Kernel panic loop prevents boot (after attempted Ventura installation to external disk)

I created a bootable installer for Ventura 13.0, erased the OS volume group on the external drive, and installed a fresh copy of Ventura (no user software installed). I observed the exact same behaviour. A kernel panic is generated during the initial boot which restarts, generates another panic, and so on.

So there is definitely a problem macOS booting an unmodified Ventura installation (also observed with Monterey 12.3+) using a Mac mini (2018) with a Samsung T5 external SSD. How can I tell whether it's really an OS issue or, alternatively, an incompatibility with the external drive (with works perfectly well with Monterey 12.2.1)?

- Pie Lover

P.S. The bootable installer took many hours to complete

Exactly. I wanted to install Ventura on an external drive so that I could experiment with new features and confirm the compatibility with my existing software (mostly standard titles).

I haven't tried installing Ventura on the internal SSD (currently Monterey 12.2.1) since it is such a pain to revert the OS to a previous version.

BTW, I just tried changing the Startup Security to the lowest level but the behaviour was the same (I set it back to medium).

I suspect that this problem is somehow related to the Mac mini's (2018) use of the T2 Security Chip. It seems that there was a change introduced Monterey 12.3 (and later versions) which prevents the use of (at least) the Samsung T5 SSD.

- Pie Lover

Thanks very much. You reply makes perfect sense to me based on my own experience. Disabling SIP is a possible workaround but the increased risk the system may not be acceptable to many folks.

- Pie Lover

Thank you for taking the time to provide such a detailed response. Unfortunately, I don't have a second machine to run Configurator.

You raise an interesting point about chipset differences within the same SSD model. I do have another Samsung T5 SDD which I could try. On the other hand, Monterey 12.2.1 installs perfectly well on the the SSD that has an issue with Ventura.

The T5 has a USB-C connector. I connect the SSD to a Thunderbolt/USB-C port on the Mac mini (2018). This configuration enables a maximum transfer rate of 10 Gbps using USB 3.1 Gen 2 (aka USB 3.2). I haven't tried the USB-A interface on the Mac side.

Last night, I installed Ventura on the internal drive. As expected, booting Ventura from an internal drive worked normally. I re-tested booting Ventura from the external drive which results kernel panic boot loop with SIP enabled (as before).

I would consider purchasing another model of external SSD if I could be sure that I could install macOS on it.

- Pie Lover

I was unable to resolve this issue for my model of external SSD (Samsung T5) without resorting to the previously discussed workaround.

- Pie Lover

Thanks for the reply. I booted Ventura on the external drive (with SIP disabled). It seems that SSV is working normally:

- Pie Lover

Still waiting for a response from Apple Support for a possible workaround that doesn't require SIP to be disabled.

- Pie Lover