To understand what might go wrong when trying to boot an Apple silicon Mac from an external disk, start with LocalPolicy: what it is, and how it works.
M2
Why can some with Apple silicon Macs create and boot from external disks, while others seem doomed to failure?
Three phases of updating, download, preparation and installation, are now fully integrated. They also involve updating Cryptexes, as revealed in the log.
This has changed greatly over the last few versions of macOS, and differs between different types of Mac. Here’s an outline.
Described and illustrated, with key points on cables, and setting up ownership and accounts. And what does happen when the external boot disk is missing?
Why your Mac’s firmware version may not be the latest you expect. What you can do about that, depending on its type.
Virtual CPU cores are of one type, and QoS has no effect in virtualised macOS. This has consequences for both the host and guest macOS.
Many apps could benefit users of Apple silicon Macs by giving them controls over core use by their threads. Here’s how that can be done simply and effectively.
How you can use the taskpolicy command to confine all the threads of a process to the E cores, as a brake, but there’s no accelerator in macOS.
How can the two E cores in an M1 Pro or Max equal performance of the four in the original M1? Why does running two threads complete in half the time taken to run one?
The Eclectic Light Company 