Re: Is it possible to have an External USB boot drive?

[Neil Houghton]

Hi Brian,

 

It is difficult to say what is going on without eyeballing your set-up and how 
your network is setup.

 

One thought does come to mind – are you sure that any of your machines are 
actually connecting to the internet through the Huawei? Ie do your iMac and 
MacMini stay connected to the internet if you unplug their ethernet cables.

 

It almost sounds to me like you may have (wi-fi?) network connections through 
your Huawei but the actual internet connection is ethernet via your home 
modem/router – but, as I say, it is becoming very hard to visualise what your 
actual setup/configuration is.

 

However, just to clarify that your problem is what you think it is, can you 
confirm:

 

If you SWITCH OFF your home modem/router, then:
the iMac and MacMini CAN connect to the internet when they have the Huawei 
plugged in
the MacBook Air CANNOT connect to the internet when they have the Huawei 
plugged in
 

Cheers

 

 

Neil

 

 

From:  on behalf of Brian W 
Scott 
Reply-To: 
Date: Monday, 01 July 2019 at 16:52
To: 
Subject: Re: Is it possible to have an External USB boot drive?

 

Hi,

 

I’ve discovered a new wrinkle.

 

When I tried the Huawei dongle in both the iMac and the Mac Mini both were 
currently connected to the internet through my home modem/router 

and I just went to the Network preferences and selected the Huawei when it 
showed up and tested the internet and it worked.

 

So I thought I’d try this with the MacBook Air, I plugged in the ethernet cable 
from my home modem on one side and then the dongle in the other

and when I tried the internet after selecting the Huawei in the Network 
preferences and it worked, the Status showed Connected and HUAWEI_MOBILE 

is currently active and then gives the IP address.

 

When I removed the ethernet cable from the MacBook Air the Huawei no longer 
worked. 

When I select a web page in Safari a page from Huawei comes up saying "Insert 
SIM card and restart your device” which is what I have been getting

when trying without the ethernet cable attached previously and removing the 
dongle & re-inserting the sim and plugging the dongle back in makes no 
difference.

 

When I used the old Huawei dongle, the one I used since 2011 that is what I 
would do - I would plug it into the MacBook Air select Huawei in the 
preferences and

I’d be on the internet.

 

What has having an ethernet cable plugged in at the same time got to with the 
dongle working!?

 

Does the system ignore my selection and find one that works.

 

Anyway I shan’t need to pursue an external bootable drive as it won’t help now.

 

It looks like I’ll have to spend more hours on the phone talking to Exetel to 
try and sort this out.

 

By the way good idea about updating Drivers Ronnie but as Neil says there 
nothing there for me.

 

Neil, I checked out the the quick start guide pdf and it’s the same as the tiny 
hard to read slip of paper that came with it, 

so thanks it's good to have something I can read with out needing a magnifying 
glass.

 

Well keep warm tonight folks they are turning it down to 8 degrees in Perth.

 

Brian

 

 



On 1 Jul 2019, at 2:21 pm, Neil Houghton  wrote:

 

Huawei E8372 Drivers for El Capitan

 

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Re: Is it possible to have an External USB boot drive?

[Brian W Scott]

Hi,

I’ve discovered a new wrinkle.

When I tried the Huawei dongle in both the iMac and the Mac Mini both were 
currently connected to the internet through my home modem/router 
and I just went to the Network preferences and selected the Huawei when it 
showed up and tested the internet and it worked.

So I thought I’d try this with the MacBook Air, I plugged in the ethernet cable 
from my home modem on one side and then the dongle in the other
and when I tried the internet after selecting the Huawei in the Network 
preferences and it worked, the Status showed Connected and HUAWEI_MOBILE 
is currently active and then gives the IP address.

When I removed the ethernet cable from the MacBook Air the Huawei no longer 
worked. 
When I select a web page in Safari a page from Huawei comes up saying "Insert 
SIM card and restart your device” which is what I have been getting
when trying without the ethernet cable attached previously and removing the 
dongle & re-inserting the sim and plugging the dongle back in makes no 
difference.

When I used the old Huawei dongle, the one I used since 2011 that is what I 
would do - I would plug it into the MacBook Air select Huawei in the 
preferences and
I’d be on the internet.

What has having an ethernet cable plugged in at the same time got to with the 
dongle working!?

Does the system ignore my selection and find one that works.

Anyway I shan’t need to pursue an external bootable drive as it won’t help now.

It looks like I’ll have to spend more hours on the phone talking to Exetel to 
try and sort this out.

By the way good idea about updating Drivers Ronnie but as Neil says there 
nothing there for me.

Neil, I checked out the the quick start guide pdf and it’s the same as the tiny 
hard to read slip of paper that came with it, 
so thanks it's good to have something I can read with out needing a magnifying 
glass.

Well keep warm tonight folks they are turning it down to 8 degrees in Perth.

Brian



> On 1 Jul 2019, at 2:21 pm, Neil Houghton  wrote:
> 
> Huawei E8372 Drivers for El Capitan

-- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List --
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Guidelines - 
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Re: Is it possible to have an External USB boot drive?

[Neil Houghton]

Hi Brian,

 

Whoa – I think maybe you need to stop and think about this.

 

Whilst I could continue the discussion about getting a USB drive bootable – and 
the way you seem to be going about it – maybe you need to consider another 
approach:

 
You have confirmed that your device is a Huawei E8372.
You have confirmed that the device is working fine when plugged into both your 
iMac running High Sierra and your Mac Mini running El Capitan.
The features/specifications sheets for the Huawei E8372 
 and 
 confirm that 
this device supports simultaneous connection of up to 10 wi-fi devices.
It seems to me that just using the device as a wi-fi internet server would 
offer the advantages of:
One-time set-up of its wi-fi
The ability to connect other computers/phones/iPads as wanted.
You can find a quick start guide for the device here 
 which covers setting 
up the wifi.
With this approach I believe your MacBook Air will just be connecting to the 
wi-fi network and hopefully the problems of directly interfacing with the 
device will not apply.
 

I am worried that if you continue on the bootable USB/ system re-install 
approach without a clear diagnostic plan you may just perpetuate the problem or 
even mess things up further – however, here are a few comments:
Apple says the minimum requirements to install El Capitan are at least 2GB of 
memory and 8.8GB of available storage space 
 
Using the Restore option is going to restore your entire computer setup 
(system, apps, user accounts etc) to the drive – this is not what you were 
wanting to do but may explain why you ran out of space.
To just install a bare operating system to an external drive, you would 
wipe/reformat the drive and then use the “Install OSX El Capitan” app.
You can get the “Install OSX El Capitan” app from the App store – link is 
https://itunes.apple.com/app/os-x-el-capitan/id1147835434?ls=1=12 
Cloning disks makes exact copies – this is good if you need to recover from 
hardware failure or recover from some stuff-up that happened AFTER the clone. 
Cloning a setup that has some problem will simply duplicate the problem – 
messed up library and all (if that is indeed the problem).
 

 

I’ll leave it at that for now. Let us know how you go.

 

 

Cheers

 

 

Neil

 

From:  on behalf of Brian W 
Scott 
Reply-To: "wamug@wamug.org.au" 
Date: Monday, 01 July 2019 at 10:03
To: "wamug@wamug.org.au" 
Subject: Re: Is it possible to have an External USB boot drive?

 

Hi Neil,

 

Thank you for your assistance.

 

I’m beginning to think the reason I’m having trouble getting a USB drive 
bootable could be the way I’m going about it using the Restore option from the 
MacBook Air. 

 

What if the MacBook Air (2011) to old to handle the Restore system.

 

What I should do is get a copy El Capitan from where ever and install it on the 
USB drive without using the Restore option.

 

Trouble is I don’t know how to get hold of El Capitan in a form where I can 
install it on the external drive. Would I have to go to an Apple shop and buy 
it?

 

I’ve thought of my old Clone for the MacBook Air with Lion on it - put that 
back on the MacBook Air and update to El Capitan again. 

 

Trouble is I’m not sure how to go about doing that. I can’t remember if it’s a 
clone made using SuperDuper or the old Disk Utility that was capable of doing 
clones.

 

But I guess if the clone boots it will prove it’s viable but getting it onto 
the MacBook Air, I I’m not sure how to do that would SuperDuper do it for me if 
Disk Utility made it?

 

That would at least clean out any messed up Library or what ever is stopping 
this Huawei stick from working on it.

 

It is as you guessed a Huawei E8372.

 

I’ll take a look at the pdf for it when I’ve done a bit of shopping and some 
other stuff, dealing with these computer problems does come with a certain 
stress factor.

 

Thanks again

Brian

 



On 30 Jun 2019, at 3:21 pm, Neil Houghton  wrote:

 

Hi Brian,

 
First off a clone of your Mac mini is not the way to go - the hardware of the 
Mac Mini and the MacBook Air are different. The OSX installation process 
installs what is needed for the specific computer it is installed on.
Personally, I would not dive into re-installing El Capitan on the MacBook Air 
when:
You do not know what the existing problem is and whether a system re-install 
ill fix-it
You seem to be having problems just installing a bootable system on an external 
drive.
Maybe we need to work out why you can’t create your USB boot drive – 4TB is 
definitely not too small to put a bare OSX operating system on – 32GB is 
plenty!!
 

I’ll come back with more on the bootable USB

 

 

Cheers

 

Neil

-- 

Neil R. Houghton

Albany, Western Australia

Tel: +61 8 9841 6063

Email: 

Re: Is it possible to have an External USB boot drive?

[Neil Houghton]

Hi Ronni, Hi Brian,

 

I checked out that link but the Huawei search page did not seem to actually be 
showing any downloadable El Capitan drivers.

Clicking the “Support” tab did show one downloadable zip file but it seems to 
be for Sierra rather than El Capitan:

The driver tool of Device(for Mac10.12)

TOOL-ConnLaucher_11.001.06.00.00.zip

 

I guess that you COULD try that – but the fact that it all works OK on the Mac 
Mini, also running El Capitan, would make me suspect something else – unless 
the Mac Mini has had updates that the MacBook Air has not.

 

However the specs on the Huawei device confirm that it provides a wireless 
hotspot for up to ten devices – so assuming the wireless range/performance is 
OK that would seem to offer a reasonable solution with some advantages.

 

 

Just my thoughts.

 

 

Cheers

 

 

Neil

-- 

Neil R. Houghton

Albany, Western Australia

Tel: +61 8 9841 6063

Email: n...@possumology.com

 

 

From:  on behalf of Ronni Brown 

Reply-To: WAMUG 
Date: Monday, 01 July 2019 at 11:06
To: WAMUG 
Subject: Re: Is it possible to have an External USB boot drive?

 

Hi Brian,

 

Did you download the updated drivers for EI Capitan?

Huawei E8372 Drivers for El Capitan

https://consumer.huawei.com/en/search/?keyword=Huawei%20E8372%20Drivers%20for%20El%20Capitan

Kind Regards,

Ronni




 Ronni Brown’s iPad Pro 12.9-inch 256GB 

 


On 1 Jul 2019, at 10:03 am, Brian W Scott  wrote:

Hi Neil,

 

Thank you for your assistance.

 

I’m beginning to think the reason I’m having trouble getting a USB drive 
bootable could be the way I’m going about it using the Restore option from the 
MacBook Air. 

 

What if the MacBook Air (2011) to old to handle the Restore system.

 

What I should do is get a copy El Capitan from where ever and install it on the 
USB drive without using the Restore option.

 

Trouble is I don’t know how to get hold of El Capitan in a form where I can 
install it on the external drive. Would I have to go to an Apple shop and buy 
it?

 

I’ve thought of my old Clone for the MacBook Air with Lion on it - put that 
back on the MacBook Air and update to El Capitan again. 

 

Trouble is I’m not sure how to go about doing that. I can’t remember if it’s a 
clone made using SuperDuper or the old Disk Utility that was capable of doing 
clones.

 

But I guess if the clone boots it will prove it’s viable but getting it onto 
the MacBook Air, I I’m not sure how to do that would SuperDuper do it for me if 
Disk Utility made it?

 

That would at least clean out any messed up Library or what ever is stopping 
this Huawei stick from working on it.

 

It is as you guessed a Huawei E8372.

 

I’ll take a look at the pdf for it when I’ve done a bit of shopping and some 
other stuff, dealing with these computer problems does come with a certain 
stress factor.

 

Thanks again

Brian

 



On 30 Jun 2019, at 3:21 pm, Neil Houghton  wrote:

 

Hi Brian,

 

1.   First off a clone of your Mac mini is not the way to go - the hardware 
of the Mac Mini and the MacBook Air are different. The OSX installation process 
installs what is needed for the specific computer it is installed on.

2.   Personally, I would not dive into re-installing El Capitan on the 
MacBook Air when:

a.   You do not know what the existing problem is and whether a system 
re-install ill fix-it

b.   You seem to be having problems just installing a bootable system on an 
external drive.

3.   Maybe we need to work out why you can’t create your USB boot drive – 
4TB is definitely not too small to put a bare OSX operating system on – 32GB is 
plenty!!

 

I’ll come back with more on the bootable USB

 

 

Cheers

 

Neil

-- 

Neil R. Houghton

Albany, Western Australia

Tel: +61 8 9841 6063

Email: n...@possumology.com

 

-Original Message-

From:  on behalf of Brian W 
Scott 

Reply-To: WAMUG 

Date: Sunday, 30 June 2019 at 14:48

To: WAMUG 

Subject: Re: Is it possible to have an External USB boot drive?

 

Well after re-formating the USB disk to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) I had 
another go but it didn’t work.



Once again after several minutes downloading etc it reckoned it had 
hundreds of years remaining but after a couple of minutes 

went to 0 seconds and eventually rebooted and then said the target disk (4 
TB) is too small.



It left a folder on the USB drive called OS X install Data within which is 
file called installESD.dmg double clicking that

brought up a window with another folder called Packages within which were 
these files..



BaseSystemResources.pkg

EFIPayloads

Essentials.pkg  (5.6 GB)

InstallableMachines.plist

OSInstall.mpkg

OSInstall.pkg

OSUpgrade.pkg

SMCPayloads

X11redirect.pkg



all quite small except for Essentials.pkg which I double clicked and was 
presented with the option of installing so I went ahead

with installing to the USB drive.