MP 1,1-5,1 Finally selling my 2010 cMP - how to re-install fresh Mojave with an RX580?

[mavots]

Hey guys,

I am finally selling my 2010 cMP (w/ RX 580).
All my drives are erased except for the SSD boot drive. How do I go about making a factory /fresh install on the SSD?
I had a copy of the Mojave 10.14.16 install (6GB) on a bootable USB 3 flash drive just for this purpose but when I went to use it, an error said it was damaged. Option key did not work at boot up.
I have since downloaded a fresh copy of Mojave 10.14.16 onto another external drive.

Without the boot screen (RX 580 GPU), I can't install Mojave from the Recovery Disk (right?) since the option key does not work while booting.
I'm thinking of cloning my boot drive to an external Samsung T3 and re-booting from that drive. Then I can erase the SSD and re-install a fresh copy on it. I assume I can choose which drive to install the OS onto, right?

What do you think? The RX 580 is making this a little more difficult than normal.

 

[minifridge1138]

You should still be able to use recovery mode with the RX58.

If the SSD has been wiped and you plug in the USB installer and reboot, then it should boot the installer because that’s the only bootable media. You’ll just see a blank screen for a while before the installer shows up.

 

[MarkC426]

Alternatively, leave one of your other blank drives in, and install Mojave to it from your boot drive, then remove the boot drive.

 

[h9826790]

Hold "Command + R" to boot, then you can do whatever you want

 

[flaubert]

Another tip: based on my experience, my cMP 2010 will only boot successfully into Recovery Mode with Cmd-R if I connect a single display to my graphics card. And it takes a lot longer time than a simple boot into the standard operating system.

 

[mavots]

Well, I solved the problem and sadly, sold my trusty Mac Pro.
I ended up removing the SSD from the cMP and put it into an enclosure and plugged it into my 2018 Mac Mini. Disk Utility on the MM did its thing and partitioned the SSD into a single AFPS drive with no problem.
I'm thinking maybe the DU on the Mac pro was not up to date. Anyhow, that solved the problem and I was able to clean the cMP of my stuff and sell it.
Sigh.