"SDErrorDomain error 108" while trying to boot Big Sur from external ssd on MacBook Pro M1

Question

Level 1

14 points

"SDErrorDomain error 108" while trying to boot Big Sur from external ssd on MacBook Pro M1

I have Big Sur 11.5.2 installed on my MacBook Pro M1 and I've downloaded and installed Big Sur 11.5.2 on a Samsung 870 EVO ssd, but when I try to boot the external ssd this error pops up:

Unable to set startup disk

An error occurred while setting “SSD Name“ as the startup disk: The operation couldn’t be completed. (SDErrorDomain error 108.)

I had already successfully installed Big Sur 11.4 on an external HDD and it worked perfectly.

Anyone knows how to fix it?

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 11.5

Posted on Sep 6, 2021 12:32 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

mnbvcxzlkjH Author

Level 1

14 points

Sep 7, 2021 5:24 AM in response to Jeff_W.

Hi,

thanks for the answer, I’m trying to use macOS Big Sur from an external SSD.

The installation of the OS on the external ssd works fine, the error message pops up when I try to select the external ssd as startup disk.

I’ve tried to change startup policies, and it still doesn’t work.

I think that maybe the error pops up because of Big Sur 11.5.2 since it worked just fine when I was using Big Sur 11.4.

What do you think?

thank you again.

Reply

Answer 2

Jeff_W.

Community Specialist

Sep 7, 2021 5:08 AM in response to mnbvcxzlkjH

Hello mnbvcxzlkjH,

Thank you for contacting us. You have come to the right place and we are happy to assist you. We understand you're having an issue with your Mac. We can understand why you’d reach out for a solution. To start, are you trying to start up from an external drive to reinstall the operating system?

If an error occurred while updating or installing macOS

You may need to enable booting from an external drive

About Startup Security Utility

Thank you for contacting Apple Support Communities.

Best regards.

Reply

Answer 3

Sep 7, 2021 11:48 AM in response to mnbvcxzlkjH

mnbvcxzlkjH,

Thanks for those details. At this point, we suggest reaching out to us directly using this link: Get Support

Take care.

Reply

"SDErrorDomain error 108" while trying to boot Big Sur from external ssd on MacBook Pro M1

Similar questions