one more drive of the same type. I also have ordered a 2x2 GB RAM upgrade, which will give me a total of 5 GB RAM.

My Questions are These:
1. Is it, in fact, the case that apps have to be run from the same drive on which the OS resides?

2. If the above is true, then how do I copy or transfer the OS on to my new 1TB drive? I have read about a couple of ways of doing this - one being to boot from the OS DVD with the option key or c key pressed, and then follow the prompts; another method I read about was to use a cloning program to make a copy of the OS on to another drive. What is the best (safest) way to transfer the OS, and if I copied/cloned it, how would I set the computer to recognize the recipient drive as the 'right', new OS drive? Is it simply a case of changing a setting to look at the 1TB drive first, or to put that drive in a specific bay that the computer will 'go to' first? Should I also delete the OS from the other drive?

3. If I wanted to add Bootcamp (which I know has to be installed on the OS drive), can I do that at a later date or do I need to do it earlier, rather than later? Can having Bootcamp installed interfere in any way with the Mac OS (I don't have Leopard yet, and thing I'll wait a while to upgrade).

4. Is there any other advice that anyone else here would have about what I'm trying to do? Are there any issues with having the OS on a 1TB drive - overheating and thereby 'freezing' (ha) the OS? Or anything like that?

I would very much appreciate people's help with this.

Thankyou,

GVDV

 

[mad jew]

Okay, most apps will happily run from a different drive. There are a few exceptions though, so maybe list the apps you plan on moving. For automatic software update purposes, keep all Apple apps in the default Applications folder on your boot drive.

Boot Camp can be added at a later stage but remember that involves repartitioning your active drive. Before installing, it's a good idea to use Disk Utility to verify and possibly repair the drive. Do the same after installing it.

If you still want to move your OS, then your best bet would be to install a clean version from the DVD and then use Migration Assistant to get your data and settings across.

I hope that clears it all up for you. I'm sorry if I've missed something but it's really really hot here at the moment, and my brain is melting. Damn.

 

[Eraserhead]

I think he wants to reinstall the OS on a new drive .

What you need to do is to Backup your home directory and applications directory, reinstall the OS with the CD and copy the relevant files back. Or you can use Superduper, or you can use Time Machine.

 

[gnasher729]

I bought the computer with a 250GB hard drive, and have read that apps/programs need to be run from the same drive that has the OS on it.

Given that several of the programs that I'll be using will take up more space in total than the size of my current drive, ...

First, just being curious: What kind of programs do you have that would take up more space than a 250 GB hard drive? That would be more than 50 DVDs packed full with software.

Second: Boot from the install DVD. Start "Disk Utility" (available in the menu bar). Format the new hard drive as HFS+. Then choose "Restore". Right-click on the destination partition, choose "Set as destination". Right-click on the source partition, choose "Set as source". Then click on "Restore". Everything will be copied.

 

[dkoralek]

Okay, most apps will happily run from a different drive. There are a few exceptions though, so maybe list the apps you plan on moving. For automatic software update purposes, keep all Apple apps in the default Applications folder on your boot drive.

Boot Camp can be added at a later stage but remember that involves repartitioning your active drive. Before installing, it's a good idea to use Disk Utility to verify and possibly repair the drive. Do the same after installing it.

If you still want to move your OS, then your best bet would be to install a clean version from the DVD and then use Migration Assistant to get your data and settings across.

I hope that clears it all up for you. I'm sorry if I've missed something but it's really really hot here at the moment, and my brain is melting. Damn.

Boot camp can be run off another (at least internal) hard disk on a Mac Pro. I have a single drive that is a single windows formatted partition and use it to boot in boot camp and also via parallels. So, you don't necessarily need to repartition an active drive.

cheers.

 

[Eraserhead]

First, just being curious: What kind of programs do you have that would take up more space than a 250 GB hard drive? That would be more than 50 DVDs packed full with software.

Final Cut is 60GB or something...

 

[jrlcopy]

Final Cut is 60GB or something...

FCP Studio 2 is like under 8gb, the bonus features and sample files are what makes up the rest of stupid cut .

 

[gvdv]

Hi Everybody,
Many, many thanks for all of the replies, suggestions and questions.

I'm going to answer the questions you asked so that I can clarify what I want to do; you may then have other/different suggestions.

Applications
I plan to buy Final Cut Studio 2 (60GB full install); Logic Studio (not sure what the full install is - somehting like 7.22GB?); various graphics editing/creation programs (CorelDraw; Photoshop; Illustrator).

I must admit that somebody had told me that the full install for FCS 2 was 250GB, even though that sounded impossible, but I believed it and have only now just looked at the Apple home page to discover it's 4GB for the minimum, and an 'extra' 55Gb for all of the templates and other files).

Given that I'll be updating programs in the future, it seems that the 250GB hard drive I bought with the Mac Pro will rapidly become quite small - hence my questions about transferring the OS to another, bigger, 1TB drive

Mad Jew, to answer your question, if the above situation eventually requires me transferring/installing programs on another drive, I would be thinking of moving FCS 2 and/or Logic Studio; given that those are Apple programs (and as such, as you said, they might have problems with automatic software updates if they are not on the boot drive), what would you suggest doing?

Other Hard Drives/RAM
I have just taken delivery of the 2x2GB RAM upgrade (to add to the 1GB already in the Mac Pro), and have so far purchased a 1TB Seagate Barracuda hard drive. I also plan to add another one or two 1TB hard drive(s).

Having read the above, I have some new questions:
1. Should I keep my OS on the 250GB drive?
2. Should I install some or all of the apps described above on this drive?
3. Is there any particular 'order' in terms of slots or hard drive bays that I should bear in mind when installing the extra 2x2GB RAM and the 1TB hard drive?

Thanks once again for all of your help,
GVDV

 

[eviltobz]

...Logic Studio (not sure what the full install is - somehting like 7.22GB?)...

the full logic studio with all the jam pack content etc is around 40 gig. it ships on 8 dvds iirc.

 

[gvdv]

the full logic studio with all the jam pack content etc is around 40 gig. it ships on 8 dvds iirc.

Oh, that's right; now you mention it, I remember having read this recently in a review. It sounds like it's similar to the Final Cut Studio situation in that the basic install is fairly small but the other parts of the applications, which often give them their usefulness, take up a lot of space relative to the basic installs.

So, this gives my question about whether or not to install FCS and/or Logic Studio on my 250GB hard drive more relevance.

Many thanks for your reply,
GVDV

 

[Consultant]

1. Many apps can run on another drive / location ok, but you should try to have all your apps in the apps folder. Wow, FCS 2 full install is 60gigs....

2. Use OS X disk, Utility Menu on top, open Disk Utilities, restore your current HD to the new drive.

Once boot in, I would change the names of one of the drives, and set the Start up drive to the new drive. No specific order is required. You can hold on to OPTION key while you boot up to select a bootable drive (include CD / dvd and external drives), if you want to boot one time into something you don't normally boot from.

3. Bootcamp can actually run on a different drive.

4. There shouldn't be any problems with 1TB drives.

 

[gvdv]

1. Many apps can run on another drive / location ok, but you should try to have all your apps in the apps folder. Wow, FCS 2 full install is 60gigs....

2. Use OS X disk, Utility Menu on top, open Disk Utilities, restore your current HD to the new drive.

Once boot in, I would change the names of one of the drives, and set the Start up drive to the new drive. No specific order is required. You can hold on to OPTION key while you boot up to select a bootable drive (include CD / dvd and external drives), if you want to boot one time into something you don't normally boot from.

3. Bootcamp can actually run on a different drive.

4. There shouldn't be any problems with 1TB drives.

Consultant,
Many thanks for this.

GVDV

 

[ZachPruckowski]

You also mentioned the RAM - make sure that you have the front ranks on both risers filled. That will greatly boost performance, since it's quad-channel memory architecture.

On Hard Drives, you can just directly copy your 250B HDD over to the 1TB one. Use the Install CD's copy of Disk Utility.

 

[gvdv]

You also mentioned the RAM - make sure that you have the front ranks on both risers filled. That will greatly boost performance, since it's quad-channel memory architecture.

On Hard Drives, you can just directly copy your 250B HDD over to the 1TB one. Use the Install CD's copy of Disk Utility.

Hi ZachPruckowski,
Many thanks for this.

Can you just clarify what you mean by "front" here? Do you mean the part of the riser that is nearest to to the access panel (i.e. the removable side of the Mac)?

Thanks,
GVDV

 

[gvdv]

This review
http://www.diglloyd.com/bike/free/MacPro/memory.html#Installation
states that
"Memory performance—4 vs 2 and single vs dual rank
I had 8 FB-DIMMS available: four (4) Apple 512MB modules (single-rank), and four (4) SATech 2GB modules (dual rank), for a total of 10GB. I tested the speed of various combinations. “Speed” here means the speed of large-block memory copying.

The results show that using 4 modules instead of 2 offers at least a 70% increase in memory bandwidth. Dual-rank modules offer yet more performance than single-rank modules, with 4 dual rank modules offering twice the bandwidth of 2 single-rank modules. No performance difference was seen when the modules were swapped between slots 1 and 2 to/from slots 3 and 4 (testing was done across the memory range)."

There's also a table at the link specifying the results leading to the author's conclusions, stated above.

GVDV

 

[gazfocus]

... Logic Studio (not sure what the full install is - somehting like 7.22GB?); various graphics editing/creation programs (CorelDraw; Photoshop; Illustrator).

Just thought you'd like to know, the full install of Logic Studio is 85GB

Apple do state that the large content packages (which are 36GB) can be installed on an seperate hard drive.

I just bought it (arriving today hopefully) for my macbook pro but will only be able to install the main applications plus some of the samples, etc.

 

[gvdv]

Just thought you'd like to know, the full install of Logic Studio is 85GB

Apple do state that the large content packages (which are 36GB) can be installed on an seperate hard drive.

I just bought it (arriving today hopefully) for my macbook pro but will only be able to install the main applications plus some of the samples, etc.

Hi Gazfocus,
Thanks for this. For some reason, I thought that the 7.22 GB stat I quoted was the amount that installed on the OS drive, and then there was something like another 42 GB's of other files that could be installed elsewhere. But it looks even bigger than that from what you've said.

I did see on another site a message in which the poster said that the install was in the 46GB range; they also said that some content could be installed on other drives, but there was a limit as to how much of that was possible. Also, it seems that even content that can be stored on drives other than the OS drive has to be installed on the OS drive initially and then moved. That's what people have said.

Thanks, once again, for enlightening me.
GVDV