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DFU port

Create a bootable external disk for Apple silicon Macs in Tahoe

T T Read More

Apple silicon Macs were designed to boot almost as securely from external disks as from their internal SSD. That makes macOS installation a little more complicated. Here’s how to do that.

December 9, 2025 Macs, Technology

Last Week on My Mac: A boot mystery solved?

It took over 6 months before creating bootable external disks was fairly reliable, and even then there were unexplained failures. Did someone fail to tell us something?

January 19, 2025 Macs, Technology

Create an external bootable disk for Apple silicon and Intel Macs

T T Read More

Two important catches that can cause a macOS installation to fail in Apple silicon: using the DFU port, and not setting up ownership correctly. Both are explained here.

January 15, 2025 Macs, Technology

Thunderbolt ports aren’t all the same

Some support USB4, others don’t. Some share the controller, others don’t. Some support DFU mode but then can’t be used to create a bootable external disk on Apple silicon.

January 14, 2025 Macs, Technology
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