So Apple now supports booting from externals . . .

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Level 7

23,736 points

So Apple now supports booting from externals . . .

Eighteen months ago when I announced my intention to boot my new M2 mini from an external SSD I was met with cries of horror from many who warned of dire consequences.

On a few occasions when I had a slight problem it was hinted that it was a result of booting externally as it was something that Apple never intended.

Lo and behold, we now have a beautiful detailed Apple document describing exactly how to go about it!

Install macOS on an external storage device and use it as a startup disk – Apple Support (UK)

Having been doing it for over a year the only downsides I have discovered are the lack of Apple AI and Apple Pay, neither of which I use, though if I did I would simply boot into the internal SSD.

I've posted this as I feel my actions were justified in spite of the "warnings" and as an encouragement to others wanting to take the same path.

Mac mini, macOS 15.4

Posted on Apr 15, 2025 01:02 AM

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Answer 1

Apr 15, 2025 05:03 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

I have been external booting my M1 Mac since Big Sur, which at that time was a bit of an adventure because of the new Apple Silicon but has smoothed out since then. My decision to do it was because of Apples move at the time to solder in storage components and did not want the wear and tear on the internal SSD.

Even before that, I have been external booting primarily to run older versions of macOS for apps that were not yet supported on the newer versions all the way back to my 2011 MacMini.

The only thing that changed in recent years is trying to clone to create an external bootable drive has become problematic.

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Answer 2

nlel

Level 1

53 points

Apr 15, 2025 07:09 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

Been booting my Mac mini M4 off an external enclosure since the 16/03/24. Received the enclosure on the 11/03/24 and used it as an external storage drive for a few days until I found out you can install macOS on an external enclosure and boot from it.

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Answer 3

Ian R. Brown Author

Level 7

23,736 points

Apr 15, 2025 10:10 AM in response to nlel

I'm always late to the party but it was only back in November 2023 that a number of people on these forums were telling me it was a bad idea.

With Apple's pricing policy it makes even more sense than ever.

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Answer 4

Apr 16, 2025 05:20 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

Before the advent of Apple Silicon Macs, having a bootable external drive was a positive since if anything happened on the internal drive rendering its operation useless, you could easily reboot to the external and continue work until you had time to deal with the problem.

However, since Apple Silicon, the whole boot process is now entirely dependent on the internal SSD and if it suffers a physical failure, you have a Mac brick and cannot boot it by any means.

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