An old 13.3" MBP (mid-2012, 8 GB of RAM, Intel i7 CPU, etc.) couldn't
see (boot up with Option key and in v10.8.5's System Preferences'
Startup) and boot off an external USB2 HDD with its mac OS Sierra
v10.12.2 that was installed in a 15" MBP (mid-2015). I had to download
and install the almost 5 GB v10.12.3 into the same partition/drive to
work. Note that I did not format it to install from scratch since it overinstalled and kept my previous accounts.
After finally booting up the old MBP from the same external USB2 HDD's
mac OS v10.12.3, I noticed things felt slower like screen scrollings in Safari. Is it because of the older hardwares with the newer OS? I
thought Sierra was supposed to be faster and better on older hardwares?
Anyways, I was using an external HDD to see how Sierra perform on this
old MBP.
In article <hKadna1gefoVAQ7FnZ2dnUU7-fudnZ2d@earthlink.com>,
ANTant@zimage.com (Ant) wrote:
An old 13.3" MBP (mid-2012, 8 GB of RAM, Intel i7 CPU, etc.) couldn't
see (boot up with Option key and in v10.8.5's System Preferences'
Startup) and boot off an external USB2 HDD with its mac OS Sierra
v10.12.2 that was installed in a 15" MBP (mid-2015). I had to download
and install the almost 5 GB v10.12.3 into the same partition/drive to
work. Note that I did not format it to install from scratch since it overinstalled and kept my previous accounts.
After finally booting up the old MBP from the same external USB2 HDD's
mac OS v10.12.3, I noticed things felt slower like screen scrollings in Safari. Is it because of the older hardwares with the newer OS? I
thought Sierra was supposed to be faster and better on older hardwares?
Anyways, I was using an external HDD to see how Sierra perform on this
old MBP.
the "error" probably was using incremetal updates on the MBP 15" 2015
from 10.12.0 to 10.12.2.
If you have the intention to use a disk to start different Macs, do not
use App Store to to update mac OS (they might be specific to the
hardware). Use the downloads provided by Apple Support, i.e. <https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1905>
In article <hKadna1gefoVAQ7FnZ2dnUU7-fudnZ2d@earthlink.com>,
ANTant@zimage.com (Ant) wrote:
An old 13.3" MBP (mid-2012, 8 GB of RAM, Intel i7 CPU, etc.) couldn't
see (boot up with Option key and in v10.8.5's System Preferences'
Startup) and boot off an external USB2 HDD with its mac OS Sierra
v10.12.2 that was installed in a 15" MBP (mid-2015). I had to download
and install the almost 5 GB v10.12.3 into the same partition/drive to
work. Note that I did not format it to install from scratch since it overinstalled and kept my previous accounts.
After finally booting up the old MBP from the same external USB2 HDD's
mac OS v10.12.3, I noticed things felt slower like screen scrollings in Safari. Is it because of the older hardwares with the newer OS? I
thought Sierra was supposed to be faster and better on older hardwares?
Anyways, I was using an external HDD to see how Sierra perform on this
old MBP.
the "error" probably was using incremetal updates on the MBP 15" 2015
from 10.12.0 to 10.12.2.
If you have the intention to use a disk to start different Macs, do not
use App Store to to update mac OS (they might be specific to the
hardware). Use the downloads provided by Apple Support, i.e. <https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1905>
Andreas Rutishauser <andreas@macandreas.ch> wrote:
In article <hKadna1gefoVAQ7FnZ2dnUU7-fudnZ2d@earthlink.com>,
ANTant@zimage.com (Ant) wrote:
An old 13.3" MBP (mid-2012, 8 GB of RAM, Intel i7 CPU, etc.) couldn't
see (boot up with Option key and in v10.8.5's System Preferences' Startup) and boot off an external USB2 HDD with its mac OS Sierra v10.12.2 that was installed in a 15" MBP (mid-2015). I had to download and install the almost 5 GB v10.12.3 into the same partition/drive to work. Note that I did not format it to install from scratch since it overinstalled and kept my previous accounts.
After finally booting up the old MBP from the same external USB2 HDD's mac OS v10.12.3, I noticed things felt slower like screen scrollings in Safari. Is it because of the older hardwares with the newer OS? I
thought Sierra was supposed to be faster and better on older hardwares?
Anyways, I was using an external HDD to see how Sierra perform on this old MBP.
the "error" probably was using incremetal updates on the MBP 15" 2015
from 10.12.0 to 10.12.2.
If you have the intention to use a disk to start different Macs, do not
use App Store to to update mac OS (they might be specific to the
hardware). Use the downloads provided by Apple Support, i.e. <https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1905>
Sorry, but that is a myth. The ability of a macOS (or OS X) system to
boot other Macs has nothing to do with whether updates were installed
via App Store or manual download.
The only factor which matters is whether the system is a model-specific custom build, i.e. the preinstalled software on a newly purchased Mac,
and sometimes one or two subsequent updates of that software. These can
be distinguished from the general release because they have a different
build number (custom builds are always a four digit number after the
letter; if the general build is also four digits then the custom build
is a higher number).
A general release of macOS will boot all supported models introduced
prior to that version. It will NOT boot on a newly released model,
because it doesn't recognise the model.
A custom build for a new model usually will boot on older models. It has additions to support the new model (e.g. drivers for new hardware) but doesn't omit files required for older models. There may be rare
occasions where support for older models is broken in a custom build, so
it is best to play it safe and not try to use it on a different model.
Once the OS has been updated to the point Apple has included support for
the new model in the general release, then the updated system is
identical on all models, and for all install methods (full install,
manual delta or combo update, or App Store). It can boot all compatible models. If the build numbers are the same, the OS is the same.
In cases where it takes Apple a couple of minor versions to integrate
support for a new model into the general release, there will be a model-specific custom update on support.apple.com/downloads, and it will
not be possible to use the general delta/combo update on that model. (I recall this happening a few times around 10.6.4, for example.)
A major new OS version installed from the full installer is always the general release which supports all models introduced prior to that
version (and sometimes coinciding with that version). Subsequent updates maintain that state, adding support for any newly introduced models
which Apple has integrated into the general release.
In this case, a Mid 2015 MacBook Pro would have originally shipped with
a custom build of OS X 10.10.3, would probably have been on the general release when updated to to 10.10.4 and would certainly be on the general release when upgraded to OS X 10.11.x or macOS 10.12.x, or if either of
those was installed on an erased drive.
Therefore the inability of that 10.12.2 system to boot an older Mac is probably due to something having gone wrong with the cloning process resulting in a non-bootable drive, rather than missing support for the
older model.
I'd like to know how the 2015 Mac's internal drive was cloned to that
USB drive, because whatever method was used did not work.
Doing a full install on the drive fixed whatever the problem was.
As for the performance question, some slow downs may be due to the fact
that the system is booting via USB, especially if it really is USB 2
(the Mid 2012 MacBook Pro can do USB 3). USB 2 would be a bottleneck
that would limit the drive performance compared to an internal hard
drive, which would at least slow down booting and application launch,
but would also slow down reading or writing cached data on disk, virtual memory swapping, etc.
In comp.sys.mac.hardware.storage David Empson <dempson@actrix.gen.nz> wrote:
Andreas Rutishauser <andreas@macandreas.ch> wrote:
In article <hKadna1gefoVAQ7FnZ2dnUU7-fudnZ2d@earthlink.com>,
ANTant@zimage.com (Ant) wrote:
An old 13.3" MBP (mid-2012, 8 GB of RAM, Intel i7 CPU, etc.) couldn't see (boot up with Option key and in v10.8.5's System Preferences' Startup) and boot off an external USB2 HDD with its mac OS Sierra v10.12.2 that was installed in a 15" MBP (mid-2015). I had to download and install the almost 5 GB v10.12.3 into the same partition/drive to work. Note that I did not format it to install from scratch since it overinstalled and kept my previous accounts.
After finally booting up the old MBP from the same external USB2 HDD's mac OS v10.12.3, I noticed things felt slower like screen scrollings in Safari. Is it because of the older hardwares with the newer OS? I thought Sierra was supposed to be faster and better on older hardwares?
Anyways, I was using an external HDD to see how Sierra perform on this old MBP.
Therefore the inability of that 10.12.2 system to boot an older Mac is probably due to something having gone wrong with the cloning process resulting in a non-bootable drive, rather than missing support for the older model.
I'd like to know how the 2015 Mac's internal drive was cloned to that
USB drive, because whatever method was used did not work.
Actually, it wasn't a clone. I originalled installed mac OS v10.12.2
into the external USB HDD with a 15" MBP (mid-2015). I was reusing this
drive on an older 15" MBP (2012).
As for the performance question, some slow downs may be due to the fact that the system is booting via USB, especially if it really is USB 2
(the Mid 2012 MacBook Pro can do USB 3). USB 2 would be a bottleneck
that would limit the drive performance compared to an internal hard
drive, which would at least slow down booting and application launch,
but would also slow down reading or writing cached data on disk, virtual memory swapping, etc.
Isn't 8 GB of RAM enough to not use the disk much?
As I mentioned there are plenty of other things involving disk
access which would noticeably slow the system if you were comparing
booting from an internal hard drive vs a USB 2 hard drive.
Sierra runs fine on my 13-inch Early 2011 MacBook Pro (with 4 GB of
RAM), booted from its internal hard drive.
| Sysop: | Keyop |
|---|---|
| Location: | Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK |
| Users: | 296 |
| Nodes: | 16 (2 / 14) |
| Uptime: | 87:34:58 |
| Calls: | 6,658 |
| Files: | 12,203 |
| Messages: | 5,333,881 |