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how do i know which drive I am booting from main of usb

how do i know if the computer is booting from the main drive and not from the external drive

Posted on Jun 24, 2023 8:05 AM

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Posted on Jun 28, 2023 4:58 AM

You're welcome.


Another way to choose between drives during startup is to use the Startup Manager.

see > Change your Mac startup disk - Apple Support


8 replies

Jun 27, 2023 8:12 AM in response to faststore1

One is the internal drive and one is the external drive.


If they have the same name, then you may be able to tell the difference by the color of the drive icon. Silver/White for the internal and Orange/Yellow for the external drive.


In the Startup Disk preference, highlight the drive that you wish to startup from and then click Restart.

Jun 28, 2023 6:06 AM in response to faststore1

Change the default background wallpaper if you want an easy visual reference/reminder of which one is currently booted. You can also change the volume name of one of them assuming you have the mounted volumes shown on the Desktop or you look on the Finder's sidebar. The background wallpaper will be the most noticeable reminder though. Of course if you are cloning & updating the second drive from the internal drive, then none of this really works depending on the method being used.

how do i know which drive I am booting from main of usb

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