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Monterey external SSD Clones to 2TB SSD but freezes when booted

I installed Monterey on an 1TB external SSD and all seemed fine until I booted from the internal drive on my iMac and saw two volumes. My problem is that the external drive running Monterey is almost full so I cloned that drive to a new 2TB SSD. All seemed fine as all my data and apps were shown but when I tried to boot from the new 2TB drive the disk image was not shown. Somehow I was able to show the disk image and it did boot up but quickly the screen froze up and I had to force a shut down. Repeated attempts to boot from it failed.


I tried to repair the 2TB SSD in Disk Utility by repairing both volumes but one volume showed an error and could not be repaired. Other issues are the disk image often is not shown on my desktop but is listed on Disk repair.


Today I thought perhaps installing Ventura on the external 2TB could fix the issue but after 15 minutes of loading the installation failed.


I'd like to know if there's anything I can do to clone my 1TB external SSD to a 2TB external SSD. I've used Super Duper for years to clone my drives and never once had any issues. I'm using a 2017 27" iMac.


Thanks

Posted on Apr 2, 2023 8:50 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Apr 3, 2023 9:32 AM

Hi, I understand "all work fine" as I've been cloning drives since it was first possible decades ago all without issues however, that was not the case this time. I've used SuperDuper cloning software by ShirtPocket ever since it was first released and never an issue. On a couple occasions I had non cloning issues which turned out to be a corrupted/defective SSD or OS issues which the owner of SuperDuper worked tirelessly to determine the problem, replied within minutes and stayed with me for over an hour while I sent him data to help him troubleshoot. I've never had better support than with this company and can't say enough about them.


Here's a followup: I'll first say that I got it fixed! What I did: With help from SuperDuper in looking at the results of the disk repair a decision was made to use a different HD caddy or SSD adapter so I used a SATA to USB-C adapter. One of the other contributing issues I had was the new 2TB SSD would eject or disk image would not mount but was shown in disk utilities. In my previous efforts to check and repair the 2TB SSD I repeatedly got error messages like this one


I ran disk Utility at least four times using a HD caddy which I've not had issues with and each time the volume report above gave the error message. Next I used the SATA >USB-C adapter, the image mounted and I ran Disk Utilities but this time all volumes check OK! Next I installed Ventura on the cloned SSD and it installed without issues and after several restarts using the new SSD no issues were found. I'm writing this message from the new OSX & SSD. Among the other issues were several failed attempts to install Ventura on the new SSD (while running from my HD caddy. Each time at the 28 minutes mark it would freeze up and either shut down or require a forced shutdown. I posted this issue on some Mac forums and no one suggested what I consider now a brilliant basic troubleshooting philosophy to not assume anything and start with the source. pretty simple, eh? I did get the typical insane page long terminal command solutions which I never do.


Turned out be an easy fix but with an interestingly simple solution!

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2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Apr 3, 2023 9:32 AM in response to tbirdvet

Hi, I understand "all work fine" as I've been cloning drives since it was first possible decades ago all without issues however, that was not the case this time. I've used SuperDuper cloning software by ShirtPocket ever since it was first released and never an issue. On a couple occasions I had non cloning issues which turned out to be a corrupted/defective SSD or OS issues which the owner of SuperDuper worked tirelessly to determine the problem, replied within minutes and stayed with me for over an hour while I sent him data to help him troubleshoot. I've never had better support than with this company and can't say enough about them.


Here's a followup: I'll first say that I got it fixed! What I did: With help from SuperDuper in looking at the results of the disk repair a decision was made to use a different HD caddy or SSD adapter so I used a SATA to USB-C adapter. One of the other contributing issues I had was the new 2TB SSD would eject or disk image would not mount but was shown in disk utilities. In my previous efforts to check and repair the 2TB SSD I repeatedly got error messages like this one


I ran disk Utility at least four times using a HD caddy which I've not had issues with and each time the volume report above gave the error message. Next I used the SATA >USB-C adapter, the image mounted and I ran Disk Utilities but this time all volumes check OK! Next I installed Ventura on the cloned SSD and it installed without issues and after several restarts using the new SSD no issues were found. I'm writing this message from the new OSX & SSD. Among the other issues were several failed attempts to install Ventura on the new SSD (while running from my HD caddy. Each time at the 28 minutes mark it would freeze up and either shut down or require a forced shutdown. I posted this issue on some Mac forums and no one suggested what I consider now a brilliant basic troubleshooting philosophy to not assume anything and start with the source. pretty simple, eh? I did get the typical insane page long terminal command solutions which I never do.


Turned out be an easy fix but with an interestingly simple solution!

Monterey external SSD Clones to 2TB SSD but freezes when booted

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