M1 mac external boot

From my texting, CCC 11.0.1 update will allow Big Sur bootable clones if done on a non-M1 Big Sur Mac.

My MBA M1 will not create a CCC created bootable clone that the M1 can boot from. However, I can take a CCC created external drive that was created off a M1 Mac and use that external drive on a non-M1 Mac and do an external boot.

The work around to get a CCC created bootable clone to work as a bootable external drive on the M1 is to first install Big Sur on the drive, then do a CCC copy. Bombich Software tech support told me that method should enable bootable external drives with the M1. I don't think I have tested that yet, thought. Cheers.

Craig Cowgill wrote:

The provision to enable external boot from Startup Security Utility is missing on M1 as that application is no longer part of Recovery.

It's available on my M1 MBA.

I haven't tried to boot from an external however.

I have an M1 Mac Mini, running Big Sur 11.0.1. I am trying to install/boot a copy of Big Sur 11.0.1 on a WD My Passport 500GB SSD. I can install to the drive, via three different ways now (the installer on my 32Gb PNY USB thumb drive, the Installer in the Applications folder, and the installer in Recovery mode) but nothing I've tried will allow me to boot from it. The drive is accessible in Startup Disk (if I unlock the padlock), but upon trying to restart, I'm told "This version of macOS is outdated... please update." The drive is not visible (as a bootable option) in Recovery mode. I also can't change the security level for the external drive. I'm told I need to "update" it. I was able to change the security level for the internal SSD, however. But that didn't help...

I love my new M1 Mac Mini, but I want to be able to boot macOS Big Sur from an external. Not Windows. Not Linux. Nothing but macOS! That should at least be allowable. Hopefully these error messages and inability to boot a copy of Big Sur from an external SSD is simply a temporary "bug" (much like 11.0.0 and reformatting the internal drive basically bricked the system) and how early versions of Big Sur porked older Intel Macs. If it's simply "growing pains" that need to be worked out, I can accept that. I can be patient. But being told "Apple doesn't support booting from an external drive." (by an Apple tech or whoever I spoke to this morning), is pretty disheartening.

Yeah, "updating" is never a good tactic, when dealing with issues like this. A clean format/install is really the best way. I learned this when I was using MacOS X 10.3 (Panther). But I have the time/interest to give it a shot and see what happens. Thanks for the info!

woodmeister50 wrote:

I hate to have to totally rely on Time Machine as I have had one experience where

it rendered itself useless (fortunately had the externally bootable system/clone

drive at the time to completely recover).

I too, have had bad experiences with Time Machine. That's why I also use CCC for backups.

I have several bootable drives. None work with the M1.

woodmeister50 wrote:

I noticed it as I have been checking daily for the availability

for their new TB3 hub, which should be soon if one believes

the ad. Powers a host (60 W) and gives 3 TB3 ports.

I saw that hub the other day and it looks really nice. If I don't end up returning this M1 (because of the non-booting external drive issue) then I will probably get two of them. That would give you 6 TB3 ports.

Well, truth be told, I made an interesting discovery... I bought a Memorex 128GB USB 3.0 thumb drive from Target and tried installing Big Sur 11.1 to it and amazingly, it worked! Kinda. :-D It stuck a bunch of more stuff in the folders (instead of all but System being empty), but when all was said and done, it got stuck into a "boot loop" (white Apple logo with progress bar), where it would go so far and then restart and do the same thing. After shutting it down, it got stuck in that "mode" even with the USB stick removed. I booted into Recovery mode, ran "First Aid" on all the internal SSD drives/partititions and then specifically selected "Macintosh HD" as the Startup disk and rebotted. That seemed to work, to get it back to normal.

But given the result was significantly different, it makes me wonder... would attaching the 500GB USB-C drive via the USB-A adapter make it work, since it's a faster drive and the USB-A ports seem to work differently than the Thunderbolt 3 ports.

Another thought was that, I had the 128GB USB drive attached via the a passive (non-powered) 3.0 hub and not plugged directly into the USB 3.1 ports on the M1 Mac Mini. Could that have impacted the outcome?

I have ordered a MacBook Air with an M1 chip. I’m still running some old 32bit software on my old Mac (I.e the Mac version of MS Office). I’m wondering, if I install high Sierra on an external drive, will I be able to external boot to that drive and run those programs. I have seen in the support docs and in this thread there is the ability to external boot, but I’m wondering about my ability to run those programs. I’d rather not keep the old computer...but I might have to if this is not possible. Thank you.

Welcome, Rosenpop66, to Apple Support Communities!

32-bit programs are not supported on any macOS from Catalina on. (Weren’t they also not supported on the version before Catalina? Mojave?)

Since M1 based Macs cannot run any macOS prior to Big Sur, this means they don’t support 32-bit programs.

Here is where I am at. I created an Big Sur USB installer and

wiped my target drive again to GUID/APFS. Shut down and

started up in recovery. The Big Sur USB installer showed up

as one of the boot options and actually loaded (that is at least

one positive thing). The installer ran and installed on the target drive.

BTW, the installer USB was just an old 180 GB USB 2 drive I have laying

around for just loading installers.

But, the result was still the same old issue, reboots, jumps

to recovery asks for password to verify, then the old

"Cannot verify..." error box.

I Googled what I could but I couldn't find if the NVMe technology

has some added security that SATA doesn't, i.e. some special security

sector that a vendor can use? If so, it could explain a lot in my case,

I think. But if that were the case, I would think it would be seen even

on Intel Macs, maybe.

I don't know just totally guessing at this point. 🤔🤔🤔🤔

BTW, tbirdvet, is that the WD Black 750?

Still confused by my dilemma and ran across a link to this article:

https://eshop.macsales.com/blog/67935-big-sur-thunderbolt-devices/

and down a ways in the comments from OWC Tim (one of OWC folks obviously):

"OWC Tim

December 15, 2020 at 11:10 am

You don’t have to read the tea leaves because we’ll test and tell you what we find. That way we both learn something new.

Yes, you can boot an M1 Mac from and external disk, I just installed macOS 11.1 on an OWC Envoy Pro EX Thunderbolt 3 and was able to boot from it just fine. This behavior won’t change if there is a hub or dock in between the Mac and the Envoy Pro EX."

and FWIW,

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/owc-envoy-pro-ex-thunderbolt-3

Perhaps there is something about the TB3 bus that can directly "peek"

at the actual tech being employed in the drive. USB tends to hide that

stuff behind layers of the USB Mass Storage spec.

As far as cost, if you use tbirdvets enclosure and slap a 500 GB WD Black

in, it comes out to the same price and the OWC option.

woodmeister50 wrote:

I may keep that as a backup Plan C and go with the OWC Envoy Pro solution.

I'm thinking about buying this enclosure from OWC;

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/envoy-express/thunderbolt-3

and then getting a 1TB drive:

https://shop.westerndigital.com/products/internal-drives/wd-black-sn750-nvme-ssd#WDS100T3X0C

Correction, I'll be getting the Inland version instead;

https://www.microcenter.com/product/600422/inland-premium-1tb-ssd-3d-nand-m2-2280-pcie-nvme-30-x4-internal-solid-state-drive?storeid=029

Made by WD and cost much less :)

tbirdvet wrote:

The OWC enclosure is slower than the Trebleet so depending on which drive you insert it may not perform as expected.

According to Trebleet (on Amazon) that enclosure is "Currently Unavailable".

MyApple8MyPC wrote:

tbirdvet wrote:

The OWC enclosure is slower than the Trebleet so depending on which drive you insert it may not perform as expected.

According to Trebleet (on Amazon) that enclosure is "Currently Unavailable".

I had a link to the original page and now is no longer working.

Personally, I will go with the OWC Envoy Pro Ex as it has been stated

that it works and is only a few dollars more, at least for the 480 GB,

and will operate at the nearly full NVMe speeds. I don't need nor

do I even want a 1 TB as I basically abhor massive system drives.

I only got the 512 GB MacBook Air because of added GPU core.

I could very easily got away with the 256 GB as I keep system drives

as lean as possible. Actually, I may just get the 240 GB, which I could

"sneak" into my Christmas budget easier than the 480.