New installation of new ssd. confirmed compatibility. Have named external ssd as start up device and restarted. Disk utility won't let me erase old mac disk claims start up still on it. system takes 45 to 60 seconds to open any ap.
Thinking I should return to Big Sur. ??????
The “ what’s stopping me“ invested so much time in this upgrade and in resolving the SSD and start up disk issue.
I did call Samsung today and the T7 ssd has 3.2 and can be used as startup.
so back to Big Sur unless someone has a better idea
45 to 60 seconds sounds way too high for opening an app from an external SSD - even taking into account that you only have 4 GB of RAM.
Is there any chance that Spotlight is still doing a complete indexing of the external SSD, causing a temporary slowdown?
"mac mini 2014,4 gig memory, Monterey with external ssd very slow. what operating system should I be using?"
-------
Troubleshooting a Lagging Mac:
You only have 4GB of RAM. That is not intended for multitasking. So, that may be what is causing the lag to occur.
Unfortunately if the external drive has a problem booting, the computer will silently decide to boot from the internal drive. The version of macOS should have no bearing on whether it works since a 2014 Mini is able to use up to macOS 12.x Monterey.
The easiest way to tell which drive you have booted from is by using Disk Utility and checking the mount point of the System & data volumes of both drives. If you are successfully booting from the external SSD, then the mount point of the system volume of the external drive should be listed as "/", while the "Data" volume mount point should be listed "/System/Volumes/Data". For those volumes on the internal drive, they should be mounted under "/Volumes" if they are mounted at all.
If you happened to clone the original drive to the external, then I have seen macOS get confused and access items from the old drive when launching apps from the external links in the Dock.
If you know for sure your external is working fine and you have a good backup of all your data, then boot to a macOS installer (Internet Recovery Mode or USB) and erase the internal drive. You will definitely know after that whether your external SSD is working properly when you reboot.
Servant of Cats Said:
"Unfortunately, for the 2014 Minis, the RAM is soldered in. No RAM expansion hatch as on the 2012 models, or sealed-in sockets as on the 2018 ones."
-------
Correct.
So what's stopping you?
I don't think it will help though, but you haven't provided much information. Perhaps your new SSD is not as compatible as you confirmed.
I recommend that you call Apple instead. Ask them to confirm its compatibility.
Unfortunately, for the 2014 Minis, the RAM is soldered in. No RAM expansion hatch as on the 2012 models, or sealed-in sockets as on the 2018 ones.
mac mini 2014,4 gig memory, Monterey with external ssd very slow. what operating system should I be using?
