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External SSD not showing up at all as bootable startup disk...

Hey there,


So I recently bought a Samsung T5 1TB external SSD and wanted to use it as a start up disk for a new version of Mojave (I have an iMac 21.5 Late 2015). I followed the steps given by the many tutorials on youtube (Erase, partition, etc) but it is still not showing up as start up disk option. PLEASE HELP! Thank you.

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Aug 27, 2019 8:38 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Aug 27, 2019 6:15 PM

Yasemo wrote:

It wont let download a new version of Mojave through the App store, just an update. All the tutorials show that once you correctly erase and partition the SSD it should show up as an option in System Preferences > Start up disk, but mine is not. I dont think installing Mojave would help because it isn't even being recognized as a start up disk, no?

You need a bootable OS for Startup Disk to see a bootable options. A blank drive is a blank drive. Blank drives cannot boot.


I one video, all he did was partition then restart his iMac pressing option, and it gave him the option to choose the SSD instead of the original HD. It then gave him the option to reinstall Mojave from there. When I get to the choose start up disk part, it only shows my original HD. There must be something im missing or the process has been changed by a new OS update??

You must either boot a USB macOS installer or boot into Recovery Mode (Command + R) or Internet Recovery Mode (Command + Option + R). Make sure the external drive is erased using GUID partition and MacOS Extended (Journaled) or possibly APFS. Make sure to select the correct drive.

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9 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Aug 27, 2019 6:15 PM in response to Yasemo

Yasemo wrote:

It wont let download a new version of Mojave through the App store, just an update. All the tutorials show that once you correctly erase and partition the SSD it should show up as an option in System Preferences > Start up disk, but mine is not. I dont think installing Mojave would help because it isn't even being recognized as a start up disk, no?

You need a bootable OS for Startup Disk to see a bootable options. A blank drive is a blank drive. Blank drives cannot boot.


I one video, all he did was partition then restart his iMac pressing option, and it gave him the option to choose the SSD instead of the original HD. It then gave him the option to reinstall Mojave from there. When I get to the choose start up disk part, it only shows my original HD. There must be something im missing or the process has been changed by a new OS update??

You must either boot a USB macOS installer or boot into Recovery Mode (Command + R) or Internet Recovery Mode (Command + Option + R). Make sure the external drive is erased using GUID partition and MacOS Extended (Journaled) or possibly APFS. Make sure to select the correct drive.

Aug 27, 2019 10:08 AM in response to leroydouglas

It wont let download a new version of Mojave through the App store, just an update. All the tutorials show that once you correctly erase and partition the SSD it should show up as an option in System Preferences > Start up disk, but mine is not. I dont think installing Mojave would help because it isn't even being recognized as a start up disk, no? I one video, all he did was partition then restart his iMac pressing option, and it gave him the option to choose the SSD instead of the original HD. It then gave him the option to reinstall Mojave from there. When I get to the choose start up disk part, it only shows my original HD. There must be something im missing or the process has been changed by a new OS update??

External SSD not showing up at all as bootable startup disk...

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