Booting an M1 Mac from an External Drive
I know there is a thread already about this issue, but I just saw this on the Tidbits site:
https://tidbits.com/2021/05/27/an-m1-mac-cant-boot-from-an-external-drive-if-its-internal-drive-is-dead/
Earlier today, I purchased an M1 Mac Mini from Costco (got it for a real good price). What I was planning on doing to get it set up the way I want is:
1. Attach my Samsung T7 External 1 TB SSD to the Mini. This SSD has a partition that contains the latest version of Big Sur, OS 11.4, along with all my applications, settings, files, folders, etc. I have been starting up my late 2018 Mac Mini from this external partition on the SSD, so that I could test OS 11.4. That is going well.
2. Start up the M1 Mini while holding down the Option key. I would expect to "see" the OS 11.4 partition on the external SSD, and that I can select it.
3. Assuming #2 is true, the M1 would restart from that external device. (Obviously, the internal SSD on the M1 is not damaged, nor is the software).
The next thing I would want to do is to use Disk Utility on the T7 to Erase and Format the internal SSD on the M1 Mini. I would then do a clean, fresh installation of OS 11.4 onto that internal SSD, then migrate/copy apps, settings, files, folders, etc. from the T7 to the M1 Mini. However, and 2/3rd of the way down in that article, it states:
"You can encounter trouble if you erase the internal SSD. If you erase all the partitions, including 1TR, you won’t be able to boot from an external drive."
I of course have already restarted the M1 Mini from an external device, but this 1TR business seems troublesome. Is that 1TR partition created independently of the installation of Big Sur? If so, how can one create it?
If this will not work, I guess I could startup the M1 Mini, and immediately do an update of the OS (clearly Os 11.4 will not be there). From there, I could migrate/copy all my apps, settings, files, folders, etc. from the Samsung T7 Big Sur partition. Will that work?
https://tidbits.com/2021/05/27/an-m1-mac-cant-boot-from-an-external-drive-if-its-internal-drive-is-dead/
Earlier today, I purchased an M1 Mac Mini from Costco (got it for a real good price). What I was planning on doing to get it set up the way I want is:
1. Attach my Samsung T7 External 1 TB SSD to the Mini. This SSD has a partition that contains the latest version of Big Sur, OS 11.4, along with all my applications, settings, files, folders, etc. I have been starting up my late 2018 Mac Mini from this external partition on the SSD, so that I could test OS 11.4. That is going well.
2. Start up the M1 Mini while holding down the Option key. I would expect to "see" the OS 11.4 partition on the external SSD, and that I can select it.
3. Assuming #2 is true, the M1 would restart from that external device. (Obviously, the internal SSD on the M1 is not damaged, nor is the software).
The next thing I would want to do is to use Disk Utility on the T7 to Erase and Format the internal SSD on the M1 Mini. I would then do a clean, fresh installation of OS 11.4 onto that internal SSD, then migrate/copy apps, settings, files, folders, etc. from the T7 to the M1 Mini. However, and 2/3rd of the way down in that article, it states:
"You can encounter trouble if you erase the internal SSD. If you erase all the partitions, including 1TR, you won’t be able to boot from an external drive."
I of course have already restarted the M1 Mini from an external device, but this 1TR business seems troublesome. Is that 1TR partition created independently of the installation of Big Sur? If so, how can one create it?
If this will not work, I guess I could startup the M1 Mini, and immediately do an update of the OS (clearly Os 11.4 will not be there). From there, I could migrate/copy all my apps, settings, files, folders, etc. from the Samsung T7 Big Sur partition. Will that work?
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