Can't create MacOS installer with OCLP on SD card

[imrazor]

Is there any particular reason that I can't use an SD card to install Ventura with OCLP on a 2017 5K iMac?

Why not just use a USB stick? I don't have one handy and there's an ice storm outside. In any case, this seems like an artificial restriction.

 

[Fishrrman]

In my experience, you can't use SD cards (at all) to create bootable volumes of the most recent versions of the Mac OS. This probably includes bootable "installer drives" as well.

I could be wrong.

 

[ghboard2010]

Hmmmm..., the 2017 iMac was and is the "cut-off'' model for Ventura. There is no need to use OCLP on any storage medium to install macOS 13 Ventura on that unit. So, why not just install Ventura directly?

 

[imrazor]

@ghboard2010 Sorry, got my wires crossed. I was trying to install Sonoma.

It worked when I tried a little sleight of hand. I found a Belkin USB hub with an SD card slot and plugged it into the back of iMac, and transferred the SD card to the slot in the hub. The OCLP app found the USB attached SD card with zero issues and was able to create the installer.

I then tried to put the card directly into the back of the iMac and boot it ... but it wouldn't. When I plugged it back into the USB hub, it booted fine and I was able to install Sonoma.

This is some dumb BS. Why do I have to plug in a USB hub to boot off an SD card?