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Will this work?
- Thread starter wellander1
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Tried that. No option to boot to the drive.
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Wondering that too.
Yes, that's a possible direction to try. Quickest is to try a different USB cable.
OWC support is usually good, in my experience. As you have both the drive dock AND your SSD from OWC, maybe they would have a better answer, too.
[doublepost=1565724559][/doublepost]Make sure that you don't have any other devices attached to your mini (other than keyboard/mouse and display, plus whatever network connection) NO other storage devices or printers, etc.
please try to give just a little more detail about what happens. Such as - does the drive even appear in Disk Utility? Does it appear on the Option-boot screen. Does ANYTHING, other than your internal boot drive, appear on the Option-boot screen?
Same question, if you boot to your internal system, and open System Preferences/Startup Disk... does anything appear, other than the internal drive? Again, unlock to make sure that pane displays everything possible (and allows you to change boot drive, if you should want to do that)
OWC support is usually good, in my experience. As you have both the drive dock AND your SSD from OWC, maybe they would have a better answer, too.
[doublepost=1565724559][/doublepost]Make sure that you don't have any other devices attached to your mini (other than keyboard/mouse and display, plus whatever network connection) NO other storage devices or printers, etc.
please try to give just a little more detail about what happens. Such as - does the drive even appear in Disk Utility? Does it appear on the Option-boot screen. Does ANYTHING, other than your internal boot drive, appear on the Option-boot screen?
Same question, if you boot to your internal system, and open System Preferences/Startup Disk... does anything appear, other than the internal drive? Again, unlock to make sure that pane displays everything possible (and allows you to change boot drive, if you should want to do that)
I do not have anything else connected. The drive shows up in disk utility. It does not show up in the option boot screen. and it does not show up in startup disk.
So, it never boots by itself, just copies the system files, then restarts for the install to complete, but never gets there (?)
Try a different cable.
Try the same SSD in a different enclosure (which could, as Fishrrman suggested, be a simple USB to SATA adapter)
If that won't allow booting from that SSD, then there's likely some kind of firmware issue with the OWC SSD.
And, now you know a lot of things that are happening (and not happening), good information to pass on to OWC tech support.
With your earlier problems showing that the APFS conversion did not take place (and perhaps is still true) and with your continuing boot issues, I suspect that there may be a good reason that OWC stopped selling that SSD. I'm betting that they quickly offer you a different replacement SSD. Just my opinion, fwiw...
@wellander1
Ok I see what's going on here. Did you receive a firmware update to allow the Mini to allow APFS volume to be bootable?!?
If not, then your APFS formatted drive can not be booted even if it has a system installed; it will revert to your HD which is formatted non-APFS. You need to download the 10.13.6 combo update from Apple from their website (don't use app store) and run it. This will fix your missing firmware on the Mini and will allow booting from the APFS volume that you created on the USB Dock. I have the same dock and it works with my Macbook Air (only after the firmware update).
Ok I see what's going on here. Did you receive a firmware update to allow the Mini to allow APFS volume to be bootable?!?
If not, then your APFS formatted drive can not be booted even if it has a system installed; it will revert to your HD which is formatted non-APFS. You need to download the 10.13.6 combo update from Apple from their website (don't use app store) and run it. This will fix your missing firmware on the Mini and will allow booting from the APFS volume that you created on the USB Dock. I have the same dock and it works with my Macbook Air (only after the firmware update).
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wellander is already running Mojave. The 10.13.6 combo update is not likely to be helpful, is it?
Plus, booting to the Mojave installer would do the same bootrom update (newer than the bootrom update from High Sierra, eh?) So, unless there is something unique about downgrading to High Sierra - if you could share what that is, I'm sure it would be helpful.
Nope it won't, because the firmware update became available with 10.13.6, so unless the OP bought the Mini "after" 10.13.6, it is highly unlikely he has the firmware update applied. I tried it with my Macbook Air and resulted in a non-booting SSD when I installed Mojave! Several others on Reddit faced the same issues as well, so this is not new. Thankfully I had a clone of my Macbook Air SSD, so I re-cloned the SSD drive back, applied the 10.13.6 combo update which fixed the problem and then re-install Mojave to get it finally bootable.
If what you say is true, then all wellander1 needs to do is make a bootable installer for High Sierra, install that on the external SSD. The install includes the EFI update, then boot to the Mojave installer, erase, install Mojave, and then should boot.
That is assuming that OP had never installed 10.3.6 on a 2014 mini. Seems unlikely to me --- but what do you say, @wellander1 ? Did you have High Sierra 10.3.6 installed on your internal HDD before upgrading to Mojave?
That is assuming that OP had never installed 10.3.6 on a 2014 mini. Seems unlikely to me --- but what do you say, @wellander1 ? Did you have High Sierra 10.3.6 installed on your internal HDD before upgrading to Mojave?
There are a couple of updates on the 10.3.6 which included the updated APFS.efi file that he may have missed perhaps. On my Macbook Air 2014 which had 10.3.6 on, the build number was 17G8024 with a bootrom of 115.0.0.0.0. After the latest HS combo update and security measures applied, the build number changed to 17G8030 with a bootrom of 117.0.0.0.0. After that update, Carbon Copy Cloner changed to reflect that it's archiving an APFS volume to be bootable.
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What version of bootrom and SMC firmware do you have now on your Mini?
https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201518
Use this guide top portion to determine your bootrom version. Ignore the rest in the article below as it is completely outdated..
Hardware Overview:
Model Name: Mac mini
Model Identifier: Macmini7,1
Processor Name: Intel Core i5
Processor Speed: 2.6 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 2
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 8 GB
Boot ROM Version: 244.0.0.0.0
SMC Version (system): 2.24f32
Serial Number (system): C07WD2QEG1HW
Hardware UUID: 5ADBD20B-B22A-5AC2-BBC0-2582E039A5B7
This is what I see
Model Name: Mac mini
Model Identifier: Macmini7,1
Processor Name: Intel Core i5
Processor Speed: 2.6 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 2
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 8 GB
Boot ROM Version: 244.0.0.0.0
SMC Version (system): 2.24f32
Serial Number (system): C07WD2QEG1HW
Hardware UUID: 5ADBD20B-B22A-5AC2-BBC0-2582E039A5B7
This is what I see
You "DO" have the latest EFI boot and SMC firmware on the Mini. This removes the Mini being the culprit and your USB Dock drive as suspect perhaps not able to boot an APFS volume under USB 3 due to incompatibility chipset?!? To rule this out, you should have an included USB 2.0 cable with your dock drive?!? If so, use this cable. If it sees a Mojave APFS boot partition, then your dock station is limited only to USB 2.0 for booting. If even with USB 2.0 the SSD boot partition can not be seen by your Mini, then perhaps it is not compatible with the latest Mini firmware.
High Sierra supports SSD booting from an APFS internal volume already, but kept HDD (physical hard drive) and Fusion drive in HFS+. In Mojave, HDD and Fusion can be used as APFS.
If your Mini is still running High Sierra, then what you can do is to use Carbon Copy Cloner (free to use for 30 days) to clone the system onto your new SSD. Format the SSD as HFS+ first. Clone also the boot recovery partition to the new SSD. After that, see if your Mini can see the external SSD drive as bootable. If it does, then boot from the external SSD. From there, re-install Mojave on top of High Sierra and then reboot. If it does reboot into Mojave, then you're fine. If not, then it just confirms your USB dock is not compatible with your Mini's firmware. The only dock station confirmed by the maker of Carbon Copy Cloner and that is bootable is what I have, which is the NexStar TX by Vantech and works with my Macbook Air with USB 3.
Last resort is if you hadn't done this already is to first upgrade your internal drive to Mojave first and then clone your internal Mojave to the HFS+ formatted SSD and then boot from the external SSD. But don't do this unless your cloned High Sierra volume on your SSD, which is bootable, can't be made bootable under Mojave.
I hope this helps..
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iluvmacs wrote:
"The only dock station confirmed by the maker of Carbon Copy Cloner and that is bootable is what I have, which is the NexStar TX by Vantech and works with my Macbook Air with USB 3."
OP:
You have found out that OWC's stuff ... well, it "ain't always the best".
I suggest you get DIFFERENT HARDWARE (not from OWC) and try again.
"The only dock station confirmed by the maker of Carbon Copy Cloner and that is bootable is what I have, which is the NexStar TX by Vantech and works with my Macbook Air with USB 3."
OP:
You have found out that OWC's stuff ... well, it "ain't always the best".
I suggest you get DIFFERENT HARDWARE (not from OWC) and try again.
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You can try this.. NexStar TX
https://www.amazon.com/Vantec-NexSt...d=1565826883&s=gateway&sr=8-2#customerReviews
This was the USB drive dock that Bombich Software (maker of Carbon Copy Cloner) said it is bootable from a system cloned drive; both in HFS+ and APFS since Carbon Copy Cloner was the first software to allow cloning and booting of APFS volume.
What is very interesting about this hard drive dock is the support of UASP (USB Attached SCSI). It's a faster USB 3.0 transfer protocol, especially when used as a boot disk over normal USB 3.0. Here's an attached article of someone who did a benchmark with UASP support USB 3.0 dock over Sierra (10.12.6). Difference between USB 3 and USAP is very noticeable especially with my Macs that has USB 3 ports. Initially I was surprised why this USB 3 dock allowed booting of both hard disks and SSDs faster than my other USB 3 devices, but copying and reading were the same. Only later I realized this dock supports UASP and booting from it is faster than booting off a normal USB 3 drive.
https://willhaley.com/blog/usb-3-uasp/
I'm sure others will be able to provide other docks and USB enclosures that would be bootable as well.
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And if the drive is the problem any recommendations for a ssd?
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Everyone so far have good experiences with the Samsung EVO series of SSD. Good performance, durability and compatibility.
I have several Samsung T3 USB 3.0 SSD's and they have worked fine on two 2012 Mini's with Sierra. my 2012 quad Mini boots from a 1TB T3 and is heavily used with Final Cut Pro, Logic pro and other demanding software. No problems at all. The T3 has been replaced with the T5 now.
Have not tried them with Mojave however.
Have not tried them with Mojave however.
For a drive, I suggest either Crucial or Sandisk.
Actually, I've had decent results using "low-end" SSDs (you can get a 128gb drive for under $20 now).
I see NO reason to pay extra for a "high-performance" Samsung.
For a USB3 enclosure/dock/dongle, you'll see no benefits in having spent that money.
Actually, I've had decent results using "low-end" SSDs (you can get a 128gb drive for under $20 now).
I see NO reason to pay extra for a "high-performance" Samsung.
For a USB3 enclosure/dock/dongle, you'll see no benefits in having spent that money.