External SSD won't boot for MacBook Pro after Monterey update

Joined
Feb 3, 2022
Messages
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Devices / OS (related to issue):

MacBook Pro 15″ 2018

Samsung T5 Portable SSD 1TB

- GUID Partition Map Scheme / APFS

macOS Monterey (12.2)


I've been using Samsung T5 SSD (connected via original USB-C cable directly into Thunderbolt 3 port) as my preferred startup disk for a few months now, with everything previously on Macintosh HD cloned to it. The internal HD is already updated with Monterey and working just fine. Wanted to also update software on external SSD to Monterey, and went through normal process to do so.

Update appeared to be installed correctly, for the most part, although took a bit longer than it probably should have. Progress bars advanced and remaining time was given throughout process, but once update seemingly finished and MacBook restarted — for what I assumed to be the last time before finally booting up with new OS — the progress bar under the Apple logo (with no remaining time indicated underneath) made it about halfway through before fans kicked on. A few minutes went by with fans running and progress bar stuck, then suddenly fans surged to loud revving sound and MacBook immediately shut down then restarted itself.

Numerous further attempts have been made to boot using external SSD, with the exact same result occurring each time. MacBook still boots perfectly fine using internal HD as startup disk and, very surprisingly, I'm then still able to access and fully view the SSD this way. It's showing up as a readable/writable device, its info shown in Disk Utility confirms it as bootable, I've been able to run 'First Aid' on it a couple of times (no errors ever found), and it still has plenty of space left (only 460GB used). I'm even able to eject it and plug back in with it immediately showing up as connected device.

Most interestingly, when I view it under System Preferences → Startup Disk, it's shown as indeed already running on macOS 12.2.

I did make sure to boot internal HD using Recovery Mode, went to Startup Security Utility and under 'Allowed Boot Media' enabled *Allow booting from external or removable media*, along with 'Secure Boot' being set to *Medium Security*.

In addition, 'Firmware password protection' is turned off. However, both 'FileVault' and 'Firewall' are turned on under System Preferences → Security & Privacy; not exactly sure if either would play a significant role in causing the issue. The external SSD's 'Security Mode' is also turned off with no password required.

Just cannot seem to figure out what the problem is here and why MacBook won't boot now from external SSD without dragging out time on startup, kicking fans into overdrive, then crashing MacBook and causing it to restart. I've tried altering a few of the settings mentioned above, tried using different ports and cables, tried multiple times to reinstall the OS update on the SSD, etc. I've even downloaded the Samsung Portable SSD application from their website and have been making sure that it's software is up to date as well.

I called Samsung Support and they were utterly useless beyond belief. Also called Apple Support and they tried being as helpful and insightful as possible, but their main focus has been reinstalling Monterey on the external SSD through Recovery Mode for like, the fourth or fifth time now.

Is there something I'm missing? Any additional settings I need to change / adjust? Are there kernel caches or .config files or something that I could and should delete?

Perhaps a corrupted file or application on the Samsung T5 is causing this? Though, I did frequently run system cleanups, malware checks and app updates using CleanMyMac X right up until trying to update the OS, so I'd be pretty surprised if this were the case.

Any and all input on this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so, so very much in advance. Cheers.
 
Joined
Feb 14, 2021
Messages
988
Reaction score
131
Devices / OS (related to issue):

MacBook Pro 15″ 2018

Samsung T5 Portable SSD 1TB

- GUID Partition Map Scheme / APFS

macOS Monterey (12.2)


I've been using Samsung T5 SSD (connected via original USB-C cable directly into Thunderbolt 3 port) as my preferred startup disk for a few months now, with everything previously on Macintosh HD cloned to it. The internal HD is already updated with Monterey and working just fine. Wanted to also update software on external SSD to Monterey, and went through normal process to do so.

Update appeared to be installed correctly, for the most part, although took a bit longer than it probably should have. Progress bars advanced and remaining time was given throughout process, but once update seemingly finished and MacBook restarted — for what I assumed to be the last time before finally booting up with new OS — the progress bar under the Apple logo (with no remaining time indicated underneath) made it about halfway through before fans kicked on. A few minutes went by with fans running and progress bar stuck, then suddenly fans surged to loud revving sound and MacBook immediately shut down then restarted itself.

Numerous further attempts have been made to boot using external SSD, with the exact same result occurring each time. MacBook still boots perfectly fine using internal HD as startup disk and, very surprisingly, I'm then still able to access and fully view the SSD this way. It's showing up as a readable/writable device, its info shown in Disk Utility confirms it as bootable, I've been able to run 'First Aid' on it a couple of times (no errors ever found), and it still has plenty of space left (only 460GB used). I'm even able to eject it and plug back in with it immediately showing up as connected device.

Most interestingly, when I view it under System Preferences → Startup Disk, it's shown as indeed already running on macOS 12.2.

I did make sure to boot internal HD using Recovery Mode, went to Startup Security Utility and under 'Allowed Boot Media' enabled *Allow booting from external or removable media*, along with 'Secure Boot' being set to *Medium Security*.

In addition, 'Firmware password protection' is turned off. However, both 'FileVault' and 'Firewall' are turned on under System Preferences → Security & Privacy; not exactly sure if either would play a significant role in causing the issue. The external SSD's 'Security Mode' is also turned off with no password required.

Just cannot seem to figure out what the problem is here and why MacBook won't boot now from external SSD without dragging out time on startup, kicking fans into overdrive, then crashing MacBook and causing it to restart. I've tried altering a few of the settings mentioned above, tried using different ports and cables, tried multiple times to reinstall the OS update on the SSD, etc. I've even downloaded the Samsung Portable SSD application from their website and have been making sure that it's software is up to date as well.

I called Samsung Support and they were utterly useless beyond belief. Also called Apple Support and they tried being as helpful and insightful as possible, but their main focus has been reinstalling Monterey on the external SSD through Recovery Mode for like, the fourth or fifth time now.

Is there something I'm missing? Any additional settings I need to change / adjust? Are there kernel caches or .config files or something that I could and should delete?

Perhaps a corrupted file or application on the Samsung T5 is causing this? Though, I did frequently run system cleanups, malware checks and app updates using CleanMyMac X right up until trying to update the OS, so I'd be pretty surprised if this were the case.

Any and all input on this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so, so very much in advance. Cheers.
A couple of questions first. How was the internal SSD cloned to the T5? Have you tried to update the internal to the latest version of Monterey and cloned it again to the T5? I understand that if you have been using the T5 as your active system for a while, you may have data on it that are not up-to-date on the internal drive.

Do you have Time Machine backups of both drives, or any other type of backup at all?

Initially, how did you format the T5 (APFS or HFS+)?
 

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