Unable to set up NVMe for ext Sonoma

[apostolosdt]

What am I doing wrong with this?

- Wanted to install Sonoma on external Samsung NVMe 500GB in a Icy Box enclosure.
- Formatted as APFS on Studio.
- Connected thru back, then front, TB4/USB-C ports.
- Downloaded Sonoma 14.4 installer on Studio via Terminal.
- Started procedure "by the book".
- Then, while 28 min (always!) to finish, disk's name auto-changes into "...-Data" and it stops responding.

Most reasonable explanation I found in Internet was that Icy Box cannot draw more than 4.5W power; OK, so what?

One more question: What is, in your opinion, a decent TB4 ext disk for this purpose?

 

[chabig]

When you formatted the SSD, did you select GUID Partition Format?

 

[apostolosdt]

Thanks, chabig. I'm afraid yes.

 

[DeltaMac]

You did not say if you created a bootable USB installer with your downloaded Sonoma installer.
What process did you use to do that?

 

[Bigwaff]

How to install macOS on an external drive

Worried about installing macOS Monterey beta on your Mac? Don't want to run macOS as your main system? Run it on an external drive.

www.macworld.com

 

[chabig]

What am I doing wrong with this?

Do you mind if I ask what you're hoping to accomplish? An external boot drive on a Studio seems like a terrible idea to me because it will be far slower than the very speedy internal SSD.

 

[apostolosdt]

Do you mind if I ask what you're hoping to accomplish? An external boot drive on a Studio seems like a terrible idea to me because it will be far slower than the very speedy internal SSD.

Thanks for bringing me back to reason. 🤣

I happened to have that NVMe unused and said to myself why not experimenting a bit? Otherwise, I do run a Parallels VM Sonoma for testing new stuff; recently, though, it stopped showing shared volumes and made its usefulness questionable. Thus, the attempt to create an ext OS. Anyway, I give it up. Thanks for your comments; hopefully, they will be of help to others.

 

[Fishrrman]

I think your problem is due to the enclosure you're using (Icy Box).

Get a "simple" USB3.1 gen2 enclosure (the long, narrow kind).
Connect to the Mac.
Open disk utility, and VERY IMPORTANT, go to the view menu and choose "show all devices".
Now locate the physical nvme drive and erase it to APFS, GUID partition format.

Now quit disk utility, open the OS installer, and try again...

 

[apostolosdt]

I think your problem is due to the enclosure you're using (Icy Box).

Get a "simple" USB3.1 gen2 enclosure (the long, narrow kind). [...]

Yes, I absolutely agree with you. Icy Box enclosures are fine; I have three of them, mainly for running VMs, but not for every use.

 

[steve123]

Are you doing this on an Intel mac or Apple Silicon? You do not mention which machine. AS machines will not normally boot an external disk. You have to do some contortions to override the security protections. Is the Icy Box TB or USB?

 

[apostolosdt]

Are you doing this on an Intel mac or Apple Silicon? You do not mention which machine. AS machines will not normally boot an external disk. You have to do some contortions to override the security protections. Is the Icy Box TB or USB?

Apple Silicon, and I wasn’t aware of this restriction—thanks. In fact, I’m not aware of many “little secrets” in running OS externally, that’s why I abandoned it. Anyway, Icy Box connects via USB-C 3.1 (Gen 2) or USB-A.

 

[HDFan]

An external boot drive on a Studio seems like a terrible idea to me because it will be far slower than the very speedy internal SSD.

Depends on the speed of the external SSD. My OWC Envoy Pro ~2570 MB/s isn't as fast as my internal SSD but not sure I see a difference when booting.

 

[Bigwaff]

In fact, I’m not aware of many “little secrets” in running OS externally,

No “secrets”. Just documented information.

 

[Fishrrman]

steve123 wrote:
"AS machines will not normally boot an external disk."

This is incorrect.
I think the operative word is "normally".

I have a bootable backup drive for my MacBook Pro 14" (m1pro).
I installed a copy of Sonoma onto an "empty" drive, and then migrated my data to it.

I maintain the drive using CarbonCopyCloner (which doesn't touch the sealed system volume, but incrementally updates everything else).

I can (and DO) boot from this backup now and then.

The option key no longer works (to invoke the startup manager).
Instead, you have to press AND HOLD the power-on button to bring up the startup options, and then "get in" that way.

Some things I have discovered about booting externally when using an Apple Silicon Mac:
- Best to use an SSD.
- Doesn't work well (or at all) when trying to do this with a platter-based HDD. They're just too slow now.
- Impossible (or next-to impossible) to create a fully booting working copy of the OS on a USB flashdrive -- again, either too slow or lacks the proper disk controller.

 

[apostolosdt]

UPDATE TO MY PREVIOUS POSTS:

Like I said, the entire project was sort of an experiment. And I felt I couldn't withdraw without figuring out what I was doing wrong. So, please, bear with me on that latest update.

My fault, as already indicated by others, was to try to install macOS Sonoma on an SSD inside an inappropriate enclosure. Once I switched to a Samsung T7, connected to a TB4 port at the back of the Studio, the process was "textbook" and the Sonoma was eventually installed on the T7.

I'm not planning to use it, but some remarks may be useful to an interested reader.
- I simply followed the numerous instructions from the Internet.
- At around 30 minutes before completion, the disk's name was assigned an extra "Data" word. It turned out it was a standard step; the extra word disappeared upon completion.
- No noticeable speed reduction as compared to running Sonoma from the internal SSD.
- Parallels VMs run OK, except for the Sonoma VM, which has to be created as new.
- Be generous with the external disk to use. I already had the T7; if I had to buy a brand new, I would go for a T9.

Thanks again for your helpful comments.