SDErrorDomain error 108 on M1 Mac Mini

Hello GeneLand,

Thanks for choosing the Apple Support Communities. Let's try following these steps to use your external drive as your startup disk.

Change your Mac startup disk - Apple Support

"Change your startup disk for every startup

1. On your Mac, choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, then click Startup Disk .
2. If the lock at the bottom left is locked , click it to unlock the preference pane.
3. Click the icon of the disk you want to use, then click Restart.

WARNING: When selecting a network startup volume, make sure you select a network startup volume and not a network install image. Choosing a network install image reinstalls your system software and may erase the contents of your disk. A standard network volume icon appears as a globe with a folder. A network install icon appears as a globe with a downward-pointing green arrow."

If you are seeing errors you might consider checking the disk for errors in Disk Utility.

How to repair a Mac disk with Disk Utility - Apple Support

Also, after backing up any personal files, you could consider formatting the disk and reinstalling macOS on it.

Erase and reformat a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support

We hope this helps.

Cheers!

That error is generally an indication that there is not an authorized "owner" of the drive.

One solution you can try, back up the drive with either Time Machine or a cloning system that can clone the macOS data volume, i.e. it does not need to be bootable and may actually be preferred not to be. Then download and create a bootable installer of the current macOS version. Next, having backed up the drive, erase the target drive and reinstall macOS making sure you have your backup drive installed. When prompted to create an owner for the installation, create a new and unique user that is different from any on the internal drive and different than what was used in the backup. Follow through the installation processes and when reaching the point where it asks if you want to migrate data, proceed with the migration option and continue with the the install with the "new user". Once complete, you will have two users. The new user and the user you you migrated and you can then log out of the new user and then log into your usual user.

There is an issue that can occur when installing or updating on an external drive that can sometimes invalidate the "owner" of the macOS installation if it is also the same "owner" as another macOS installation on the same system.. So, when the next update comes along, do that with "new" user you created and hopefully all will be well.

Hopefully Apple will sort to his issue in the future with M1 Macs.

GeneLand wrote:

...The problem was related to my target disk being in a Hagabis hub. I removed the target ssd from the Hagabis hub and installed it in a new Sabrent USB-C tool-free enclosure for M.2 PCIe NVMe and SATA SSDs.....

That explains why it didn't work. It is become more commonly known that installing the later versions of macOS on a drive connected to a hub have a very poor success rate. My fault for not asking about the drive and how it was connected, otherwise I could have saved some frustration but it is good that you found the solution on your own.

Klaus Blume wrote:

I have the same problem. I have a USB-A thumb drive sitting in an OOWolf hub. So, just to confirm, get a USB-C thumb drive directly connected to my M1 MB Air, and things will be fine?

A thumb drive is a very, very poor choice to run macOS even if you get it to install as it will be incredibly slow and unreliable.

Thank goodness, you replied, thank you. I was just about to go and buy a USB–C thumb drive. I looked up "Sabrent USB-C tool-free enclosure for M.2 PCIe NVMe and SATA SSDs," and didn't even know those kind of things existed. Just ordered one from Amazon...

Thanks, Klaus

I have the same problem. I have a USB-A thumb drive sitting in an OOWolf hub. So, just to confirm, get a USB-C thumb drive directly connected to my M1 MB Air, and things will be fine?