OS Mojave will not boot from external SSD anymore

[mariuste86]

Hello

First some background: I have a Macbook pro retina late 2013 (osx Mavericks on the internal drive). I recently installed Mojave on a Lacie portable SSD v2, which is connected to my MBP over usb3. When in mavericks, the system will ofc not recognize the external SSD with Mojave due to it being apfs, so I have to invoke the startup manager when I want to boot into Mojave. This operation went fine for a week or so and Mojave was running smoothly.
Now, when I try to boot into Mojave I do not get past the apple logo and is stuck on loading, after I select to boot into Mojave from the startup manager.

I come to think of two things that did change and that may or may not be the reason for this issue.

1. I have disconnected the Mojave drive a couple of times from the USB3 port, without properly ejecting it. Because mavericks doesn't recognize it, only option to my knowledge is to eject from disk utility, which I forgot.
2. I have changed the USB3 cable to a shorter one, and the issue started after this so I first thought it was the cable. I have tried different cables since then and also on the other USB3 port on my MBP, issue still persist.

However, what I know want to know, is there any other option now than to erase the drive and do the installation again? What is the most likely reason for this issue?

Marius

 

[TonyAguila]

Hello

First some background: I have a Macbook pro retina late 2013 (osx Mavericks on the internal drive). I recently installed Mojave on a Lacie portable SSD v2, which is connected to my MBP over usb3. When in mavericks, the system will ofc not recognize the external SSD with Mojave due to it being apfs, so I have to invoke the startup manager when I want to boot into Mojave. This operation went fine for a week or so and Mojave was running smoothly.
Now, when I try to boot into Mojave I do not get past the apple logo and is stuck on loading, after I select to boot into Mojave from the startup manager.

I come to think of two things that did change and that may or may not be the reason for this issue.

1. I have disconnected the Mojave drive a couple of times from the USB3 port, without properly ejecting it. Because mavericks doesn't recognize it, only option to my knowledge is to eject from disk utility, which I forgot.
2. I have changed the USB3 cable to a shorter one, and the issue started after this so I first thought it was the cable. I have tried different cables since then and also on the other USB3 port on my MBP, issue still persist.

However, what I know want to know, is there any other option now than to erase the drive and do the installation again? What is the most likely reason for this issue?

Marius

I sounds like you do not have a Time Machine backup, or any other backup, which would have been the simplest way to restore your Mojave setup. However, on the chance that the Mojave drive is repairable, try restarting into Recovery and use Disk Utility to try to fix the SSD drive. Good luck.

 

[mariuste86]

That’s correct I don’t have a time machine backup. I didn’t make it to that before this happened, but luckily I haven’t done any serious work yet. With fixing the drive in disk utility, you mean to erase it? Is it possible to do backups such as time machine in recovery mode? Sorry my ignorance, I haven’t dealt with this before. Marius

 

[TonyAguila]

That’s correct I don’t have a time machine backup. I didn’t make it to that before this happened, but luckily I haven’t done any serious work yet. With fixing the drive in disk utility, you mean to erase it? Is it possible to do backups such as time machine in recovery mode? Sorry my ignorance, I haven’t dealt with this before. Marius

You can run First Aid in Disk Utility (while in Recovery). No need to erase it. But if Disk Utility can’t eject the container and volume(s)—you did say it was formatted as APFS—First Aid will not run, and it’s a good indication that the drive is damaged.

If First Aid works and Disk Utility shows it to be okay, try booting again into Mojave. If it’s still a no-go, then you should do the erase and macOS installation. In case you are not familiar with Recovery, just reboot and hold down command-R.

Wait until you are running your default OS (Mavericks or Mojave) before doing your first Time Machine backup.

 

[mariuste86]

Many thanks for the information I will try that and report back.

 

[mariuste86]

You can run First Aid in Disk Utility (while in Recovery). No need to erase it. But if Disk Utility can’t eject the container and volume(s)—you did say it was formatted as APFS—First Aid will not run, and it’s a good indication that the drive is damaged.

If First Aid works and Disk Utility shows it to be okay, try booting again into Mojave. If it’s still a no-go, then you should do the erase and macOS installation. In case you are not familiar with Recovery, just reboot and hold down command-R.

Wait until you are running your default OS (Mavericks or Mojave) before doing your first Time Machine backup.

The Mojave drive seems to be ok having used First Aid in disk utility. However, it still hangs half way into the boot procedure. I will now do a backup of the Mojave installation (to use with migration assistant) using disk utility, then erase it and do a fresh installation. Hopefully I can move some apps back without having do re install everything.