Cannot boot from SSD (Sandisk 4TB PRO) drive. Unable to setup startup disk....error 108.

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Level 1

4 points

Cannot boot from SSD (Sandisk 4TB PRO) drive. Unable to setup startup disk....error 108.

I have a new Mac Studio (2202) M1 Max 32GB, macOS Monterey 12.6.1. Purchased I have a SanDisk 4TB Extreme Pro Portable SSD/formatted to APFS. I installed MacOS Monterey 12.6.1 on the SanDisk 4TB Extreme Pro Portable SSD, using my Macbook Air. When I try to boot off the Sandisk drive via my Mac Studio, I am not able or allowed to do so. When I attempt to use Startup Disk in System Preferences, I am able to select the SanDisk drive, "HOWEVER", when I press restart, I get this message..."Unable to set startup disk

An error occurred while setting “Untitled” as the startup disk: The operation couldn’t be completed. (SDErrorDomain error 108.)"

When I turn on my Mac Studio, while holding the power button for 30sec, I see both the Mac internal drive, and my external Sandisk drive, but I am NOT able to boot from it. Selecting the options logo puts me in recovery mode. I have already selected the Utilities Drop Down menu and selected "Startup Security Utility'', I have "Reduced Security" Checked off, "Allows any version of signed operating system software ever trusted by Apple to run"

Can ANYONE tell me how to set my Mac Studio to boot off of the SanDisk 4TB Extreme Pro Portable SSD without all these roadblocks....

Posted on Nov 6, 2022 9:58 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

rbellot Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 7, 2022 7:44 AM in response to Barney-15E

Barney-15E, I have tried that already, this is my second go around, I first purchased a Crucial X8 4TB Portable SSD, then thought it might not be fast enough, returned it and purchased the $500/ SanDisk 4TB Extreme Pro Portable SSD. Nothng seems to work. I cant understand why this is so dam complicated.

Thanks for replying.

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Answer 2

etresoft

Level 9

51,038 points

Nov 7, 2022 7:58 AM in response to rbellot

rbellot wrote:

Can ANYONE tell me how to set my Mac Studio to boot off of the SanDisk 4TB Extreme Pro Portable SSD without all these roadblocks....

Only if you first tell me why anyone who pay extra for a top-of-the-line Mac with the fastest SSD ever made and then immediately try to slow it down by half.

Why not buy a refurb M1 for half the price? It would still probably be faster than the Studio booted from an external USB.

It is always nice to have extra storage. So why not use the drive as extra storage. Why hobble the entire system like that?

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Answer 3

Barney-15E

Level 10

116,782 points

Nov 7, 2022 8:17 AM in response to rbellot

Barney-15E, I have tried that already,

You didn't mention that in the original post. You just said you created it on another Mac.

I don't have a Studio, but I do have an M1 Mini which I successfully created an SSD I could boot with from the M1 Mac. It was an old Kensington I had. The only purpose was to see if it was possible to boot an M1 from an external.

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Answer 4

bobs9

Level 1

8 points

Dec 12, 2022 7:59 PM in response to etresoft

I have the same issue, so I'll answer the "why" question in your reply...

I have an issue where a RAID 5 external RAID won't mount on my iMac (intel processor) or my 2021 M1 16" MacBook Pro with Monterey installed. I found a solution from G-Tech for it, using Console commands to modify the G-Tech driver (also works on Promise RAID since they both use a Promise Raid controller). I need to see if installing Ventura breaks that fix and prevents my 32TB external drives from mounting! So, I'm using it as a test environment, not necessarily production.

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Answer 5

tbirdvet

Level 6

14,483 points

Dec 13, 2022 7:46 AM in response to rbellot

I have the same setup but use WD external drive. I used CCC to make my external boot drive (for testing) and it works fine. I did this on just using my Studio Mac. You may want to use this process to make a bootable external drive.

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