Install Sonoma on external drive, 2018 Mac mini

To install macOS Sonoma on an external drive on a 2018 Mac mini, you'll need to follow these steps:

Requirements

• A 2018 Mac mini
• An external drive with at least 64 GB of free space (formatted as APFS or HFS+)
• A USB drive with at least 16 GB of free space (for the bootable installer)
• A copy of macOS Sonoma installer

Steps

1. Download the macOS Sonoma installer: You can download the installer from theMac App Store. If you're running an older version of macOS, you might need toupdate to a compatible version first.
2. Create a bootable installer: Use the createinstallmedia command in Terminal to create a bootable installer on your USB drive. The command is:Replace /Volumes/USB_DRIVE_NAME with the actual name of your USB drive.

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sonoma.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/USB_DRIVE_NAME

1. Boot from the USB drive: Restart your Mac mini, hold down the Option (⌥) key, and select the USB drive as the boot volume.
2. Erase the external drive: In the macOS Utilities window, select Disk Utility, then select your external drive from the list on the left. Click the Erase button and follow the prompts to erase the drive.
3. Install macOS Sonoma: Quit Disk Utility and select Install macOS from the macOS Utilities window. Follow the prompts to install macOS Sonoma on your external drive.
4. Set up the external drive as a bootable volume: Once the installation is complete, restart your Mac mini and hold down the Option (⌥) key. Select the external drive as the boot volume.

Notes

• Make sure your external drive is properly connected and detected by your Mac mini.
• If you encounter issues during the installation process, try restarting your Mac mini and retrying the installation.
• Keep in mind that running macOS on an external drive may be slower than running it on an internal drive.

If you encounter any issues or have further questions, feel free to ask!