very basic iMac questions...

dtravis7 said:

I do not hate the new Mac Pro but like many like the older design better for a pro machine.

And yes the new one can also be upgraded. The CPU's, Graphics Cards and the RAM and the PCI-E drives also but that might be proprietary.

Click to expand...

I'm not anti-slab Mac Pros. I'm not pro-Italian trashcan 2013 Mac Pro. I'm just passing on some facts -- those twin graphics cards are awesome.

For the record, the processor in the latest Mac Pro is swappable, as are the drives -- but the graphics cards are custom and so not really swappable (I could be wrong about this now, but at the time they were not).

I am not sure if the 2010 Mac Pro's processor is upgradable or not, but nearly everything else is. I think some people like the Slab Macs *because they are big and heavy and look fearsomely powerful* -- ie they look like expensive pro machines, and in their minds the Italian Trashcan does not, even though it is in fact more powerful. I like to call this "G4 Cube Syndrome," and that's very much a part of why the G4 Cube didn't do better (but those who had one tended to LOVE IT).

I have read a few times that the new Mac Pro stated the Graphics cards could be upgraded. All the other parts I mentioned in my post above. When I first saw the machine I figured nothing could be changed but quickly learned all is upgradeable pretty much.

Aside from running Onyx and the upgrades mentioned above - and assuming your drive is not dying - you're noticing that things are moving slower than they use to and just wanting to get it back up to the speed you're accustomed to - running a system drive at 35% free space after 5 years, your drive is going to have it's data spread out from one end of the drive to the other and not many chunks of good sized contiguous free space. That 35% free space mark is the point where I have historically seen system slow downs that could only be resolved by a defrag. Although, I would run Onyx just prior to a defrag. For the high end work you're doing, a defrag will help more (or maybe I should say, you'll be able to go longer between defrags) if you can manage to keep the free space in the 40%+ range on your system drive. For me, 40% free space always seemed to be the magic point where my system would be back to it's like new self after a defrag. I highly recommend iDefrag.

"For me, 40% free space always seemed to be the magic point where my system would be back to it's like new self after a defrag. I highly recommend iDefrag."

At least they provide a demo but one can also use CCC as was suggested on another forum some time ago and still works:

Use CCC to:
- clone the boot volume
- boot from the new clone
- use Disk Utility to wipe the original boot drive volume and don't bypass the zero-out/one pass security wipe
- use CCC to clone the clone back to the original volume.
- set the new recreated volume as the boot Startup Drive.

PS: If the boot HDD is partitioned, get the boot volume onto the outer/upper partition as shown by Disk Utility.

This method has worked in all cases I've tried it. But as mentioned, with a decent amount of free space available as well.

PPS: CCC also has a full working free trial available.