Gene Massey sent me this link to Creative Cow:
“Thanks to cormiertyshawn895 on GitHub, Final Cut Pro 7 now works in Mojave and High Sierra using the application Retroactive:
https://github.com/cormiertyshawn895/Retroactive/releases
I’ve been using FCP 7 on Mojave for awhile now and I haven’t had any problems. The great thing about it is that now you can switch back and forth between using FCP 7 and FCP X 10.4.8 without having to reboot your Mac to a different partition with a different macOS every time. You can only run one Final Cut Pro version at the same time though.
None of the other Final Cut Studio applications (Soundtrack Pro, Motion 4, DVD Studio Pro, Color, etc.) are compatible with Mojave and High Sierra using Retroactive yet…”
According to their website, Retroactive 2.0 “lets you run Aperture, iPhoto, and iTunes on macOS Ventura, macOS Monterey, macOS Big Sur, and macOS Catalina. Xcode 11.7 on macOS Mojave. Final Cut Pro 7, Logic Pro 9, and iWork ’09 on macOS Mojave or macOS High Sierra.”
I haven’t tested this, but, for those that need access to older software, please check this out.
12 Responses to Apple Final Cut Pro 7 Now Works in Mojave and High Sierra
MUCH appreciate this, Larry. Besides the M2 Studio (and pair of monitors) I have on my desk….I also happen to have a pair of iMacs 2019 and 2011. I have them paired through Target Display Thunderbolt, but I had to downgrade the 2019 to Mojave to get it to work, again (it used to be compatible with later OS’s…?!) but the residual problem has been I could only load FCPX 10.4.6…which confounds moving libraries between. the 2 pairings
I will try this Retroactive 2.0 link. Looks great.Thanks
David:
Let me know how Retroactive works out.
You can move UP from FCP 10.4.x but not back.
Larry
Thanks Larry….my bad. I thought it was FCP 10.7, which would be rather miraculous! So, give up on that idea….just keep the old pair as a sidebar periphery.
An other aside… The M2 has me exploring external NVMe SSD PCIe cards… with the notion of loading FCP and supporting apps to something Gen 4 that will interface Thunderbolt 4 to the Mac M2 Studio Max. The idea being to create headroom for the 512Gb SDD aboard it.
(Honestly, I returned the 512 and reordered it with 1Tb internal SSD, 32 Gb RAM, 38Core GPU…. but still curious if I can create efficient NVMe headroom, so?)
Maybe you could address the idea in the Newsletter? Much appreciated.
David 2
David:
You can install any application on an external SSD drive (or an HDD drive for that matter, but it will be very slow). However, the Application folder is a known location that developers count on being where it is. Also, an external Thunderbolt drive will be about 50% the speed of the internal Mac drive. (Apple has technology that’s faster than Thunderbolt.)
So, while you can, I generally don’t advise it.
On my Mac Studio, I have a LOT Of applications, yet they take only 90 GB of space. My entire os & app installation is 154 GB. The key is to only keep the apps and files you need. there are many tutorials that show how to pare down unneeded system files.
Larry
Larry,
I’ve located Mojave OS in the App Store. After I download it, will it ask me where I want to assign it and will I be able to install it on my external drive? I do NOT want to install it on my main HD which is running Sonoma 14.3.1. After that, I will install Retroactive. FCP 7 is already on that drive in the Application folder.
Philip
Philip:
It SHOULD ask where to install the system. At the very least it should allow you to cancel before it is too late.
Larry
Larry,
I downloaded the Mojave installer but, no matter what external drive I tried to assign it to, I got the message that it was “too old to open on this Mac OS”. Is there any way to get around this? My goal is to be able to run FCP 7.
Philip
Philip:
I don’t have a suggestion – time to contact Apple Support. Or, maybe the folks at RetroActive which enabled running older OS’s on new systems.
Larry
Was totally amiss about how to get my fcp up and running with high sierra after moving it from Elcapitan. Was told by everyone- including apple support that it could not happen. Just purchased the M3 iMac but wanted to keep a machine with fcp. Thought i would take a stab at Retroactive….and it worked without issue!! Thanks so much.
Kim;
Yay! Happy to help.
Larry
Greetings- and thanks for your work in allowing me to open fcp again on this old imac. Is there a reason why it might crash when opening my log and capture window to play tape from a sony dsr 20 dv player/recorder?
Thanks for your reply
Kim:
If you are running FCP 7 on an operating system it wasn’t designed for, I can think of any number of reasons why it might crash.
Remember, FCP 7 hasn’t been updated in over ten years, and was designed for macOS 10.6 / 10.7. So, this new utility is pushing the envelope.
That being said, try trashing your FCP 7 preferences and see if that solves the problem.
Larry