Testing Big Sur on Mac Mini?

[dbrewood]

One question that I'm hopeful somebody in here may know the answer to. I use a Mac Mini (2018), and when it comes out I'm considering testing out Big Sur. I'd be looking to run it from a 128Gb USB drive which would be plugged into a USB3 hub. Is this feasible or would I need to buy a USB C drive and plug that directly into the Mac?

 

[TETENAL]

You would need an external SSD. macOS is dog slow when run from a spinning hard drive.

One thing to keep in mind with the Mac mini is that the T2 firmware cannot be downgraded when something goes wrong.

 

[dbrewood]

I'd be looking to use an Integral XCEL USB 3 128Gb stick.

 

[harriska2]

Do they have like a 256 or 500gig SSD that you plug into a lightning port for the 2018 mac mini? I'd also like to try that and keep my 1 TB mojave. Is that possible?

 

[TETENAL]

I'd be looking to use an Integral XCEL USB 3 128Gb stick.

USB-stick won't work. They get hot very quickly, and then the transfer rate grinds to halt. You will need a proper external SSD.

 

[dbrewood]

USB-stick won't work. They get hot very quickly, and then the transfer rate grinds to halt. You will need a proper external SSD.

Darn...... so it looks like the only option will be to partition the hard drive on the Mini ..... ?

 

[richmlow]

Hello dbrewood,


I understand your excitement to try out the macOS Big Sur beta. I had entertained that thought also!

However, a casual search of the Macrumors forums indicates that it may not be worth the risk at this point in time.

For example, see

WARNING: Activation Lock after Big Sur Install

Hey everybody, wanted to provide a word of caution to those considering installing the beta. I woke up this morning to my Mac in Activation Lock and saying that my Mac is linked to another Apple ID. I tried everything (booting into recovery mode, safe mode, erasing and removing from iCloud) and...

forums.macrumors.com

I personally would not recommend installing Big Sur right now. If you can't resist the temptation, you should
install Big Sur on a completely self-contained, non-critical system. If the install breaks the system, then you'll still be OK.

Good luck on your decision.


richmlow

Darn...... so it looks like the only option will be to partition the hard drive on the Mini ..... ?

 

[dbrewood]

@richmlow Thanks for that! I'll leave it well alone then, that is something I could not live with!

 

[tundramac]

Second release installed directly on 2018 MacMini - no issues. Had to clear out some local snapshots to clear up HD space for install. SO far all good after 24 hours.