It’s true; up until recently my main computer was a Mac Pro circa 2013, affectionally known as the “Trash Can”

Of course, never say that to an Apple employee!

To be fair it was serving me well.

1TB SSD, 64 GB RAM. Unfortunately, the OS could not upgrade past 12.6.

I was missing out on so many upgrades and super new innovations.

As a photographer, videographer, techie, and yes, reviewer, it became a major impediment.

After a lot of research, I knew that a Mac Pro “cheese grater” was way outta my price range, the best option revealed itself.

Immediately my OS went to 26.3.1!!

As a sealed unit, there was not a way to do upgrades down the road in a physical sense, so I did order up the upgrades I needed.

The main deal was the updated apps and the speed with the new M$ chip. I know M5 is probably right around the corner, but I had to make a move.

There was a fly in the ointment: the Mac Pro used Thunderbolt 2 and now the Mac Studio used USB-C. And not just regular USB -C but USB-C 5!

Previously, I used an OWC dock to give me many more ports and capability

Still needed extra ports. I use 3 RAIDs, and multiple external drives.

New cable purchases were then needed, but they didn’t take care of the problem. Because of the newer ports, it wasn’t just a matter of the ends on the cables, I needed a newer dock.

Enter the OWC Thunderbolt 5 Dock!

An honest lifesaver!

All of the sudden, all of my RAIDs were being read, the 2 Dell monitors I use were being seen.

The RAIDS I use are an OWC 4 Slot, and 2 Wiebetech (no longer made) 2 slot, 4 other drives.

Not only did I get additional ports with the latest speeds, it also has and SD and Micro SD card readers built in.

Yep, the micro-SD is perfect for my DJI gear, like the Osmo Pocket 3, Action cams, and drones!

Plus, I did add on a powered hub, from my last set-up, but I think that is due for an upgrade shortly as well.

With a footprint just a little over a third of the footprint of the Mac Studio, it sits happily on top.

BTW, I also connect the super fast OWC CFExpress B card reader, coupled with the OWC media card

The next step was backing up everything to the cloud and my new backup plan is with BackBlaze. Sure, it took a loooong time to get the 27TB backed up from the old MacPro.

Once the speedy Mac Studio M4 was set-up, the transfer of license and additional files was fast.

The support from the folks at BackBlaze was exceptional. Personable, specific, and solved all issues with fast replies. Yes, even spoke to a tech on the phone in the beginning.

C’mon-  this was a major upgrade with all that material, and I wanted to make sure all was backed-up.

It is set to continuously send to the cloud as new files are added, which is daily.

The full upgrade was relatively painless.

Apple OS Tahoe 26.3.1 new features are very helpful.

The new features in the apps, especially in Adobe, were major upgrades.

Sure, I had to get new passwords for some programs, especially Microsoft Office.

Now that the full upgrade is complete, I wonder why it took me so long!

Oh, money. That’s right!

The Mac Pro, which is still working great will be for sale with all the Thunderbolt 2 cables.

And recent news from Apple said they are not introducing a new Mac Pro after the 2023 model!

Onwards!