Is it possible to boot m1 mac from an external drive if the SOC ssd dies

Question

Is it possible to boot m1 mac from an external drive if the SOC ssd dies

So I've searched about whether if its possible to boot my mac from an external ssd but the answers that i got was unclear and confusing. Some said that its possible to boot from an external drive but some said that due to the security reasons, it isn't possible to boot from another drive. But my concern is if one day my mac's ssd dies, would it be possible to just plug an external drive (with macos installed maybe) and just boot it from there.

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 13.0

Posted on Oct 31, 2022 2:52 AM

Reply

Answer 1

-Bubba-

Level 6

10,950 points

Nov 12, 2022 1:29 AM in response to joeleeofficial

joeleeofficial wrote:

Does that mean if the internal ssd fails, the entire mac will become a useless device ? Let's say if the mac has become a vintage product, is there anything I can do with my mac ?

Pretty much, yes. Though if the internal drive fails, the rest of the computer will almost certainly have followed suit. You're unlikely to have a dead SSD and a live Mac.

Reply

Answer 2

-Bubba-

Level 6

10,950 points

Oct 31, 2022 8:49 AM in response to joeleeofficial

You can definitely boot macOS from an external SSD. However, if the internal SSD fails, it won't boot from an external.

Reply

Answer 3

Nov 11, 2022 9:28 PM in response to -Bubba-

Does that mean if the internal ssd fails, the entire mac will become a useless device ? Let's say if the mac has become a vintage product, is there anything I can do with my mac ?

Reply

Is it possible to boot m1 mac from an external drive if the SOC ssd dies

Similar questions