Installing FCPX and Final Cut Studio Side by Side

Apple has posted a rather interesting support document about how best to install FCPX along with Final Cut Studio.

It's here, and well worth a read if you plan on installing FCPX while having FCS also installed.

They recommend you re-partition your boot disk but if you don't, make sure to launch Motion 4 first. Sound messy? I thought so too. It's very un-Appley in my opinion.

What does that installer install?

When you have an installer launched, before you actually install whatever it is, you can hit Command + I to "Show Files" which will present you a list of what files will be installed. It won't mention any files that are created when the installed application launches but you'll see what the installer will dump onto your HD.

Installing Final Cut Pro 7 on unqualified machines

I haven't (and cannot) test this so if you try this you try it at your own risk.

If you want to install Final Cut Studio 3 on a machine that doesn't meet the minimum requirements you can try this hack which involves navigating to:

Final Cut Studio Installer > FinalCutStudio.mpkg > Contents > Resources > Requirements Checker.app

and deleting "Requirements Checker.app".

Again, I have no idea if this works but it could be helpful.



You could probably also edit the minsys.plist file in there but I don't know what that would do. The important part of the file is probably this:

<key>AELMinimumVRAM</key>
<dict>
<key>block</key>
<string>128</string>
</dict>


(If you don't get the reference in the image then you're young.)