USB Powered External

PBear

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I'm in need of a larger hard drive to run my late 2012 2.3GHz i7 Mac mini. Currently, I have a Crucial 1tb (SSD) as a startup disk and the original 1tb platter drive installed in both bays. I would like to upgrade to a 2tb SSD external to use as a startup disk. All my external drives are powered by DC so I am wondering if this enclosure will work as a startup disk.
If it will work fine I will probably buy and download CCC to clone my startup disk to the external. My SD backup for some reason did not want to boot up from a USB 3 drive when I created a backup so I could try move my iTunes library on to another external drive to create space but Finder kept coming up with an error copying the library.
So, can my MM boot from a usb powered external without any problems?
 
You want a clone! What you want I like the shareware Carbon Copy Cloner. It will make a perfect clone and will keep a schedule for changes! It will help your booting to external!
 
Yes, your 2012 mini will boot and run just fine from a USB bus-powered external drive. That's exactly what I am using! I have rebuilt my internal drive, and the "rebuilt" drive will replace the internal in a week or two, but right now is booting the system as an external drive.
 
You want a clone! What you want I like the shareware Carbon Copy Cloner. It will make a perfect clone and will keep a schedule for changes! It will help your booting to external!
Yes, my quick research showed that CCC works better than SD to clone and startup from a USB 3 external with some Macs.

Yes, your 2012 mini will boot and run just fine from a USB bus-powered external drive. That's exactly what I am using! I have rebuilt my internal drive, and the "rebuilt" drive will replace the internal in a week or two, but right now is booting the system as an external drive.
Just what I wanted to hear. I'll place an order for them today.

Thank you both for taking the time to answer my question.
 
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