How do I make a bootable external drive to repair a MacBook Pro internal hard drive?

Question

Level 1

4 points

How do I make a bootable external drive to repair a MacBook Pro internal hard drive?

I own a MacBook Pro 14 inch, 2012, running Sonoma 14.4.1, and I don't have Apple Care

I had purchased Prosoft Drive Genius ages ago when its interface looked a lot like the apple UI, then continued when they changed to something hideous because I figured I needed the protection.

I started getting messages from Drive Genius pop up on my screen recently saying that my internal drive needed to be repaired as soon as possible. Other than those pop-up messages, I haven't noticed any problems while working.

I bought a 1TB external drive (Seagate One Touch, supposedly already formatted for Macs and ready to use), intending to make what Drive Genius called a Bootwell drive (bootable external hard drive). When I asked for instructions on how to do this, Prosoft sent me this insane link: https://www.prosofteng.com/blog/how-to-create-a-bootable-clone-on-macos which says the following, then provides a complicated workaround.

"There have been several ways to create a bootable external drive of your internal drive for many years on macOS. However, it has become strenuous to get a bootable clone of your internal startup drive in recent versions. Close to impossible on customized macOS Big Sur, Monterey, Ventura, and Sonoma given the introduction of Apple's Cryptographic Signature Technology known as a Signed System Volume. The new addition prevents any external media from being bootable without a Signed System Volume. At this time, Apple is the only one capable of creating a Signed System Volume. We are not able to replicate or have a perfect workaround for this change."

I don't feel comfortable trying the workaround, especially as they say they don't know how long it will work and can be changed without notice.

Meanwhile, how can I tell if my internal hard drive is really in need of repair, and what can I do about it?

I live on a semi-remote island in Croatia, and sending the machine away for repair or buying a new one are not options. I need something I can do at home.

MacBook Pro 14″

Posted on Apr 5, 2024 2:06 AM

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Answer 1

Apr 5, 2024 4:39 AM in response to little shiva

little shiva wrote:

I bought a 1TB external drive (Seagate One Touch, supposedly already formatted for Macs and ready to use),

that very well could be the root of your problem. when you use software from just about any manufacturer for their storage device you run the risk of that same software not being compatible with macOS updates / upgrades. it can cause the software to stop working. at best this will cause you a headache. at worst it can render your data inaccessible. it is always best to use disk utility to erase and format a drive before use to remove any preloaded software.

since you are using such software, i think your options are somewhat limited.

you may want to contact seagate and see if there is an update for their software.

alternatively, if you have a backup you can revert your macOS to the version of macOS that the drive was working on and transfer your data to another storage device and then erase and format the seagate device before putting it back into service.

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Answer 2

MartinR

Level 7

24,101 points

Apr 5, 2024 2:12 PM in response to little shiva

While cloning to make a bootable external drive is now a real challenge, you could directly install Sonoma on the external drive & then use Migration Assitant to migrate your user account(s), apps & data from your MBP's internal drive, essentially giving you the 'clone' you desire.

You should be able to download the Sonoma installer from the App Store. If that doesn't work, there is another way to download the installer using Terminal; let us know if you need information about how to do that.

First, make sure you have a good backup of your data on another drive. Then:

Connect the Seagate drive to your MBP
DO NOT use any Seagate software with the drive
DO NOT use the Drive Genius software to make a bootable external drive
Use Disk Utility to format the Seagate drive as APFS. (Not APFS encrypted or APFS case sensitive). Make sure to select GUID Partition Scheme & APFS format.

Then run the Sonoma installer & install it on the external drive.
Once the install is complete you should be prompted to migrate accounts, apps & data from the internal drive. (Note, this is a copy process, it does not disturb or delete anything on the internal drive.)

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Answer 3

Apr 5, 2024 12:15 PM in response to little shiva

when drive genius was a very important piece of software, drives cost north of US$1000, and backup were on CD or floppies.

Today, these are obsolete:

• backups to floppies

• backups to CDs

• the idea of running without a Recent, Trusted, Full backup on a nearby Drive

• Using Drive Genius, which does not look like nearly as much or a Genius as it did when issued.

you may indeed need a new drive. Or maybe you just need to run Disk Utility and fix that one up. or maybe you would LIKE to have a new drive.

step 1: make certain you have a reset Trusted disk based backup. Time machine is already included inside your Mac.

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Answer 4

Apr 5, 2024 5:46 PM in response to little shiva

disk Utility checks for problems in your Mac's Directories. it does not check for problems such as bad blocks out in the sea of data files.

That's what backups can NOW cover, because the prices of drives has dropped enough so that everyone SHOULD have backup copies of their files.

Some other things are changing, slowly:

It used to be that having bootable macOS, and/or having MacOS included in your backups, was thought to be important. But re-installing MacOS has always produced an EXACT replica of the invariant 'pure code' parts of macOS anyway.

With the additional restriction that you must re-install onto the crypto-locked System Volume using fundamental sources, having a copy of macOS 'as it used to be installed' is LESS important, and being able to fetch a copy of MacOS and Actually Install it has become More important.

MacOS has always been re-installable and/or upgradeable IN PLACE. By design, even its re-writing of over 350,000 files is intended not to disturb your User files or settings in the slightest.

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Answer 5

Apr 5, 2024 5:50 PM in response to little shiva

I used to run Drive genius, Disk Warrior and other Utilities. What I have learned from running them is that there will always be a few files that show I=up as a problem. but they tend to be not important files or they can be restored from backups easily.

Drive genius and Disk warrior and NOT needed once we have adequate backups, and the price of drives dropping so much in the last decade or so has fixed that.

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Answer 6

little shiva Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 5, 2024 2:19 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Ha, thank you Grant, that gave me a chuckle. Yes, Drive Genius used to have that gorgeous Mac-like interface that made me trust it: dunno what happened, maybe they got sued. I've cancelled my subscription with them now, phew!

I use Time Machine, of course: have a tiny SSD permanently attached and backing up.

I definitely don't WANT a new drive, and can't afford to send this machine off for repair. Hopefully the prompts were just Drive Genius related: maybe they do it on purpose to scare people. I'll run disk utility and see what it says.

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Answer 7

little shiva Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 5, 2024 10:47 AM in response to jeffreythefrog

I haven't used the external Seagate drive yet, so that's not the issue. I have Prosoft Engineering's Drive Genius installed on my system, but have barely used it.

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