Cannot Boot from External SSD 1/M1

[Mike Boreham]

any news if here existing os in external success ?

No, a Big Sur installation created on an Intel Mac will not boot an M1 Mac.

I just did a fresh install of 11.1 release from Recovery, onto a new volume on an external Samsung T5, all done on my Intel iMac.

This volume will not boot my M1 MacBook Air, either from Startup Disk pref pane or Options Boot.

From Startup Disk I get this:

From Options Boot I get this:

 

[alien3dx]

I just did a fresh install of 11.1 release from Recovery, onto a new volume on an external Samsung T5, all done on my Intel iMac.

This volume will not boot my M1 MacBook Air, either from Startup Disk pref pane or Options Boot.

From Startup Disk I get this:

View attachment 1697455

From Options Boot I get this:

View attachment 1697456

thanks mate for information, I will hold purchase till they fix this bugs. My iMac 2017 is second time been repaired(waiting for shop to solve it) and I used external hard disk to boot. If I bought one if available like this bugs, I will be headache a lot . I prefer os in external since internal all been soldered.

 

[Mike Boreham]

thanks mate for information, I will hold purchase till they fix this bugs. My iMac 2017 is second time been repaired(waiting for shop to solve it) and I used external hard disk to boot. If I bought one if available like this bugs, I will be headache a lot . I prefer os in external since internal all been soldered.

I am not sure Apple will see this as a bug to be fixed.

I am doing another test to see if it is possible have the same external volume able to boot both Intel and Silicon.....by running the Silicon installer on the M1 on top of existing Intel install. It may make it bootable on Silicon but no longer on Intel, or maybe bootable on both.

 

[alien3dx]

I am not sure Apple will see this as a bug to be fixed.

I am doing another test to see if it is possible have the same external volume able to boot both Intel and Silicon.....by running the Silicon installer on the M1 on top of existing Intel install. It may make it bootable on Silicon but no longer on Intel, or maybe bootable on both.

thanks mate. hope good result.

 

[Mike Boreham]

thanks mate. hope good result.

Afraid not.

Running the installer on the Intel iMac over the silicon-booting external converted it to being bootable on the Intel iMac, but then it no longer booted the silicon M1. Doing it the other way round the install failed with an error message.

So I don't think it is possible to have a single external volume which will boot both Silicon and Intel.

It wouldn't surprise me if someone else succeeds. It is all very new and results not consistent.

 

[Luposian]

I really don't understand what people don't understand about Intel and M1 are NOT compatible! They are NOT the same computer. They're both CALLED Macs, and they both run Big Sur, but that does NOT make them compatible! Are Windows on ARM and Windows 10 (Intel) app compatible? If not, then, there... you have your comparison.

Same difference with the 68K Macs and the PowerPC Macs, back in the day (90's), during that transition period. They both ran System 7.1.x, but that didn't mean you could just treat them like a single continuation.

Perhap part of the problem is a lack of concise explaination by Apple. Part of it is people's expectations/wants. But the sooner people stop trying to "have their cake and eat it, too", the easier this transition will be for people.

My suggestion (what I would do) is: Copy your "personal data" (text files and documents and such) from your Intel Mac to a neutral format (FAT32 or similar) drive that can be read by Big Sur on the M1 Mac. Set up your M1 Mac, then copy your data over. Stop trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. You'll spare yourself a lot of headache and frustration and disappointment.

 

[alien3dx]

I really don't understand what people don't understand about Intel and M1 are NOT compatible! They are NOT the same computer. They're both CALLED Macs, and they both run Big Sur, but that does NOT make them compatible! Are Windows on ARM and Windows 10 (Intel) app compatible? If not, then, there... you have your comparison.

Same difference with the 68K Macs and the PowerPC Macs, back in the day (90's), during that transition period. They both ran System 7.1.x, but that didn't mean you could just treat them like a single continuation.

Perhap part of the problem is a lack of concise explaination by Apple. Part of it is people's expectations/wants. But the sooner people stop trying to "have their cake and eat it, too", the easier this transition will be for people.

My suggestion (what I would do) is: Copy your "personal data" (text files and documents and such) from your Intel Mac to a neutral format (FAT32 or similar) drive that can be read by Big Sur on the M1 Mac. Set up your M1 Mac, then copy your data over. Stop trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. You'll spare yourself a lot of headache and frustration and disappointment.

It depend, some work required specific thing. If not possible for me i just wait or abandon mac platform.

 

[Mike Boreham]

My suggestion (what I would do) is: Copy your "personal data" (text files and documents and such) from your Intel Mac to a neutral format (FAT32 or similar) drive that can be read by Big Sur on the M1 Mac. Set up your M1 Mac, then copy your data over.

Alien3dx's problem is not Windows to Mac compatibility it is Mac (Silicon) to Mac (Intel) compatibility so he doesn't need to use FAT32 for that.
Just in case there is any confusion here, both Mac (Silicon) and Mac (Intel) will read and write to a common external drive formatted APFS, or HFS+, so having all his personal data on an external drive will not be a problem for either Silicon or Intel.

 

[Mac... nificent]

any news if here existing os in external success ?

I have ordered a new NVMe M.20 2280 PCIe SSD enclosure. I have heard that this is the only way to have rock solid success as a boot drive for the new M1. I will know if this works or not probably by tomorrow.

 

[Mac... nificent]

I just did a fresh install of 11.1 release from Recovery, onto a new volume on an external Samsung T5, all done on my Intel iMac.

I have not seen any reports that Samsung drives are supported. Several drive enclosure manufactures have told me that especially the Samsung 970 EVO Plus and the Samsung 960 EVO Plus are not supported by M1. The only drives that are verified working so far are the WD Black SN750 and the Inland Premium NVMe M.2 2280 SSD. I will know more in a day or two as I will be testing them with my M1. Fingers crossed.

​

 

[Mike Boreham]

I have not seen any reports that Samsung drives are supported. Several drive enclosure manufactures have told me that especially the Samsung 970 EVO Plus and the Samsung 960 EVO Plus are not supported by M1. The only drives that are verified working so far are the WD Black SN750 and the Inland Premium NVMe M.2 2280 SSD. I will know more in a day or two as I will be testing them with my M1. Fingers crossed.

Puzzled. My report above is one verifying Samsung T5 works. Mike Bombich maker of CCC also used a Samsung T5.

Maybe my posts about cross booting between externals created on Intel and M1 Macs, which does NOT work with Samsung T5 and I suspect with any kind of drive, confused. Simple installing from my M1 MBA onto an Samsung T5 works fine, either installed from Recovery or from a bootable USB.

 

[Mac... nificent]

Mike Bombich maker of CCC also used a Samsung T5.

Where did you see that he was using a T5 to boot into a M1?

I was just on his site and couldn't find any reference to this?

 

[Mike Boreham]

Where did you see that he was using a T5 to boot into a M1?

I was just on his site and couldn't find any reference to this?

In a support response by email. He was using an M1 MBA and Samsung T5. If you have CCC you could email him yourself from within the app. The only ways to do a CCC restore at present involve installing onto an external from Recovery or a bootable USB. If you can't do that you can't restore using CCC, so have a support need.

 

[Mac... nificent]

So I don't think it is possible to have a single external volume which will boot both Silicon and Intel.

Correct, they are not compatible.

I think this was one of my first mistakes, assuming that they were compatible.

If true, then my new backup should work with the M1.

 

[Mac... nificent]

If true, then my new backup should work with the M1.

UPDATE: Got the new NVMe M.2 hard drive and enclosure. Installed everything on it. Using Thunderbolt 3 to connect.

It does not boot correctly.

Same issue as before, where it does not assign an admin account, so you can't login.

It's looking like Apple is going to be getting this Mac mini back soon.

 

[Mike Boreham]

The process does seem flaky and variable. After previous successes I have had four failed attempts here to the same T5 as last time. Twice from Recovery and twice from USB installers. All four times the install part failed for different reasons, it never got as far as attempting to boot from the external. The fifth time it installed but failed to boot.

Personally, I wouldn't rush to return to Apple for this reason, unless you need this capability right now. My prediction is that it will get fixed. I don't need the capability, I just like testing and banging my head against things that don't work which I think should be working.

 

[Mac... nificent]

My prediction is that it will get fixed.

Based on what? Apple has been totally silent on this issue.

 

[Mike Boreham]

Based on what? Apple has been totally silent on this issue.

Obviously I can't know, but the fact that it has worked for some of us some of the time means that it is not failing to work as a matter of Apple policy, which I thought it might be at one point. If it had been policy I wouldn't have held out much hope of it being fixed.

Also Mike Bombich of CCC, as developer of a high profile app that relies on it and an ex-Apple employee has deep contacts in Apple and clearly sees it as something that ought to work and which Apple are working on.

Apple is totally silent on nearly every issue until it becomes a national headline.

I think this issue is one of the joys of being on the bleed edge.

 

[alien3dx]

UPDATE: Got the new NVMe M.2 hard drive and enclosure. Installed everything on it. Using Thunderbolt 3 to connect.

It does not boot correctly.

Same issue as before, where it does not assign an admin account, so you can't login.

It's looking like Apple is going to be getting this Mac mini back soon.

thanks for update ..

 

[1240766]

Setting up “BS-Intel...”

what does BS stand for ...

Sorry just had to....

 

[jazz1]

Obviously I can't know, but the fact that it has worked for some of us some of the time means that it is not failing to work as a matter of Apple policy, which I thought it might be at one point. If it had been policy I wouldn't have held out much hope of it being fixed.

Also Mike Bombich of CCC, as developer of a high profile app that relies on it and an ex-Apple employee has deep contacts in Apple and clearly sees it as something that ought to work and which Apple are working on.

Apple is totally silent on nearly every issue until it becomes a national headline.

I think this issue is one of the joys of being on the bleed edge.

I like what you said about Apple, even though I have been a long term fan, their relative silence on issues bugs me. Even after a fix is out, they seem to just fold it silently into an "update". That bothers me because an end user may have abandoned, by that time, a device or software that gets fixed eventually.

Sorry to be grumpy about this topic. I'm enjoying my M1 MacMini. I don't regret the purchase. But just when I think the monitor blackouts have stopped (going from Big Sur 11.01 to 11.1, I find they aren't. Kind of like being in tech. purgatory

 

[Mac... nificent]

OK I can't believe I'm saying this but... I just booted into my M1 from my external drive!

Side note: having said that I don't know (just yet) if this is repeatable. Meaning, others have booted externally too but then the next day they weren't able to boot back in from the external, so I haven't gotten that far yet.

I'm just sitting here stunned that I even got this far...

I'm going to do more testing, and will report back what I learn later tonight.

 

[Mac... nificent]

Here is a list if what has been verified (so far) that we know works:

Apple M1 Verified External Boot Equipment:

NVMe M.2 SSD:
Inland Professional PCIe NVMe 2280 M.2
Inland Premium PCIe NVMe 2280 M.2
WD PCIe NVMe M.2 SN750
Plugable TBT3-NVME 1TB Thunderbolt 3
Sabrent XTRM Q 1TB

USB Hard Drives:
Sandisk Ultra 3D SATA
Samsung T5 V-NAND USB 3.1 External

NVMe Enclosures:
Trebleet Thunderbolt 3 NVMe PCIe M.2 (B07N67P39W)

USB Enclosures:
Startech USB 3.0 251BMU313

Adapters:
Apple USB-C to USB (MJ1M2AM/A)

Cables:
Apple Thunderbolt (0.8) (MQ4H2AM/A)
Apple Thunderbolt 3 Pro (2m) (MWP32AM/A)
Leirui Thunderbolt 3 (3 Feet) (B08561NV9H)
Trebleet Thunderbolt 3 100W (0.5) (B07XG2XXFH)

Supported macOS:
11.01 - No
11.1 - Yes
11.2 - Not tested

 

[alien3dx]

Here is a list if what has been verified (so far) that we know works:

Apple M1 Verified External Boot Equipment:

NVMe M.2 SSD:
Inland Professional PCIe NVMe 2280 M.2
Inland Premium PCIe NVMe 2280 M.2
WD PCIe NVMe M.2 SN750

USB Hard Drives:
Sandisk Ultra 3D SATA
Samsung T5 V-NAND USB 3.1 External

NVMe Enclosures:
Trebleet Thunderbolt 3 NVMe PCIe M.2 (B07N67P39W)

USB Enclosures:
Startech USB 3.0 251BMU313

Adapters:
Apple USB-C to USB (MJ1M2AM/A)

Cables:
Apple Thunderbolt (0.8) (MQ4H2AM/A)
Apple Thunderbolt 3 Pro (2m) (MWP32AM/A)
Leirui Thunderbolt 3 (3 Feet) (B08561NV9H)
Trebleet Thunderbolt 3 100W (0.5) (B07XG2XXFH)

Supported macOS:
11.01 - No
11.1 - Yes
11.2 - Not tested

seem my future , egpu become pci m2 lol but the bandwith pretty high.In future if i bought m1 will try it.

 

[ADGrant]

I really don't understand what people don't understand about Intel and M1 are NOT compatible! They are NOT the same computer. They're both CALLED Macs, and they both run Big Sur, but that does NOT make them compatible! Are Windows on ARM and Windows 10 (Intel) app compatible? If not, then, there... you have your comparison.

Same difference with the 68K Macs and the PowerPC Macs, back in the day (90's), during that transition period. They both ran System 7.1.x, but that didn't mean you could just treat them like a single continuation.

Perhap part of the problem is a lack of concise explaination by Apple. Part of it is people's expectations/wants. But the sooner people stop trying to "have their cake and eat it, too", the easier this transition will be for people.

My suggestion (what I would do) is: Copy your "personal data" (text files and documents and such) from your Intel Mac to a neutral format (FAT32 or similar) drive that can be read by Big Sur on the M1 Mac. Set up your M1 Mac, then copy your data over. Stop trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. You'll spare yourself a lot of headache and frustration and disappointment.

I was also a little surprised that people were expecting to be able to boot an Intel version of MacOS on an ARM Mac. I think the confusion shows what a great job Apple has done to make the transition as seamless as possible.

I don’t things are quite as different as you suggest though. Big Sur on ARM supports APFS just like Big Sur on Intel. A word document would have an identical disk image on both ARM and Intel. Unlike the 68k and PowerPC Macs, the ARM and Intel Macs are both little endian so while CPU instructions are different, data should look the same on both systems. When I setup a new Mac though much of my data is in iCloud and the rest I transfer via a NAS. An M1 Mac can access a NAS in the same way as an Intel Mac and you can install dmgs with x86 images just fine (you will need Rosetta to run them of course). ARM/Intel universal binaries can also be run from a shared network drive.

The internal SSD on almost all current Intel Macs isn’t even accessed directly by the Intel CPU, access is via a T2 chip which is a 64bit ARM coprocessor based on the A10 in the iPhone7.