![]() They’re (at last time I checked) still waiting on Apple to fix something in one of the Apple tools to allow that although I haven’t looked in a month or two. As I wrote, I have not actually done this before, so you might want to wait and see if anyone else replies with any corrections, in case I didn’t get it right.ĬarbonCop圜loner will let you make (sort of) bootable Big Sur clones…but you need to read the documentation on how to do it. Install/migrate your apps and data as you would if it was a new Mac. In either case, you will have a clean installation on your external SSD. Then use the Startup Disk system setting to make that device the default. When the Mac restarts (post-installation), hold down Option in order to select your new installation (on the SSD) in order to start from it.It should let you select where you want to install it (click “show all disks” if your SSD is not visible) - select your SSD and continue with the installation. From there, you can use Disk Utility to format your external SSD, if you haven’t already done so (use GUID partition map and APFS format) and then run the Big Sur installer. Your Mac will boot into recovery mode. ![]() It may require you to update your Recovery partition and reboot - let it, then remember to hold Option and re-select the thumb drive after the reboot. Plug in the thumb drive, reboot while holding Option and select the installer as the boot device. ![]() Create a bootable USB thumb drive from the installer.Especially if you think you may end up repeating the installation (perhaps to install onto multiple computers). After installation, before rebooting, use the Startup Disk settings page to select your SSD as the new boot device.Īlternatively, you may prefer to make a bootable USB thumb drive and use its installer.Click on “show all disks” to see your external SSD. After agreeing to the software license agreement, it asks where you want to install it.Just download the installer app from the App Store.Īccording to this MacWorld UK article, you should be able to tell the installer to use your external disk: Download, but do not run the Big Sur installer via the App Store.(If you format it as “Mac OS Extended”, the Big Sur installer will convert it as a part of the installation process). ![]() Use a GUID partition scheme and APFS format. One involving an external bootable thumb drive, and one that does not.īoth procedures start with formatting your external SSD and downloading the Big Sur installer: Instead, I have found what appears to be two different procedures. To do that, you should not just run the updater - that will upgrade your running installation (the internal hard drive). (This is, I believe, your only option if you have an M1-based Mac). You might, however, prefer to perform a clean installation to the SSD instead of an upgrade. The latest versions of Carbon Copy Cloner should be able to do this. Since your Mac is Intel based, you can upgrade the internal hard drive and then make a bootable clone to the SSD. If your Mac has a T2 chip (which according to Apple does not apply to your 2017 iMac), then you must configure it to allow booting off of external media. If you are building an external SSD from an NVMe device, then Thunderbolt will give you much better performance, but it will cost more. SATA tops out at 6 Gbit/s, so just use a USB3 enclosure. If you are building an external SSD from a SATA-based device, then Thunderbolt is overkill.Let the SSD have all of the port’s bandwidth. If you are using USB, don’t share the port with any other devices.Even better (but maybe too expensive) a Thunderbolt device. Better, a USB 3.1-gen-2 (10 Gbit/s) device. Make sure you have enough bandwidth for the SSD. From what I’ve read and from prior experience with older versions of MacOS, it should work, but you should be aware of a few things: I haven’t actually done this before, so others please feel free to correct/update me.
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