Can't boot from external Thunderbolt 2 drive on 2018 MBP

[Entertainer]

Yes, I followed instructions and updated both the MBP and external drive to the latest Sierra, including all software. I went into the Startup settings on the MBP and enabled startup from external device, set the security setting on medium.

I can boot fine into the external drive from my 2015 13" MBP that is still on low Sierra. It's just the brand new 2018 that wont run the external disk. I believe it was saying something like "the MacOS version on the external device needs to be reinstalled." Then when I tried to click "reinstall" it just gave me the do not enter sign on a black screen and after a while shut off.

The drive is connected into the Apple Thunderbolt 3 to 2 converter, and is recognized as an external device and I can go in it from the internal drive.

Any ideas?


Edit: Just tried using migration assistant through Wifi and that's not working either.

 

[iMacDragon]

Only the special builds of High Sierra made for the 2018 model will boot in it, which afaik aren't available for download on other systems without special measures, anything older won't. Any version of regular Sierra will never boot on a 2018 model. Best bet for booting an external drive from an old machine will probably be waiting for Mojave and upgrading it on old computer, now.

Or use recovery mode to try and install High Sierra 2018 build onto the drive from the 2018 machine.

 

[Entertainer]

? Did you read my question?

I already have high Sierra installed on the external drive. I want to clone it onto the new computer.

 

[iMacDragon]

Actually, no it was not clear, as you only said Sierra. I don't know why migration assistant not working though, as that should work regardless.. I was only concentrating on the bootability.
The version from app store available on a non 2018 computer will not boot on a 2018 though, still, to my knowledge.
What does migration assistant on the 2018 say when drive is plugged in? Shouldn't be needing to boot it for that.

 

[Entertainer]

When I try running migration assistant it can’t find any drive and keeps searching. When I try booting into the external it says that the Mac OS version needs reinstalled in the external, and then when I hit continue it gives me the do not enter symbol and ***** off after a minute.

I used another drive as a time machine backup for that external drive and tried with that, and time machine backup also isn’t working.

Talked to Apple support and that was their last recommendation. Can’t believe how clueless they are to their own computers and software. Like what is the point of migration assistant if you can’t use it with an older install of the same OS?

 

[iMacDragon]

Very odd, certainly it /should/ work.. I migrated using time machine backup from earlier high sierra build with no problems.. it does sound like there is some kind of weird compatibility issue.

 

[Fishrrman]

What I'd try:

1. Connect external drive (the one you want to boot from)
2. Use either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to clone the internal drive to the external drive.
3. When the clone is completed, NOW try booting from it...

 

[Entertainer]

What I'd try:

1. Connect external drive (the one you want to boot from)
2. Use either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to clone the internal drive to the external drive.
3. When the clone is completed, NOW try booting from it...

Ok I can try that but that doesn’t solve my problem. I still want to clone the external drive to the new MacBook Pro. I have hundreds of audio plugins and software That took me weeks to install. I am not just trying to clone a fresh copy of High Sierra - the mbp already has high Sierra. I guess what you were trying to say but didn’t complete the suggestion was to then run migration assistant onto the external drive to copy all the files and software - and then try migration assistant again. I do have 2 external drives.

 

[gregban]

Ok I can try that but that doesn’t solve my problem. I still want to clone the external drive to the new MacBook Pro. I have hundreds of audio plugins and software That took me weeks to install. I am not just trying to clone a fresh copy of High Sierra - the mbp already has high Sierra. I guess what you were trying to say but didn’t complete the suggestion was to then run migration assistant onto the external drive to copy all the files and software - and then try migration assistant again. I do have 2 external drives.

Did you do enable external boot as shown here:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208198

 

[Entertainer]

Did you do enable external boot as shown here:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208198

Read my first post.

 

[deeddawg]

Which system did you create the external with? The 2018 or 2015?

The 2015 won't have access to the special High Sierra version the 2018 requires as far as I know, only the 2018 would see it.

Alternately -- have you tried the following yet?

• Wipe the external drive
• Make a new/fresh TimeMachine backup of the 2015 onto that drive
• With the 2018, do a Restore / reinstall and during that setup have it bring in your apps/files/etc from the Time Machine backup external drive.

 

[Painter2002]

So my thoughts are this:

1). Have you tried doing a complete fresh reinstall of the MacOS to High Sierra?
2). Have you tested other drives to make sure that its not the adaptor or drive being used?

It is possible the TB2=USB=C adaptor is faulty, which might be interfering with the transfer process.

If you have already checked to make sure that other drives work on your machine (to rule out any issues with the adaptor or I/O ports) My suggestion would to make a reinstall High Sierra on your current machine, and try using migration assistant after that. I can think of any reason that would be causing any issue.

If you do choose to do a fresh reinstall of High Sierra, be sure to look up the reinstall instructions on Macrumors for the new machines. You can brick you machine when wiping the 2018 MBPs because of the T2 chip.

 

[Entertainer]

Created the external using CCC on the 2015 (running Low Sierra). Booted into the clone and upgraded it to High Sierra.

I have also created a time machine backup of the external high Sierra drive onto another external drive. None of these solutions worked.

I’ll try to do a reinstall or system restore from the time machine when I get home.

 

[Painter2002]

Alternately -- have you tried the following yet?

• Wipe the external drive
• Make a new/fresh TimeMachine backup of the 2015 onto that drive
• With the 2018, do a Restore / reinstall and during that setup have it bring in your apps/files/etc from the Time Machine backup external drive.

This. Actually I would do this first before trying my original suggestion.

 

[deeddawg]

Created the external using CCC on the 2015 (running Low Sierra). Booted into the clone and upgraded it to High Sierra.

This won't work -- the 2018 model runs a specialized version of High Sierra that the 2015 model can't access. Any HighSierra boot disk created with a non-2018 model won't work with a 2018 model is how I understand things to be.

This should all become moot after Mojave is out, but for now that is how it is.
[doublepost=1537460967][/doublepost]BTW - I wouldn't do a "restore" from TimeMachine onto the 2018 but instead do a MigrationAssistant.

The difference is that once you're in macOS Recovery you choose "Reinstall macOS" instead of "Restore From Time Machine Backup"

Then during the reinstall you'll have the option to use MigrationAssistant to bring in your data; this is where you'd then select the TimeMachine backup.

 

[Entertainer]

I will try this once I get home. The day cannot drag any longer... work sucks. It lets you buy toys you never have time to play with! Thanks guys

 

[Entertainer]

I just did the reinstall and it went back to what I had before without ever asking me to use migration assistant. F this I’m just installing the crap again.

 

[deeddawg]

That's odd. Every time I've done a reinstall it's given me the opportunity to transfer data via migration assistant.

Even on my 2018 MBP

How very odd that yours decided to behave differently.

 

[Painter2002]

I just did the reinstall and it went back to what I had before without ever asking me to use migration assistant. F this I’m just installing the crap again.

This is really strange. You sure you didn't miss it when clicking through the set-up settings quickly? I have reinstalled MacOS many, many times and it has ALWAYS asked if you wanted to use Migration Assistant.

 

[Entertainer]

I swear it didn't ask me. I ended up turning off icloud and unregistering the mac in iTunes. Then I rebooted with Cmd + R and went into Disk Utility and ERASED the HD. Then after the erase was finished I was able to go back to install and it asked me if I want to recover from Timemachine/drive. Now it's transferring everything and is about 70% done after about 1 hour.

So I think the idea is you have to erase the the drive first before reinstalling once you have it all set up.

 

[Entertainer]

It’s bricked. Finally got it working. Enabled everything, got everything running. Went to do an update and on the restart it gave me the screen in the first pic.

I tried remounting the drive as suggested online, upon restart same thing happened. So said screw it I’ll erase the HD like before and install a fresh High Sierra. Nope. Right after erasing and restarting to hop into Recovery, I get the second pic. Now when I restart it just shows the do not enter sign.


Man what a headache.

 

[Painter2002]

It’s bricked. Finally got it working. Enabled everything, got everything running. Went to do an update and on the restart it gave me the screen in the first pic.

I tried remounting the drive as suggested online, upon restart same thing happened. So said screw it I’ll erase the HD like before and install a fresh High Sierra. Nope. Right after erasing and restarting to hop into Recovery, I get the second pic. Now when I restart it just shows the do not enter sign.


Man what a headache.

I would definitely reach out to Apple Customer service to have them help you with getting through that bug and getting it back up and running.

I’m not sure what that code reads, but you have the 90 day (from the original sale date to the first owner) of AppleCare customer support by default, even if you weren’t the original owner, as well as the one year hardware warranty if it can’t be fixed over the phone. Call them and have them help.

 

[deeddawg]

So I think the idea is you have to erase the the drive first before reinstalling once you have it all set up.

Yes - my fault for not being specific, but a wipe/reinstall is what I was suggesting. Glad you got there.

It’s bricked. [...] Now when I restart it just shows the do not enter sign.

First off -- you probably want to wipe the GPS data from the photos you posted. No, I don't go snooping, I use EXIF Viewer extension in Chrome and it overlays the camera/focal-length/aperture/etc info on pictures... and indicates when GPS data is present.

I agree with @Painter2002 suggestion above, but as a self-help measure before hand I suggest doing an Internet Recovery to do a complete bare-metal reinstall on the macbook.

That means use the Option-Command-R key combo in a restart rather than Command-R. That forces the mac to download the utilities (and macos) over the Internet from Apple rather than booting from the recovery partition. Once it boots to the utilities, use Disk Utility to fully wipe (Erase) the drive, then quit Disk Utility to go back to the utilities screen so you can choose to install macos.

More info: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904

Hope this helps. It's usually not this frustrating.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP --

Just wondering, but...
... is the thunderbolt drive enclosure "open-able"?

Can you take the drive OUT OF the enclosure?

WHY I'm asking:
You could get either a USB3/SATA docking station (for a 3.5" drive) or a USB3/SATA adapter/dongle (for a 2.5" drive), and connect the drive that way...

 

[Entertainer]

WTF. Had the Mac in the box shut down and left it in the car. Drove home, took it out of the box, and the whole thing is hot. The box is cool. I’m starting to feel like I got a lemon. Like why would the computer turn itself on with the lid closed in a effing box???? This thing is absolutely worthless. So pissed right now.
[doublepost=1537565827][/doublepost]The more I use this thing the more I realize what a big pile of crap it is. The keyboard is ******* awful. Just awful. And who the F thought making that enormous trackpad was a good idea?? And every time I want to hit delete stupid ass Siri pops up. Tim Cook is a fruit cake idiot. The guy just needs to go. The ports are stiff as ****. It takes a real effort to pull out USB C plugs. Like I was laughing at how hard it was to pull out. The screen hinge bounces. My 2015 MBP screen is STIFF. Not this one. Bouncey bouncy loud keys bang tap bang Siri ****. Apple always has to take one step forward, two steps backward. Same with the stupid ass face recognition on iPhones. I can't believe I paid 3 stacks for this pile of horse manure. I just want to return it.

And this thing is hot. I'm just typing this message and my balls are on fire. Nothing but safari opened. Battery draining quickly. Going to the gym before I launch this all the way to Tim Cook's moronic head.