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Can I use an external SSD for Everything (instead of the internal)

A

ahhhyeah

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 30, 2015
28
1
Hi,
I have a macbook 2017 13'
I tried to install Monterey and it said it can't because I have SMART Errors and the drive can't be repaired and to backup

I looked at disk utility in normal and in recovery mode and both said it's ok

Then I went About this Mac > System Report > Storage
and it says S.M.A.R.T. Status: Failing

So, I'm trying to find out if it's really failing and what to do

I'm in a country where replacing will be very hard and expensive

But I have an SSD I bought for an old macbook 2012,
but never used. I also bought a case for it so I could use it like an external one

So, my question is, can I use it on the 2017 model? It won't fit obviously, so can it be external,
but still boot up and run the OS, etc (I don't know the correct terminology, but hopefully you get what I mean)

Any advice on this (and also trying to figure out if the SSD is actually failing or what the problem is) would be much appreciated

Thanks!
 
I have three iMacs that I run with external drives. One was booting with an external drive for that last 5 years.

For MacOS, you shouldn’t have any problems with using an external boot drive on an Intel Mac.

If you use a USB drive instead of a TB drive, you could have premature wear issues on your external SSD due to the lack of TRIM support. This could lead to slow downs, especially on writes, and shorten the lifespan of the SSD.

That said, there are people that use external USB SSDs as a boot drive for years without issues.

TB has TRIM support on MacOS.

If you do or plan on having Windows on your Mac, boot camp doesn’t support external drives.
 
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I assume user files are backed up, if not, do so immediately, to a different external than your unused ssd. Make any security adjustments you might need to boot off an external. Format the external APFS. Clone your current drive to the external. Set SysPrefs to boot off the external. Done.

What you want to do is simple. However, if this is all new to you, ask and folks will guide you through what are simple steps. If you have a failing drive, your best insurance is act now before you lose it.
 
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Ray2 said:
I assume user files are backed up, if not, do so immediately, to a different external than your unused ssd. Make any security adjustments you might need to boot off an external. Format the external APFS. Clone your current drive to the external. Set SysPrefs to boot off the external. Done.

What you want to do is simple. However, if this is all new to you, ask and folks will guide you through what are simple steps. If you have a failing drive, your best insurance is act now before you lose it.
Click to expand...
Agreed

The OP should stop trying to find out if the SSD is actually failing until all data is backed up on an external drive. This backup should NOT be a TimeMachine drive. It should, preferably, be a bootable clone of the internal (Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper).
 
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1. Format the external SSD to APFS, GUID partition format

2. Use either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to clone the contents of the internal drive to the external drive. CCC and SD are FREE to download and use for 30 days, doing this will cost you nothing.

3. To make the external drive the boot drive, go to the startup disk preference pane and set it there.

Once you have the external drive running with all your stuff, you might consider completely erasing the internal drive, and see if that clears up the errors.
a. use disk utility to erase it to APFS
b. once done, the drive is "empty"
c. run disk utility's "first aid" feature on it.
d. do you get "a good report"?
e. if so, REPEAT the "first aid" test about five times in a row
f. get a good report every time?
g. if so, then I'd try booting to internet recovery (command-OPTION-R) -- then try installing Monterey onto it.
 
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Juicy Box said:
If you do or plan on having Windows on your Mac, boot camp doesn’t support external drives.
Click to expand...
Using Wintousb it is possible to run Windows from external USB drive. I have a 128GB experimental SSD which I partitioned 50/50 to run macOS and Windows externally. It works very well.

To summarize, it is possible to run both macOS and Windows from the same USB external drive with no problem.
 
Juicy Box said:
Can Wintousb be used with BootCamp?
Click to expand...
Yes. However, the procedure is slightly different. You do not create a Bootcamp partition as usual. What you do is use the Disk Utility to create a partition on the USB drive, format it NTFS and then use an existing working Windows from an internal drive (this could be a working Windows PC for example) and using the WinToUSB app on the PC transfer the Windows to the external USB drive. Mind you, you can use a bootable Windows installation flash drive to install a fresh Windows if you don't have a Windows to clone.

In order to download your machine specific Windows drivers, use the Bootcamp App on your Mac, from the Bootcamp menu, select Action/Download Windows Support Software. Save it somewhere because you will need it to install Bootcamp drivers afterwards.

When everything is done, plug the USB drive to the Mac and boot it while pressing the "Alt option" key to select the EFI drive.

Then copy and use the Windows Support Software that you downloaded and install Bootcamp drivers. Once it's done properly, basically you will have an external Bootcamp partition on the USB drive.

WinToUSB should have all the necessary instructions which I tried summarize above.
 
ahhhyeah said:
But I have an SSD I bought for an old macbook 2012,
but never used. I also bought a case for it so I could use it like an external one
Click to expand...

What is the case interface? Might be unusable if the case has a slow connector.
 
HDFan said:
What is the case interface? Might be unusable if the case has a slow connector.
Click to expand...
If the case is USB3 you can probably use it with not much difficulty. If the interface is USB2 however, it willl be excruciatingly slow.
 
Do you use icloud?

If so, that could complicate things depending on whether or not you always keep your external drive connected to your mac (things are simpler if you're always connected to it)
 
bingeciren said:
If the case is USB3 you can probably use it with not much difficulty. If the interface is USB2 however, it willl be excruciatingly slow.
Click to expand...
Ahh, good point. USB 2 Orico 5v 900mA. I think it's going to be slow
 
jav6454 said:
A failing drive in a 2017 machine? Have you taken it to Apple? SSDs Apple uses aren't intended to degrade that quickly.
Click to expand...
I'm wondering if it's got something to do with this

Apple Service Program status - Apple Support

Apple Service Program status
support.apple.com
(Firmware problem)
My computer came up as one that needs to be taken in. But I'm in Argentina, with no mac stores. They had approved repairers, but quarantine came and was unable to take it during the period. I've spoken with some stores about it, but they've got no idea what I'm talking about. So, even if I pay for it, haven't been able to find one that can do it.
 
Juicy Box said:
I have three iMacs that I run with external drives. One was booting with an external drive for that last 5 years.

For MacOS, you shouldn’t have any problems with using an external boot drive on an Intel Mac.

If you use a USB drive instead of a TB drive, you could have premature wear issues on your external SSD due to the lack of TRIM support. This could lead to slow downs, especially on writes, and shorten the lifespan of the SSD.

That said, there are people that use external USB SSDs as a boot drive for years without issues.

TB has TRIM support on MacOS.

If you do or plan on having Windows on your Mac, boot camp doesn’t support external drives.
Click to expand...
Thanks!
 
Fishrrman said:
1. Format the external SSD to APFS, GUID partition format

2. Use either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to clone the contents of the internal drive to the external drive. CCC and SD are FREE to download and use for 30 days, doing this will cost you nothing.

3. To make the external drive the boot drive, go to the startup disk preference pane and set it there.

Once you have the external drive running with all your stuff, you might consider completely erasing the internal drive, and see if that clears up the errors.
a. use disk utility to erase it to APFS
b. once done, the drive is "empty"
c. run disk utility's "first aid" feature on it.
d. do you get "a good report"?
e. if so, REPEAT the "first aid" test about five times in a row
f. get a good report every time?
g. if so, then I'd try booting to internet recovery (command-OPTION-R) -- then try installing Monterey onto it.
Click to expand...



Awesome! Thanks for the details from yourself and everyone else!! Really appreciated!
 
StephanieSy said:
What is the best format for an external hard drive Mac and PC?
Click to expand...
If you want to access the same drive both from Windows and macOS, probably Exfat or Fat32, however Fat32 has 4gb file size limitation. macOS can read NTFS drives but cannot write to them. There are third-party applications to read and write to NTFS drives for macOS however.
 
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