So, let's get started…. I was hopeful this would work but I’m not having any … It may fix the problem. Choose your language, if prompted. Now, select the drive you want to use with your mouse. Of course, you can only boot from an external drive when it's connected. Below mentioned are some of them, just follow the steps and boot from the external hard drive on Mac. To convince your Mac to boot from an external drive, you have to first restart into macOS Recovery and that requires you to hold down Command-R … Support iOS 14. The drive will have to contain a … You need to prepare your USB drive beforehand for this specific purpose. If you can't start up from the bootable installer, make sure that the External Boot setting in Startup Security Utility is set to allow booting from external media. You will also need to have an external drive to boot from. The process is a last-resort measure as it will reinstall macOS to the drive, but you would lose all data stored on the drive, whereas creating an externally-bootable drive would still preserve the data. I will always keep a Mojave boot drive on an external SSD during the lifetime of my ownership of this Mac mini 2018. If you have multiple USB drives connected, then the Startup Manager shall list the drives with the bootable OS. Part 1. There are two types of Apple keyboards, Wired and Wireless. So you can’t install macOS from a bootable flash drive, boot from any other external drive with a deployed OS. Tenorshare 4MeKey: Remove iCloud activation lock without password/Apple ID. Skip this step on Mac. Step 1: Insert the USB boot media into a USB slot. If you are having problems with your USB storage device then you need to make sure that if you have properly formatted the drive with GUID partition. Even third-party backup tools will not work with this limitation. Part 2: Common Problems and Fixes When Boot Mac from … Generally, to make an external hard drive bootable, you have three ways to go. Tenorshare's software is not developed by or affiliated with Apple Inc. When you turn the Mac back on, with the bootable drive disconnected, it should automatically select the internal drive and load normally. This could take the form of a straight external hard drive that uses Thunderbolt 3, or a sufficiently-fast SSD or NVMe in a Thunderbolt 3 enclosure, or an external RAID enclosure that uses Thunderbolt 3. Actually, the MacBook contains a preventive measure and because of that computer shuts down automatically when a damaged USB drive is connected or if the USB port itself is damaged. Here is a guide on how to create a bootable external Mac hard drive to run macOS from an external hard drive. Follow the frequently asked questions to clear any doubts that you have while booting from external hard drive Mac. The Apple T2 chip blocks Mac booting from any external drive . At this point, booting from an external drive is the same as it always is. 2. There are also some keyboards with inbuilt USB ports but they may not have enough power to run the drive. So, it is not too complicated to Mac boot from CD/DVD. Is it possible to boot from a usb external drive or stick? 2. Booting with an external disk has a lot of significance. So, this is how to boot Mac from USB drive. In case, you want to recover any lost or deleted Mac files after a boot, we highly recommend you to go for Tenorshare Any Data Recovery for Mac. In the “System Preferences”, click “Startup Disk”. Connect the external hard drive to the Mac computer. This is a fairly lengthy process, so make sure your external drive is suitable before starting. If you have bought an M1-based Mac or MacBook but need to upgrade your storage without buying a brand new device, you can set up your Mac to run from an external drive. My Mac automatically defaulted to booting to the external drive, and everything was very snappy and worked great. Booting from an external hard drive on Mac also has a set of instructions. If not, turn it on with a long press of the power button to bring up the startup options, and select the primary drive. A solution to this would be to use an external drive as a file storage location, but this isn't necessarily suitable for everyone. Booting the Mac from USB in a way gives the power back to the user. When you click Erase, … 5. With the Mac powered off, connect the external bootable drive to the Thunderbolt 3 port. This site uses cookies. Here's how to boot macOS Big Sur using external storage on the new Mac lineup. Have you tried connecting to a different USB port? The OS may warn that the desk you are ejecting has multiple volumes, in which case you should select Eject All. You may face several issues during MacBook Pro Boot from USB or any external drive. To be bootable, the external drive must be partitioned properly and contain an installation of the proper Mac operating system (OS). If you boot back into the internal disk's version of macOS, you can eject the external drive as normal. In addition, you can also use CMD or the Windows built-in feature - Windows To Go to make a bootable USB hard drive. Copyright © 2021 Tenorshare Co.,Ltd. You can also change the startup disk from within System Preferences in MacOS. 3. Make sure you backup any data before you erase the drive. As soon as the startup music begins you need to press and keep holding the "Option" key. Both methods leave your Mac with a fresh macOS installation, running off the external bootable drive. In this article, you will learn how to speed up your older iMac by booting to an external solid state drive. When the startup music is playing press and hold the “C” key from the keyboard. AppleInsider has affiliate partnerships and may earn commission on products purchased through affiliate links. Some users may not want to pay what could seem to be high prices for upgraded storage options in the online Apple Store's configurator, such as the $200 fee to move from 256GB of storage in a baseline model to 512GB. Boot Mac from USB Option l: Startup Manager . Directly powering the external helps ensure a stable drive that is ready to … In this article, we are here with the detailed step by step guide on how to boot Mac from external hard drive easily. How to boot an Apple Silicon Mac from an external drive. 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The new Mac mini, MacBook Air, and 13-inch MacBook Pro are a tempting purchase for those eager to try out Apple Silicon for themselves. There's a lot of work involved in setting all apps to use that external storage, and many will simply prefer to deal with one drive instead of two or more. To start up a Mac from a bootable external hard drive, hold down the proper key combination while the computer is starting up. Start up system preferences. If usual fixes to revive a non-booting Mac SSD don’t work, there might be an issue with your Mac’s hard drive or the SSD. If you have bought an M1-based Mac or MacBook but need to upgrade your storage without buying a brand new device, you can set up your Mac to run from an external drive. Is your Mac shutting down after connecting the disk? However, not everyone will have picked up a Mac with enough storage to meet their needs. Recover data deleted, formatted or lost on Mac; Restore files from hard drive and external storage devices; Recover data from failed/crashed/dead MacBook; Fully supported latest macOS 10.15 Catalina; A Full Guide to Boot Mac from External Drive. Also, you cannot boot from just any external hard drive. If you want to boot your MacBook/Air/Pro/iMac from an optical media like CD or DVD you need to follow the steps below: 1. This article shows you two ways to boot Mac from external USB stick, as well as some troubleshooting tips in case Mac won't boot from the target USB. in accordance with our, Join the discussion and share your voice here, Fix An Unexpected Error Occurred While Signing in Catalina, Library is Not Working in Photos in macOS Catalina, How to Reset Mac to Factory Without Losing Data, Handoff Not Working Between iOS 13.2/13.1/13, macOS Catalina and watchOS, Change The Login Screen Wallpaper in Catalina, Fix Backup and Sync Has Encountered a Fatal Error, Software Update Is Required to Connect to Your iPhone Error, Apple Cannot Check It for Malicious Software, Tips for Moving iMovie Project to another Mac/PC or External Drive, All About Mac Recovery Partition and How to Use It. Step 2: Turn on your Mac (or Restart your Mac if it’s already on). Your Mac should now be able to boot from external drives. 2. Under External in the left hand menu, click on your external hard drive and then click on the Erase button. To do this, open Disk Utility and connect the drive to your Mac. Ok I have a Power Mac G5. We need to stress that the process does require a Thunderbolt 3 drive to work, as you won't have much luck with one using USB-C alone. If there comes a time when you need to boot from the external bootable drive, such as the main macOS installation being corrupted in some way, this can be accomplished in a few steps. My guess is that I will not upgrade my internal boot SSD until sometime in late Q1 2021 or Q2 2021. To Boot From Your New Mac Clone Boot Drive 1. These partnerships do not influence our editorial content. Close the window. Connect a USB flash drive or external hard drive to your Mac. Go for it! To create the external bootable drive, you will need a few things to get going. After that release that key, the Startup manager will be launched. The likeliest of the reason for choosing the boot from the USB method is that your Mac won't start which denies the user access to the computer. Others may have opted for a lower-capacity model just to get the Mac in their hands quicker, such as via a physical Apple Store, without considering their storage needs. Some users may not want to […] Select ”Allow booting from external media.” Your Mac doesn't support booting from network volumes, whether or not you allow booting from external media. Ethan says: August 28, 2020 at 12:46 am Yeah, me too. Both of these methods set the external drive as the default. If you want to set your computer to boot from an external hard drive, you'll need to access the BIOS, which is a control panel that you open by pressing repeatedly a key (usually a function key such as F12) as your computer starts up. 3. With the formatted external drive connected beforehand. 6. 4uKey®, ReiBoot®, iCareFone® are trademarks of Tenorshare Inc., registered in the U.S. iPod®, iPhone®, iPad®, iTunes® and Mac® are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Your Mac will then boot from the external drive instead of the internal storage. One of the menus you will see when installing macOS Big Sur to the external drive. So, this is how to startup Mac from external drive. For this example, you will discover how you can boot to Mac … A better answer would be to create a bootable external drive, one that the Mac uses instead of the smaller internal storage. If your Mac won't boot up normally, you can set it to boot from a different drive, such as a USB stick containing macOS installation files in bootable format. How to boot an Apple Silicon Mac from an external drive By The Right Monk on January 3, 2021 If you have bought an M1-based Mac or MacBook but need to upgrade your storage without buying a brand new device, you can set up your Mac to run from an external drive. Use the following steps, you can easily set Mac boot from an external drive in Startup Manager, so it’ll only boot from USB that one time. Type cmd in the search box and right-click Command Prompt and choose Run as administrator to continue. Firstly, you will need an M1-based Mac running on macOS Big Sur 11.1 or later, as earlier releases were problematic. 5. Some users… While not quite the same as an externally bootable drive, Apple has published instructions for creating an externally bootable installer for macOS, which works with both Intel and M1-based Macs. posted on Jan. 03, 2021 at 5:29 pm. Yay! Turn the Mac back on with a long press of the power button, holding until the screen shows startup options. Help! Actually, it is possible to boot Mac from external drive or a hard drive, but there are a few specific requirements needed for your Mac to become eligible for that process. Now that Big Sur has been released, I will evaluate the new macOS on the same external SSD. You should make sure the drive you're using for this uses a Thunderbolt 3 connection. I let it finish, the machine rebooted to the external drive, and it ran wonderfully! You should open Disk Utility and ask permission to repair disk. by Jenefey Aaron   Updated on 2020-01-10 / Update for  OS X, You may need to boot up your Mac using an external drive or boot volume once in a while, rather than using a start up disk. Here’s how to boot macOS Big Sur using external storage on the new Mac lineup. Using an external source like the USB drive helps the user get around the problem. Your Mac will then boot from the external drive instead of the internal storage. In order to make external hard drive bootable Windows 10, you need to format external hard drive at first. Reply. Once you have the files you'll want to install them on the external drive rather than your Mac, so be careful. So, this is how to boot Mac from USB drive. Follow and then boot Windows 10 from the bootable drive anywhere you want. The exact key combinations that can be used vary slightly from one type of Mac to another. Select Install macOS (or Install OS X) from the Utilities window, then click Continue and follow the onscreen instructions. Start up your Mac normally, connect the external drive. Intel unveiles new 'Alder Lake' chips that emulate Apple's ARM designs, Apple TV+ scores rights to Andy Samberg, Ben Stiller sci-fi comedy series, Qualcomm's latest under-display fingerprint sensor is 50% faster, Kingston debuts modular digital media dock with SD card, USB options, Anker's new accessory lineup includes magnetic iPhone cases, iPhone 12 stands, Popsockets announces upcoming MagSafe-compatible grips for iPhone 12, Pioneer introduces new modular in-dash receiver with wireless Apple Carplay, Apple releases iOS 12.5.1 for older iPhones with Exposure Notification bug fixes. January 3, 2021 No comment. Step 1: Insert the external hard drive into your computer. Have you formatted the USB drive with GUID partition? On booting to mac os the external drive mounted but is wasn’t called WIN10 but had been renamed to Untitled1. Startup Manager will begin scanning your device and you will be provided with a list of devices that are connected to your Mac. The second method, which follows, has users downloading the operating system and installing it as part of the process itself. 6. Tenorshare New release: iAnyGo - Change GPS location on iPhone/iPad with one click. All rights reserved. This way you can boot your Mac with an external USB drive, but the most critical part is to prepare the USB drive. You have to format the USB drive and insert the proper Operating System, which is OS X. Maybe you want to troubleshoot some problems, repair the disk, do partitions, format the entire disk, update, and install OS X etc. Choose the external drive and hit Enter to continue booting. If you are unable to startup the installer after connecting the USB drive to your Mac, then first you should try connecting it to a different USB port. Reply. In a non emergency controlled situation when your Mac is able to be booted normally from its internal drive you can select to boot from the external drive. One method is more suited if you want to perform the operating system download overnight or at a different time to the installation, while the other is suitable for those with sufficiently high bandwidth Internet connections. We have a complete guide to getting … Booting Your Mac Boot Clone in a Non Emergency. Here's how to boot macOS Big Sur using external storage on the new Mac lineup. ? With the Mac powered off, connect the external bootable drive to the Thunderbolt 3 port. Select the bootable external drive. As well as needing to be sufficient in capacity for your needs and fast, it also has to be compatible with the process itself, so you will need to use a drive that connects over Thunderbolt 3. This method has users downloading macOS beforehand, then installing it to the external disk as a separate action. The Mac App Store listing for macOS Big Sur. The key here is that it must connect using Thunderbolt 3. Copyright © 2007-2021 Tenorshare Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved. 1. Published Date: November 30, 2020 Finally, press "Return" key on the selected option to boot Mac. Thankfully, I did not prematurely stop the installation. You could also reinstall macOS to the internal drive instead of the external drive using the second method by selecting the internal drive, a method we have covered previously. Dominick says: August 13, 2020 at 3:51 pm I had the exact same problem. Write performance went from ~82.3 MiB/s to … Second, the CD or DVD you are using to boot must contain Apple’s Super Drive or if you are using a USB drive then it should be formatted with GUID Partition, and you are also required to install OS X installer. 2. You will be taken back to the macOS Recovery window where you will be asked whether you want to restart. If you have bought an M1-based Mac or MacBook but need to upgrade your storage without buying a brand new device, you can set up your Mac to run from an external drive. Apple is against booting Mac from an external storage device, because you may install an older version of OS X than the one you were using. If you want to select an external startup disk before restarting your Mac, quit Startup Security Utility, then choose Apple menu  > Startup Disk. If the main macOS installation fails, using an externally-bootable drive will allow a user to quickly get their Mac up and running without touching the internal storage, which can help with file retrieval and backing up before data is lost in a format. EaseUS Todo Backup can help you create a bootable external hard drive with the minimum time and effort. Reasons for Mac Boot from USB. It seems that something is preventing it from working with USB-C drives on a technical level, but Thunderbolt 3 drives work fine. Have you connected the USB drive properly? 3. So, a few FAQs are mentioned below which may help you when you are facing any difficulties. First, you have to have an Intel-Based Mac. All these are executed perfectly when you use an external boot volume to boot up your Mac. Therefore you can simply unplug it whenever you want to boot to your internal drive instead. Click the Apple icon and open “System Preferences”. Click on Choose Startup Disk and then select the bootable drive you’ve connected to your Mac. To boot from a connected external volume, connect the boot drive if you haven’t done so already, then hold down the OPTION key during system restart and select it during system start. 4. In researching the process, various Mac users have found success with non-Thunderbolt 3 drives, but under oddly specific circumstances without any real rhyme or reason for them working. If your Mac fails to boot from an external drive even though you have properly installed the OS X installer, then maybe your disk is damaged. Booting from an External Hard Drive on Mac. Figure out your computer's BIOS key on Windows. Turn on your Mac by pressing the power button or restart your computer if it is already running; Hold down the horkey for boots options: Option (Alt) key on the keyboard and hold until the boot menu appears; By continuing to use this site you agree to our use of cookies This way you can boot your Mac with an external USB drive, but the most critical part is to prepare the USB drive. It is probably the more favorable of the methods due to freeing up the time for the download to when the Internet connection isn't being used, such as at night or outside of business hours. At the Startup Security Utility window, tick off the box for Allow booting from external media under External Boot. If you have multiple USB drives connected, then the Startup Manager shall list the drives with the bootable OS. Tenorshare 4uKey supports to bypass MDM activation lock within 3 steps. There are two ways to actually install macOS Big Sur to the external drive. Some Windows install files were there but it won’t boot from the drive. This guide will explain how to do it. Turn the Mac back on with a long press of the power button, … You will have to complete the initial Mac setup process, but once that is complete and the desktop is accessible, you can shut down the Mac and disconnect the drive safely. Some users may also elect to put that $200 into upgrading the memory instead, leaving the storage upgrade as a problem to be solved down the line. If you have bought an M1-based Mac or MacBook but need to upgrade your storage without buying a brand new device, you can set up your Mac to run from an external drive. This will start the OS X installer from the CD/DVD on your Mac. You can easily store a bootable external Thunderbolt 3 drive on the flat top of an M1 Mac mini. For Intel-based Macs, there are already known processes that can be followed to create the bootable external drive, but the same instructions weren't readily available for M1-based Macs until late December, following experimentation by users. Using your USB drive to boot Mac is not as simple as you think. Your Mac will then restart and boot … You have to do it properly otherwise the Intel-Based Mac won't start. It is a utility data recovery tool capable of recovering any type of data from Mac with ease. The last thing you want is to go through all of this and discovering it fails halfway through because you used a USB-C drive instead of Thunderbolt 3, wasting your time and bandwidth in the process. Here’s how to boot macOS Big Sur using external storage on the new Mac lineup. Only boot from the built-in SSD or network system recovery. When the Mac restarts, it will automatically boot from the external disk. While this article is more about making it possible to have an M1-based Mac that has more primary storage, the same principle can be used to create a bootable drive for emergencies. Open your Mac or restart the device if you were already using it. Finally, press "Return" key on the selected option to boot Mac. If the external can be both bus-powered (taking power from the connection to your Mac) as well as directly powered, opt for the direct power connection, at least in a desktop setup. Connect the external drive or device to the Mac Reboot the Mac and after the startup chime hold down the OPTION key during boot until you see the boot selection menu Click the external volume to boot from it You will find that external drives typically are shown with an orange icon, with their interface printed on the icon itself. For PowerPC-based Macs, the external drive … You can easily burn a bootable image of OS X on a DVD by using Disk Utility. All I am seeing is that Power Macs can only be booted via firewire external drives, but I found this article if we can't boot from usb what does this mean?? Save yourself the time and just use a Thunderbolt 3 drive from the outset. What computers are at risk To get around the limited storage, older Mac models allowed for the drive to be replaced, however that option simply isn't available for the Apple Silicon Macs. Format external hard drive.