Unable to update Operating System on External SSD Startup disk.

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Level 1

7 points

Unable to update Operating System on External SSD Startup disk.

I set up a new Mac with an external Samsung T7 2tb SSD being used as the Startup Drive. I have been unable to update the Operating System since I got it.

I have tried

Updating from App Store.
Updating in Safe Mode
Updating using Terminal command sudo softwareupdate -i -a -R

The update always progresses normally and appears successful but is still stuck on Ventura 13.2.1

The SSD has GUID Partition Map and is formatted with APFS

iMac (M1, 2021)

Posted on Jul 26, 2023 8:25 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

steve626

Level 6

13,737 points

Jul 26, 2023 8:34 PM in response to Mcbill_pwk

How did you create the external startup drive?

If you did it by cloning an internal startup drive, it has been reported that with SuperDuper (and CCC) bootable clones, those clones cannot be updated "normally." At least with recent versions of the MacOS. SuperDuper instructions for updating one of their bootable externals is to erase the external and reclone the internal.

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Answer 2

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,182 points

Jul 26, 2023 8:31 AM in response to Mcbill_pwk

It could be that the operating system is attempting to apply a drive firmware update on the assumption that the update is being applied to an Apple internal drive, and failing that, it gives up on the external drive.

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Answer 3

ku4hx

Level 7

23,688 points

Jul 26, 2023 8:36 AM in response to Mcbill_pwk

When I ran my 2015 21.5" iMac on an external Samsung T7, I updated the "normal" way by opening System Preferences and starting the update. I did that at least three times.

The T7 drive was established as the permanent startup drive via System Preferences. I did not startup using the Option key.

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