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Startup Disk

What makes an external disk bootable?

This has changed greatly over the last few versions of macOS, and differs between different types of Mac. Here’s an outline.

November 12, 2022 Macs, Technology

Startup disk surgery in recent macOS: fixing bigger problems

When a startup disk is running short of space, needs a good clean up, or isn’t quite right, it’s tempting to try surgery. Here’s what you can get away with.

July 15, 2022 Macs, Technology

Last Week on My Mac: The slim hope of recovery

Monterey changes the way that Recovery works on M1 Macs, making them more like Intel Macs by using a paired Recovery volume. But that could spell trouble.

May 15, 2022 Macs, Technology

Booting a Mac Studio from an external SSD, and what it doesn’t solve

T T Read More

Creating the external bootable SSD, downgrading security and allowing kexts, then trying to install a kext on an external drive which must be ejected.

April 19, 2022 Macs, Technology

When you can’t restart an M1 Mac from an external disk

Assigning ownership to an external bootable disk doesn’t always work in Recovery mode on an M1 Mac. But there’s an easy workaround.

December 17, 2021 Macs, Technology

Using an M1 Mac: some basic principles

M1 Macs are different, as they always start booting from their internal SSD. Basic configurations are simple, reliable with well-established disaster recovery methods.

November 9, 2021 Macs, Technology

Inside macOS installer apps and disks

Full macOS installers come in different presentations according to how they’re obtained. Explained here are what’s in an installer app, and how a bootable installer disk works.

September 20, 2021 Macs, Technology

M1 Secure Boot, morphine and self-destruction

One command in Terminal which instantly disables any support, and why you can’t (yet) boot your M1 Mac in Linux.

May 21, 2021 Macs, Technology

Dealing with a kernel panic during M1 startup

My M1 Mac mini was stuck trying to start up. Its power light was on, but there was no video output, and to all intents it was dead.

May 19, 2021 Macs, Technology

Explainer: secure boot and boot security

How boot security has changed in the M1 Mac. What it allows you to do, and how it restores flexibility and versatility of external boot disks.

May 15, 2021 Macs, Technology

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