Brian

This warms my heart. Get your files and important things onto an external HD. You can get a 1TB EHD for less than $100 these days. As far as your desktop, MAKE SURE YOU CREATE THE RECOVERY MEDIA before Nuking the computer. If it was a store-bought computer, it would have bugged you to do this when you first got it. Most people ignore those prompts and never seem to get around creating the recovery media. With this media, taking it back to "Day 1" is pretty easy to do. Of course, if you want to install something like Windows 10 Pro fresh, then that's a whole other can of worms. The easiest way to Nuke your desktop is with the software that came with it. Look for it under your Manufacture's name in the Start Menu. It might be listed as "Create Recovery Media" or "Make System Boot Disks" or something along those lines. You'll see it and it will prompt you for either a fresh/clean ThumbDrive or a couple of blank DVDs to create the set.

As for the monitor, the Dell UltraSharp U2715h seems to be decent and it's a current model. Oh, one more thing, yes 32GB of RAM is great to have. I'd recommend buying a kit from Crucial.com and installing it yourself. Right now 16GB is less than $100. So even if your Dell comes with 8GB, you can add another 16 yourself to get it to 24GB. If you wanted the full 32GB, you'll need to pull the existing RAM from the computer and install TWO 16GB Kits, which are a quantity of four 8GB RAM sticks. I'd get the PC that you want first, get it home and run Crucial's scanning tool. It will then take you to a page with your options.

Now what PC have I've been recommending? I posted this on another thread: If you are an "Official" or "On-the-Books" business, then I'd get this Dell: http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/xps-8900-desktop/pd?oc=cax8900w7ph1057&model_id=xps-8900-desktop If you are a hobbyist, then the Dell XPS 8900: http://pilot.search.dell.com/dell%20xps%208900 What you are looking for is: i5 or i7 CPU 8GB RAM at a Minimum / 16GB RAM or more Preferred 1TB HD at a Minimum / 2TB or larger Preferred Dedicated Video Card with its own Video Memory. 2GB or 4GB of Video Memory is fine. Windows 7 Pro 64-bit at a Minimum. DO NOT get a Windows 7 "Home" edition, as it caps out at 16GB of RAM. You need the "Pro" version to go higher, i.e. 32GB of RAM. Windows 10 is "fine" at this point, as long as it comes with a new computer. Most of the issues that people have are ones that have upgraded from Windows 7 or 8. With brand new computers, the upgrade path to Windows 10 is easier. As for which one, Windows 10 Home Edition or Windows 10 Pro, I would always recommend going the "Pro" edition. But it's not a deal breaker if the computer comes with Windows 10 Home. Now what's the difference between the "Business" and "Consumer" when it comes with Dell? If you live in the United States, you get state-side support. When you call Dell for help with the consumer models, you get "Bob," "Abraham," or "Judy" in India or Pakistan. With the business edition, you get "Joe from Kansas" or "Sue from Colorado" or where-ever Dell US Support is. I like the 8900 because it doesn't come with a whole lot of crapware / bloatware. It's a straight forward computer. If someone comes across this thread and hates Dell, that's fine. Choose a different brand with the specs that I listed in the above comment box.

SSD is great for an Operating System, it makes boot times almost non-existent. The downside is that most manufactures only install small SSD Drives, think 128GB, which is "Microscopic" by today's standards. In my humble opinion, you need at least 500GB for a SSD Boot Drive. Most folks are so used to clicking "next-next-next-nexk-OK-next-next-finish" when installing software. You really can't do that with SSD, you need to pay attention and do "Custom" installs and tell the software to go to the 2nd Hard Drive. Otherwise, you run the risk of filling up that 128GB or 256GB SSD Drive, which won't do you a damn bit of good if it gets full. Honestly, I really only recommend 1TB SSD drives and they tend to be on the expensive side, about $500 just for the drive.

Show up in DVD players? How are you creating these discs? What software are you using?

This is a common problem that I've personally run into myself. The solution that I've found is to use either Sony or Verbatim Discs and to burn the discs at a slower speed, like 4x or 8x. I've found if I burn them at 52x (Full Speed) causes this issue.

Oh, I just re-read the original comment. In reality, a EHD is your only option at this point. Unless you have decent internet and use a cloud service like Dropbox. Unfortunately, that costs as much as a EHD because you'll more than likely need the 1TB paid version of Dropbox.

A External USB drive is your easiest option. The alternative is to network the two computers and copy the files from one to the other.

When it's all said and done, you could genuinely have a heat issue that is killing the CPU/Motherboard. Your 2012 iMac is a decent configuration. It's just whether or not that you want to spend money on an out of Warranty iMac. It could be thermal paste or a clogged fan. Or just a broken iMac. It happens. In either case, your wallet is going to be involved.

Keep in mind, that build was a "Brian" computer. You probably don't need a $500 motherboard. LOL. Doesn't surprise me with the firmware. Apple has been doing that since 1984. I still think you should just install things fresh. Migrate over time. Seriously.

BTW: Even though a D810 is very tempting...$3000 for a D810 and $3000 for a new computer. $6000 That's why I'm getting a D4s or even D5.

I recommend whatever machine gets the job done. Except using a laptop for photo-editing. I still won't ever recommend doing that. That could be a Mac, or a Windows machine. The thing will Apple these days, they want you to "Go Big or Go Home." Skip the 21.5" iMacs. They are now a complete waste of money. Start with the 27" models. A "Superfast" configuration will run you about $3100 total, give or take a few hundred. It's very possible that the Thermal Paste needs to be replaced. A little goes a LONG way. Too much paste is actually worse than having too little. It's not something you want caked/globbed on the CPU. Now as far as going forward to a new Mac. You don't need Time Machine. Sure, TM makes things easy, but with all the quirks and problems with El Capitan, especially when it comes to Adobe's products, I really recommend installing things fresh. Of course, that is a tedious process. As for a Windows machine, check the threads in the Windows forum. I've answered that question a bunch of times already. Since you have a D810, you are looking for a Mid-Range Gaming unit. 32GB RAM. Large HDs, i7 CPUs. Beefy video card. I actually seriously thought about getting a D810 and configured a self-built PC to handle those D810 files. I stopped at $2700. LOL! Granted, I had more horsepower than a Mac, but price-wise they ended costing about the same. Since the Mac OS doesn't nearly have the bloat that comes with Windows, it's more efficient. So you really don't NEED all the extra hardware, because it's not Windows. When it comes to Apple, you play by their rules or you don't play. Windows tries to be everyone's friend, which may or may not be a good thing. Bottom Line: Pick your poison. They all suck. I will say it will be more of a pain going back to Windows, since a Windows OS won't read Mac HDs.

Yep. It's a good practice to have a unique catalog associated with a photo-session or category. Like a catalog for the "Smith-Jones Wedding" or a "Portraits" Catalog. Honestly, Catalogs are a real pain when it comes to LR. More so when you have lots and lots of photos in them. Oh, as Damien pointed out, LR runs REALLY FAST when it doesn't have any photos in it. LOL!!

Oh, one more thing. Large LR catalogs are slow by nature. So if you have tons and tons of photos in a single LR catalog, that will cause a performance hit. A catalog that has 30,000 photos in it will run a lot slower than one that only has 3000 photos in it.

Hopefully you have a 27" iMac. If you do, I'd purchase extra RAM to take it to at least 16GB, better yet, max it out to 32GB. RAM is fairly inexpensive now. Head to Crucial.com and download their scanning tool and run it. It should take you to a page with your options. You are looking for TWO 16GB kits. (Four 8 GB Sticks total.) When it comes to Macs, when a hard drive is about 75% full, performance takes a hit. So I'd start culling. You do not need 75 photos of your lunch from 4 years ago sitting on your HD. So Cull-Cull-Cull!! The third thing I would do is clear off your Mac Desktop. The more files and folders (aka Crap) you have on your desktop, the slower the thing runs. The reason is that the Mac OS treats ALL that crap as open files. Got 1000 Photos from the Smith-Jones Wedding and 500 photos from the Miller Family Session at the park? That's 1502 "open" files. 1500 photos plus two folders. A Mac Desktop isn't a dumping ground, though it's easy to become one. Most people have no idea of just how bad it is to keep stuff on the desktop. I would also purchase CleanMyMac from MacPaw.com. You usually can find a coupon code to offset some of the cost.

I agree. Use that profile that matches your prints and get that wedding done. Your old profile will be way better than the default Mac one.

You are gonna need to save up more than $500. I'd shoot for $1000-$1500. You could get a used Mac Mini, and upgrade to OSX Server ($20) and create a network server. Then you hook up your hard drives to the Mini and configure OSX Server. That's probably the most expensive option these days. Better yet, purchase a NAS model that has an Ethernet Port. It acts as a stand-alone device, similar to how the Mac Mini is setup. The problem with these models is you can purchase a NAS for about $300, but then you have to purchase high quality hard drives to put in the thing. You'll also have to get your Geek On to configure things, install hard drives, etc. This is where cost also becomes an issue. Third option is to purchase a really large External HD that has built-in RAID 1 capability, then share that drive out. Have 4 separate main folders: Business | Client | Misc. | Personal With RAID 1, one hard drive automatically copies things over to a 2nd drive, in real time. So if one Hard Drive fails, the other has the data. When you replace the failed drive, the RAID Software duplicates the HD. Here is a fairly inexpensive model: WD My Book Pro 12TB. Now if you are thinking, but it says 12TB...why are you saying 6TB? Because to get 12TB, you have two 6TB Drives configured as a RAID 0. RAID 0 is two Hard Drives acting in unison as one big HD. As soon as you switch to RAID 1, one HD is copying to the other, you only have 6TB to play with. The downside to that model is it needs to be hooked up to a powered-on computer and shared on the network. The third option is to purchase two 4TB or larger separate EHDs and copy one HD over to the other on a weekly or daily basis. A program like SuperDuper! for the Mac will clone hard drives for you. As for an external, I like G-Drives, such as this one: 4TB G-Drive with Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 You could go one step further and get the WD My Book RAID 1 unit and a 6TB G-Drive and use SuperDuper! to copy the WD unit to the 6TB G-Drive, then move the 6TB G-Drive to a off-site location. Data Management is expensive if you want to do it well. If all you want to spend is $500 max, then I'd just get the largest EHD that you can afford and only use that drive by sharing it with the Mac Laptop. Then use your current separate externals to copy folders weekly. You will need at least 3 existing HDs for each main folder. (or four if you want.) One existing HD has the "Client" Folder, the second has the "Personal" and the third contains the "Business & Misc." Folders. This way you aren't swapping out HDs and the main big 6TB or 8TB Drive has a backup.

The image that you see on the camera's LCD IS NOT THE RAW FILE. It's the JPEG Preview that is contained within the Raw file. I agree with the others, ditch the card.

You will need something independent, called a NAS. Since you are running Macs, this could be accomplished a few different ways. What does your budget look like?

If you choose 1 TB for the capacity, the price lowers to $978.99 http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1183450-REG I'm no fan of small SSD Drives. People are generally creatures of habit and dump / install / save everything on a C: Drive. They never do a custom install to install software on a D: Drive. Yes, having a SSD Main Drive is great, boot up times are quick, but a 128GB drive won't do you any good if it's full.

Nope, you are doing everything that I would.

No. Some Eizo Displays are $2000+. You asked for "Wow." Yes, that Dell is fine. Buy it.

Personally, I don't recommend laptops for photo editing. Ever. But people keep asking and I'm tired of repeating myself. If you check threads in the Windows Forum in Ask Brian, you should see a few threads.

I sense a Spyder5 Pro is in your future...

Or just use a EHD. WAY faster. Going from Mavericks to El Captian is easy. It's just when you try to go the other way, will you hit a brick wall. Just be sure to un-authorize your iTunes and PS, etc. on your old Mac when you are ready to pull the plug. Don't forget your Actions, Brushes, E-mails, etc.