I am trying to upgrade MBA SSD 120gb to a Transcend 240gb JetDrive 520 but when I use disk utility the external drive isn’t listed at all. I reseated the connection and tried both USB ports. Is there anything else I should try before returning it?
In Windows disk management I see the unallocated, ‘not initialized’ drive which I didn’t expect to. So it must be ok but how is Mac disk utility not seeing it? I have used external drives on the Mac air successfully previously.Have you tried connecting it internally to the MBA or externally to another Mac or Windows computer to see if the external drive is recognized?
I need to initialize it first. MBR or GPT?External drives these days are not made for a particular operating system but rather formatted for use with an operating system.
Using windows, format the drive as a single NTFS partition, connect it to the mba to see if it is recognised in finder.
That worked (after several inexplicable failures) and erased with MacOS extended (journaled). Why is APFS not available? Since it’s ssd shouldn’t that be available?Initialise as MBR, create partition, add drive letter, format as NTFS.
When you install macos, you'll need to erase with gpt/guid.
Also, there is no scheme option so I can’t choose got/guid. Info shows ‘bootable’ no, ‘solid state’ no.That worked (after several inexplicable failures) and erased with MacOS extended (journaled). Why is APFS not available? Since it’s ssd shouldn’t that be available?
I am using high Sierra and current internal ssd has been converted to apfs.APFS is only available with High Sierra.
17.0 (1626) accessed via command-r during bootup.What version of disk utility is being used? I usually use either High Sierra or El Capitan.
Ok, it worked when I change view from volumes to show all devices. Now I have it formatted as APFS. However, restore fails now. The error is:Sorry, I'm not sure which version that would be since I have USB installers for El Capitan, Sierra, and High Sierra.
When selecting erase on the whole drive, you can't select MBR or GPT?
The original 120gb internal ssd. It was converted to APFS after it was updated to high sierra.What are you restoring from?
The jet drive is in an external enclosure outside the MBA. Is it possible to install HS to an external drive?Is the jet drive inside the MBA?
Try a fresh install of HS onto the jetdrive and use the migration tool during the setup to restore apps and data.
Never mind, I see it now. Trying now.The jet drive is in an external enclosure outside the MBA. Is it possible to install HS to an external drive?
Well, that ended up working fine, thanks! Way more complicated than I thought it would be but it was a good experience to see how to restore and load MacOS etc.Yes, you can install to and boot from an external drive, just like an internal drive. You just have to boot with the option key to select a boot drive.