Dual-boot 2012 Mini

[CSeye]

Concept: Replace the current internal 500gb ssd with a 1TB ssd that will be partioned for Yosemite and Mojave.

If the Mojave partition is APFS formatted, will it see the Yosemite volume in the Startup Disk window?
Can the Yosemite partition be formatted for APFS? (Or is this Mojave and newer only?)

Although a 2018 mini is on my short list, the 2012 has many advantages moving into the future:
- Hits the sweet spot with Firewire and Thunderbolt ports
- My Yamaha Motif Rack with FW is now discontinued. It worked well in Mojave and earlier OS. The 32 bit software editor is DOA in Catalina. The unit works in Catalina via MIDI ports but not FW.
- The Roland Integra-7 plug-in read function via USB worked well in Mojave and earlier, but not in Catalina. The unit otherwise works in Catalina.
- A previously archived Yosemite disc image with Adobe CS6 and Redimatica Autosampler/KeyMap/ExsManager Pro among other obsoletely fantastic applications would be available for use when needed.

The 2012 would become another in a growing line of Macs here that support time travel into the past:
- Dual-boot G4 with OS9 / Tiger
- MacPro1,1 with volumes for Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard, and Mavericks.

Thanks for reading this.

 

[Boyd01]

Sorry, I don't know the answer. But, why not just put Yosemite on an external USB 3.0 SSD? That's how I run my 2012 quad Mini server and it works great on Sierra with Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro and other sofware. I have Mountain Lion on my internal SSD for the times I need my very expensive legacy software, however I plan to move that to another external SSD and install Mojave on the internal drive soon.

For comparison, this is what I get from the external SSD (1TB Samsung T3)

And this is the internal SSD (original Apple sm256e)

 

[CSeye]

Thanks for weighing in.


I did consider the external drive option, which is also the easiest to setup. The internal option would reduce the number of external drives in use for samples, projects, and backup. Having said that, I frequently swop external drives anyway.

Cheers!

 

[Fishrrman]

BETTER solution:
Get an external SSD, such as the Samsung t5. (corrected)
Put a copy of Mojave (or Yosemite) onto it.
Now each version of the OS resides on its own drive.
Less trouble that way!

 

[CSeye]

BETTER solution:
Get an external SSD, such as the Sandisk t5.
Put a copy of Mojave (or Yosemite) onto it.
Now each version of the OS resides on its own drive.
Less trouble that way!

Thanks! External SSD for Yosemite is now the plan.

 

[solmaker]

In answer to your original questions, I bet everything'd work as you like it if you first clone or install Yosemite in HFS+ on the 2012 Mini, add a second empty partition, clone or install Mojave onto an external SSD, then clone the APFS Mojave volumes into the second partition of your Mini's internal drive. That's what I did, and it worked like a charm... but in my case, I did it with Sierra and Mojave on a 2013 Mac Pro using Carbon Copy Cloner, then went one step better by updating the external SSD from Mojave to Catalina before cloning that Catalina into a new volume inside the internal drive's APFS partition. You might also consider eBaying a 2013 Mac Pro (which also boots Yosemite) instead of a 2012 Mini, as discussed at:

Best deal on a Mac medium...

...might be to forego the 2018 Mac mini and get a 2013 Mac Pro 8-core from eBay instead! For months I was fishing around for a spec-ed up i7 Mac mini with 1TB-2TB SSD, but they came & went quickly from Apple refurb store and eBay for $2K or more. Something held me back from buying until I got...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Boyd01]

Get an external SSD, such as the Sandisk t5

Do you mean the Samsung T5?

 

[Fishrrman]

Oops, I corrected my original post (thanks Boyd!).

 

[CSeye]

In answer to your original questions, I bet everything'd work as you like it if you first clone or install Yosemite in HFS+ on the 2012 Mini, add a second empty partition, clone or install Mojave onto an external SSD, then clone the APFS Mojave volumes into the second partition of your Mini's internal drive. That's what I did, and it worked like a charm... but in my case, I did it with Sierra and Mojave on a 2013 Mac Pro using Carbon Copy Cloner, then went one step better by updating the external SSD from Mojave to Catalina before cloning that Catalina into a new volume inside the internal drive's APFS partition.

What you describe is similar to my original plan.
Thanks for adding to this thread.

Cheers

 

[weckart]

BETTER solution:
Get an external SSD, such as the Samsung t5. (corrected)
Put a copy of Mojave (or Yosemite) onto it.
Now each version of the OS resides on its own drive.
Less trouble that way!

Better better solution:
Invest a few $ in the secondary HDD cable and add another SSD inside, so you don't have anything hanging out of the back. I have Mojave and Catalina on separate drives in mine.

 

[Fishrrman]

"invest a few $ in the secondary HDD cable and add another SSD inside, so you don't have anything hanging out of the back."

That's what all those ports are for.
Why not use them?
Mine are... all-but "full".

 

[CSeye]

Better better solution:
Invest a few $ in the secondary HDD cable and add another SSD inside, so you don't have anything hanging out of the back. I have Mojave and Catalina on separate drives in mine.

Internal drives?
Currently, I have a 512 SSD for OS and apps, and a second 1TB SSD via OWC Data Doubler for sample libraries.

Ports on the back are project drives and more sample libraries.

 

[CSeye]

I went with the origina plan, using a 1TB Extreme 6G Pro from OWC. The Yosemite volume doesn't see the APFS volumes in the Start Up Disk window. No problem, start or restart holding down ⌥ presents those options. From the APFS Mojave or Catalina volumes, I can see the Yosemite volume.

Ending up getting a 2TB Crucial MX500 to replace the second internal SSD for the samples libraries, further reducing the number of external drives attached to the Mini.

Everything is working great.

Cheers to all!