(This is an English article on a German, non-multilingual website)
My conclusions with the „Open Core Legacy Patcher“ for macOS
Run macOS14 Sonoma, macOS15 Sequoia and later Operating Systems on unsupported Macs
Various websites and YouTube tutorials explain how to install a current operating system on a Mac, even though the Mac is no longer officially supported by Apple. Therefore, this article is not another tutorial, but rather a decision-making aid based on an experience report. Because what comes with the decision to patch a Mac with the „Open Core Legacy Patcher“ is not told in any of these tutorials.
I used an OCLP Mac in a productive environment as a media designer for 14 months – with all its ups and downs 😉
Without question – when Apple once again releases one of its short-cycled system updates, it’s often all too obvious that certain Macs are being artificially sidelined with pure intention. After all, how well and smoothly a current macOS can still run on an OCLP Mac is the best proof of this.
But there’s also the other side! I can assure you, if you want to use the OCLP Mac in a productive environment and depend on it, then you need nerves of steel, very, very much time, and must acquire a lot of technical knowledge.
Many tutorials, but nobody really tests
With the OCLP (Open Core Legacy Patcher), it’s possible to install a current operating system on an Apple Mac computer, even though it is no longer officially supported by Apple and therefore an installation is no longer possible.
On the web, there are countless tutorials on how to perform an OCLP patch on your no-longer-supported Mac, including various YouTube videos from real tech experts, but also forums, communities, Discord channels with thousands of questioners who can’t get further with OCLP or have managed it but are now confronted with various problems.
What I notice about OCLP: the creators of the tutorials and YouTube videos always only deal with getting an OCLP macOS running on a computer. Once they’ve achieved that, they deal with the next macOS version and different Macs, whether and how the OCLP system runs there. The problem is: nobody goes into depth. Nobody really works intensively with a patched system. A bit of web surfing, writing a text, opening an Apple standard app – that’s it, test passed.
Over 1 Year Power Test
A patched system in productive use by a media designer for 14 months
I really worked intensively on a patched system. For 14 months, a MacPro5,1 with an OCLP macOS 14 Sonoma was my main workstation with many hours of daily work in layout, image editing, media management, video editing, programming, text creation – everything a media designer does.
Of course, a lot depends on how old your Mac is and what kind of Mac you have. The older it is, the more problems will arise. My test devices were 2 MacPro5,1 servers from 2010, which had an almost biblical age of 14 years for computers at the time this article was published.
But since the MacPro5,1 is in my opinion the best stationary Mac ever built, because you can upgrade it again and again and replace defective parts, my MacPro5,1 still had a Geekbench 6 score of 4600 even after 14 years. Okay, a Mac Mini M4 Pro has almost five times that – programs start much faster there and converting a video is a different world anyway. But these are things that typically make up the smallest part of a workday. For layout and a bit of image editing, a MacPro5,1 feels almost as good as a Mac Mini M4.
The Macs
a) Work computer: MacPro5,1 · 12 Core with 64 GB · 17 TB hard drive storage, system installation on an NVMe via PCI-Express with 1,450 MB/s transfer rate
b) Test computer: MacPro5,1 · 12 Core with 24 GB · 6 TB hard drive storage, including 2 TB NVMe via SATA with 350 MB/s transfer rate
Computer a) thus achieved a Geekbench 6 of 4,550 points. For comparison: my current Mac Mini M4 Pro achieves a Geekbench 6 of 23,050 points. That’s roughly five times the performance. You notice this when starting programs or encoding videos or maybe when working with very large images. But in everyday workflow, it’s hardly noticeable anymore. So the MacPro was wonderful to work with and that probably could have continued for at least 5 more years.
Extensive technical knowledge required
It’s not enough to patch a Mac and then the computer runs. Technical knowledge is required in daily use and especially when problems arise.
- You can’t create a system backup from a patched Mac. The root patches must be removed first
- If you accidentally install a patched system, the system is defective and a new installation is required
- If the Mac suddenly stops working for any reason, you should boot the Mac without root patches. However, it’s not easily possible to remove the root patches if the system doesn’t boot. The only solution then is the use of complex terminal commands in recovery mode
- Each Mac behaves differently during OCLP installation and waits with its own unique problems after a successful installation
What you must expect
A small insight into the problems I was confronted with over the 14 months.
- On one Mac, the installation of the „Open Core Legacy Patcher“ works, on the next nothing works – and you have no idea why. My two MacPros were really 99.9% identical. Nevertheless, an OCLP system could not be installed on the main computer. I always had to use the test computer, remove the hard drive there, and then install it in the main computer.
- About once a month, the Mac would freeze and need to be restarted
- Several times in the 14 months, it happened that the Mac suddenly booted without root patches after a restart. A new rooting then led to the Mac crashing. A lot of back and forth and restarting was then required until the computer finally booted normally again.
- NVIDIA GPUs led to severe graphics errors in video processing programs on both Macs
- AMD GPUs didn’t have these problems, however, 3 AMD graphics cards broke in the Mac during this time, which is why I almost suspect a causality with OCLP, even though this cannot be verified
- Programs that run smoothly on a „normal“ macOS can behave noticeably on a patched system and freeze during use, show display errors, or not start at all
- Installations that are very intertwined with the system can bring down the entire system
- Several times I had to reinstall the system and perform a migration from a backup
- For many people, backups are still done on classical hard drives and not on fast SSD/NVMe due to data size. A system reinstallation with subsequent migration of the user directory and programs then easily takes 2-4 hours. Of course, you don’t always have to sit next to it, but you have to check on the Mac from time to time
- The installation of the OCLP system rarely runs as easily and smoothly as a new system on a new Mac. During the many restarts that a system installation performs, the Mac can hang. Sometimes many, many restarts are required until the Mac catches itself again.
Conclusion / Recommendation
Can I advise you to equip your outdated Mac with an „Open Core Legacy Patcher System“ to continue using it? The short answer is: YES – if only to resist Apple’s desire to artificially sideline good Macs. The longer answer is: You can do it, but…
Here’s a checklist to determine if OCLP is right for you:
OCLP Mac for private individuals
- you don’t rely on your Mac professionally
- you have basic technical and system knowledge and interest in expanding this knowledge
- you enjoy modifying your macOS like a hacker and have a desire to keep your old Mac alive
OCLP Mac in a professional environment
- you should have a second Mac (e.g., a MacBook), with which you can continue your current work if necessary when the OCLP Mac suddenly crashes and needs to be reconfigured
- you have basic technical and system knowledge and interest in expanding this knowledge
- you enjoy modifying your macOS like a hacker and have a desire to keep your old Mac alive (or you’re simply very short on cash)
- you are extremely careful with backups, because
- you should always have a backup from the time before the OCLP switch ready in case you fail
- always have a backup of all your professional data in case the OCLP Mac suddenly stops working
- always have a system backup in case the OCLP system causes problems
Tips before you start
- definitely create a backup of the complete Mac in its state before OCLP, so that you can always return to the origin should the patching either not succeed or cause too many problems in the long term
- continuously create backups of your private and professional data
- regularly create a backup of the system
- remember that the root patches must be removed for this
- remember that macOS 14 (Sonoma), macOS 15 (Sequoia) and subsequent versions can no longer be cloned/duplicated as was the case with earlier system versions. You can only back up your user directory and the programs and program settings, not the system itself
- the two backups (private/professional & system) therefore work best when each is on a separate volume
