Is it possible to upgrade a Mac Pro (2007) with Lion (10.7) to Yosemite (10.10)?

I have a MacPro (mid-2007) with the configuration listed below:

  • Processor: 2x 2.66Ghz Dual Core Intel Xeon
  • Memory: 20Gb 667Mhz - DDR2 FB-DIMM
  • OSx: Lion 10.7.5
  • NVIDIA Chip Model 1024Mb
  • SSD: 512Gb
  • HD2: 1Tb
  • HD3: 1Tb
  • HD4: 500Gb

I've been searching how to upgrade to Yosemite directly, but I found he is not compatible anymore (only MacPro 2008 / later). There's a way to hack/workaround this problem? And why I can't upgrade my Lion to Yosemite if the hardware specs are totally compatible?


Solution 1:

OK, this might be somewhat opinion-based, however...

Possible, yes.
Worth it, no.

Possible
There are tools & online guides far too long to repro or précis here on how to achieve it. It requires hacking the firmware & needs re-hacking at each update -
These guides from MacRumors are as good as they get, one for Yosemite & another for El Capitan.

Worth it?
The 1,1 & 2,1 are really end-of-life & now very slow compared to a 'modern' machine.
I really guess it depends on your budget, but you can get an absolute top-flight 5,1 [or the smart money goes on a 4,1 with the Apple upgrade kit] with two 6-core hyperthreading Xeons @3.46GHz & 64GB RAM for under £1800 in the UK. Your existing drives will just carry over [though idk about the OS itself, mine did from a 3,1 to 5,1].
The Geekbench scores on those are about 32k, that's slightly under the current top model 'trash-can' at 33k. I just checked the score for the 2.66 Mac Pro, 6k.

I took the latter path, even though I was only moving up from a 3,1 - which is now in the hands of my partner & very happily running El Capitan. I wanted a speed boost & the upgraded 4,1 was right on the money for me.