The transfer over to SL with all apps and external drives talking on the MBP works. Follow the steps laid out by Nick earlier, it's a spot-on method.

WARNING: Before you follow that path, make SURE you make an image of your OS prior to doing this step - see the sticky I posted in this category. Although using CCC is laid out clearly the major issue with making the clone is that the OS it's cloning is "hot" meaning you're booted from it. If something were to go wrong during the clone process such as power or hardware failure then you'd potentially lose both the original and cloned OS to corruption. Making an image first will give you another safety net - just in case.

Results:

1. The Seritek EC34 adapter did not in fact work however Seritek has released SL compatible drivers just today; installed the drivers and the card and external drives work perfectly.

2. BootCamp/Windows partition works flawlessly, again because you're not making any changes to the Windows partition, only the Mac OS.

3. There are some noticeable speed increases in boot-up, finder operations, Safari launches (geez, Safari is *screaming* fast now!) and some applications.

4. FCS2 operates OK however I have not tested high-level functions such as renders or applying FxPlug filters.

5. Production Premium CS4 also works just fine including renders and filters and Photoshop actions. Load times are noticeably faster - but not night-and-day different.

6. External HDD icons have changed and the data loading time is somewhat faster; previews of Quicktime and JPEG files are MUCH faster, almost like I got a speed bump in CPU clock cycles.

More notes:

- DiskWarrior 4.2 is out; customers of version 4.0-4.1.1 can download a FREE updater - and it too works flawlessly as does booting from the new 4.2 disc. HIGHLY RECOMMEND that any Mac user purchase a copy of DW.

- Joel has not yet released SL compatible Onyx (a highly recommended maintenance tool) but it's just around the corner - maybe just days.

In short the plethora of problems that we initially saw and have seen reported all seem to be tied to the UPGRADE path rather than clean install. The install path laid out by Nick is a hybrid "clean install"; by using the "transfer data from other Mac" option in the install process it simulates exactly what would happen if you installed all your apps one-by-one saving hours of time, thus tricking the system into thinking it's all fresh. This SHOULD take care of the majority of reported problems with FCP and Compressor users. As I say, I have not tested that deeply yet.

I also expect that Panasonic, Sony and other ExpressCard 34 manufacturers will be supplying SL-compatible drivers very soon now that the new OS has been in the field.

I still advise everyone to wait till OS X 10.6.2.

Changing to a new OS on your workstations (which are running a stable and powerful OS already) is just not very smart in my opinion.

It takes a while until all applications are updated, patches are released and conflicts are resolved. Most of us are also running the more memory and CPU hungry applications which can result in problems when using i.e. plug-ins.

That's why most companies are like one version of an OS behind consumers. A workstation needs to be reliable and you have to make sure that everything works. Never change a winning system is a phrase I hear a lot around here. I think it is true. I rather spend my time shooting and editing instead of bug hunting for Apple and other software companies.

I've been reading this very interesting review on Snow Leopard. Here's just one page that is dedicated to Quicktime X and how it works.
Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard: the Ars Technica review - Ars Technica (http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2009/08/mac-os-x-10-6.ars/6)

It is interesting to note what he says about the development path of Quicktime and the fact that Final Cut Studio is "one of the largest QuickTime-riddled (and Carbon-addled, to boot) code bases in the industry...Thus far, It remains stuck in 32-bit. To say that Apple is "highly motivated" to extend the capabilities of QuickTime X would be an understatement."

I'm halfway through editing a 50 minute piece on FCP 6.0.6 and have Snow Leopard and the new FCS sitting on my filing cabinet.

I suppose the consensus would be to stick with my stable system rather than experiment with a combined SL/new FCS fresh installation?

Robert Lane's posts in this thread are very well written and convincing and making me really think twice about taking the plunge.

Other advice I've read about doing a complete wipe of a hard drive (ensuring you have a successfully bootable clone first of all), installing SL and then installing the new FCS afresh seems to be the best bet - I think I'll wait until my project's completed and archived before attempting this. It's still so tempting, but I must resist! Stable and secure is better! Isn't it?

In particular, I'm dying to try out Motion 4. Oh well.

In your case I would wait until your project is finished.

I noticed Robert that you said you have a eSATA card that works. Right now I used some cheap Rosewill eSATA ExpressCard. Do you suggest me getting this card you mentioned? The only thing holding me back is the $120 price.

I suppose the consensus would be to stick with my stable system rather than experiment with a combined SL/new FCS fresh installation?

I'll stick my neck out here - I think, when you have finished your current project (and not before) and you have a day or two free, upgrading to FCS '3' will be a good move. But leave off the Snow Leopard for now.

I've been astonished with SoundTrack Pro, which has actually become stable enough to use and had some very annoying bugs taken out. Now Audacity and Twisted Wave can be waved goodbye. FCP's moving markers have been a godsend.

DVD Studio Pro is fine but hasn't been as crash free as the previous one.

But don't go for Snow Leopard yet. Too many odd things go pop, and you'll be wasting time trying to fix or work around things. For example, Episode 5.2.1 is supposedly fine for Snow Leopard, but I've got problems with the preview. I hoped some of the DVD Studio and Compressor ickyness would be cured by SL, but no. It's just not ready, and The QuickTime X player is more hindrance than help as there's no Cmd-J and it doesn't understand non-square pixels (didn't the last QT fix that?).

Luckily this is on a backup machine, so my main machine remains a fully functional unit.

You've bought Snow Leopard, Apple will count your purchase and tell developers about the huge base of Snow Leopard users, developers will update to Snow Leopard specific features, and then it will be safe to move up.

But don't go for Snow Leopard yet. Too many odd things go pop, and you'll be wasting time trying to fix or work around things.

That's what I am trying to say. 10.6.1 will fix many of those bugs but it will take time to fix everything. Expect a stable system around 10.6.2 or 10.6.3. If you think logically, it will take developers a month or two to fix everything.

So I guess I will be installing Snow Leopard around christmas.

Great advice all round there. Thanks guys.

No doubt however there will be those tempted to make the leap to SL and FCS3 halfway through their projects, which could prove a nightmare should bugs be encountered!

No doubt however there will be those tempted to make the leap to SL and FCS3 halfway through their projects, which could prove a nightmare should bugs be encountered!

We each find or on way to add some spice to our lives. For some it's white water rafting, free climbing or bungee jumping. For others, the thrill comes from carrying out a major software upgrade in the middle of a critical project :)

Since odds are good that some folks here has Sonnet cards, this might be handy:

Sonnet - Support - Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard Compatibility Matrix (http://www.sonnettech.com/support/snowleopard/index.html)

I still advise everyone to wait till OS X 10.6.2.


Normally that would be my advice as well, and it's usually solid however the major difference with SL is that it's not a complete revamp of core code, rather a feature tweak and clean-up of code.

The main reason I tested SL on a production machine (thankfully not mission-critical) was my hunch was that using the hybrid upgrade path would allow the new feature set to be used without introducing the huge amount of failures and massive bugs normally associated with upgrading the OS.

So far the only lack of usability I see is some of the EC34 cards haven't had SL compatible drivers posted yet, other than that it remains stable even on high-level apps like FCP, Compressor, Episode Desktop and Premiere Pro. In fact, renders in PP now outpace FCP renders by a large margin - strange. More testing required.

Honestly on a whole, I don't have much trouble with SL, I've enjoyed the extra 10GB+ that it freed up, other than that no huge changes that I noticed.
I've had it installed on my Mac Pro for a full week now (working on it everyday, FCP, DVDSP, Adobe PS, etc). The problems that I have found so far:

-FCP will not recognize either my tape deck or my camera for HDV ingest (via firewire). Yet iMovie does, and so I've ingested some video for a new project via iMovie in AIC, and then imported to FCP, everything seems in order, just a pain to have to use a consumer program (eww) ...although since I have to use a consumer program to Blu-ray (Toast), I've started getting used to Apple's strange disregard for us professionals.

-Printing problems with my Epson. The template and settings that I had set up for disc printing no longer work... I've had to rework those settings to get everything centered.

I don't use cards (obviously I use tape), and just put in a new 1TB before SL, so don't use external HDs much now either, honestly I think it's a pretty clean OS even in it's infancy.

When upgrading to Snow Leopard do you need to back up all your music and photos, contacts, emails etc somewhere else? I guess I would like to know if installing it wipes out everything you have.

If you do an upgrade (which has been giving people problems.) you will not lose anything. However, if you do a clean install you will have to backup everything before you install SL.

When upgrading to Snow Leopard do you need to back up all your music and photos, contacts, emails etc somewhere else? I guess I would like to know if installing it wipes out everything you have.

Have a look at my post earlier in this thread for a method of doing this. You *must* back up anything you want to keep if you do a clean install. The essence of the clean install is that you wipe your hard disk and reformat it, and then install SL on that.

The method I suggested (and used myself) is a balance between the quality of a full clean and reinstall, and the convenience of not having manually to reinstall all apps and preferences.

This is how I did it. The preparation took a while, but the install was pretty quick:

1. Downloaded Carbon Copy Cloner (free backup app)
2. Backed up my entire hard drive to an external disk. Doing this makes the external disk bootable, which is a nice get of jail free card (just in case)
3. Inserted SL DVD and started install. When the Mac restarted at the beginning of the process, selected Utilities menu, Disk Utility, and Erased my hard drive.
4. Continued with SL install. Now I have a choice. SL Installer asks if I want to migrate User Accounts, Documents, Applications etc from a backup. I chose this (the alternative is to choose No, and then after the install completes, go to Applications, Utilities, Migration Assistant, and do it then.

Net result - fresh SL install, with all key apps, docs and user data updated.

This is no clean install imho.

What you are doing is essentially the same as what the Snow Leopard installer does when you do an archive and install. A clean install is one where you install the OS, install the applications and only import your assets and preferences. By 'restoring' with the migration assistant, you have the chance of putting back broken things which undermines the idea of a full clean system install.

I might work for some. I read stories from people with a lot of problems after they updated this way. I would start out with a true clean install.

This is no clean install imho.

What you are doing is essentially the same as what the Snow Leopard installer does when you do an archive and install. A clean install is one where you install the OS, install the applications and only import your assets and preferences. By 'restoring' with the migration assistant, you have the chance of putting back broken things which undermines the idea of a full clean system install.

I might work for some. I read stories from people with a lot of problems after they updated this way. I would start out with a true clean install.

Those are good points, and a true clean install is the safe option. What I did is a compromise between the risks up a simple upgrade install, where SL just installs over the top of whatever's there (and which is where most people are having problems as I see on the Apple boards), and a full clean install, which takes a very long time.

I'm not arguing strongly that you *should* do it the way I did it, just describing an alternative. Which, incidentally, resolved some irritating issues for me (not FCS-related).

It's a side issue, but I don't think the new SL installer helps. In the old days, you were given an explicit choice among the 3 install options (erase and install. archive and install, and simply install), which made you think for a moment about what you needed. SL doesn't make those choices explicit - it defaults to a simple install, and requires you to have read the documentation (how unreasonable!) beforehand to figure out how to archive or erase.

I think that that lays a trap for the unwary.

In the old days, you were given an explicit choice among the 3 install options (erase and install. archive and install, and simply install), which made you think for a moment about what you needed. SL doesn't make those choices explicit - it defaults to a simple install ...

Actually Nick, I think you might be misinterpreting how the new SL install procedure works. In "the old days" as noted there were 3 install options, but with Snow Leopard there are now only 2 options: Archive and Install (the default) and Clean Install (which you have to jump through a few hoops to achieve) ... what has been removed completely is the "simple install" as you describe it. The home grown method you're describing does seem to be a kind of forced manual "archive and install".

Hope thats helpful
Andy

sorry, double post

I'm not sure that we need to wipe out the boot camp partition on the same disk to do a clean install. I would consider erasing the partion contaning OSX a clean install.
I've said this before, but for most people its a great time to buy a new system disk. Keep the current disk as the backup. Considering the price of disks, the speed improvements over the last few years, and the importance of what's on the old system disk, this seems like a "no-brainer".

FYI, for those with dead eSATA cards -

I found some postings on xlr8yourmac.com that indicated that Sonnet drivers work with Snow Leopard for some Silicon Image sil3132 chipsets.

I installed the expresscard34 Sonnet driver and my no-name eSATA expresscard 34 adapter now seems to work fine. I've sent about 40gb back and forth to a drive with no problems.

I'll let you guys google this so you know what you're getting into. The Sonnet drivers don't work with everything.

-FCP will not recognize either my tape deck or my camera for HDV ingest (via firewire). Yet iMovie does, and so I've ingested some video for a new project via iMovie in AIC, and then imported to FCP, everything seems in order, just a pain to have to use a consumer program (eww) ...although since I have to use a consumer program to Blu-ray (Toast), I've started getting used to Apple's strange disregard for us professionals.


Any solution to this besides a FCP upgrade?

Hey, sorry to take so long to reply to this, have been extremely busy the end of this year.

But I realized pretty quickly that since I can import AIC via iMovie why not try it in FCP...well it works. DV import also works. So it seems that only hdv is messed up. I'm using v5 if I hadn't mentioned that...and this is after 2 OSX updates now, still the same.

This allows me to still work basically the same, except that AIC takes up close to x2 the space of HDV (720p). I haven't seen any benefit of using AIC vs HDV in effects, rendering, exporting...not sure if I just don't have the application use for it? I'm not usually doing extremely high effects stuff. But looks like I'll be upgrading to the newest FCP soon, for this reason and for BD exporting
...until then I have 1/2 the harddrive space for all intents and purposes :(

Also, on the Epson printer, I was able to fix that by trashing the "gutenprint" driver and downloading and reinstalling the Epson driver on their site....so that problem was totally solved - like new...or like old rather.