Re: Is it possible to have an External USB boot drive? - Eventually the Huawei E8372 dongle

[Brian W Scott]

Hi,

Just finish this off on a positive note.

I finally got the Huawei dongle working.

After getting another new SIM from Exetel, I must have damaged the first one 
they sent me, I inserted the dongle into the MacBook Air
and a window automatically opens with an Install icon I double clicked that and 
then opened the Network preferences and selected the Huawei.

I left the computer Network settings as I found them that is Location: 
Automatic & Configure IPv4: Using DHCP etc.

When I tried to open a web page I only got the Huawei settings page 192.188.8.1 
which I logged into and in the Mobile Connection settings 
I selected the Mobile Data "Turn ON" button and then selected Apply and I had 
instant access to the web. I didn’t need to do anything else.

None of what I did is mentioned in their instructions.

Whether or not it will work again tomorrow or in a weeks time remains to be 
seen but I have pulled the dongle out and reinserted it a couple of times and 
it still worked.

All the instructions including the sheet of instructions from Exetel all that 
stuff about setting the APN etc. were not only useless but distracting. Their 
telephone support
didn’t seem to have a clue.

Thanks for the help
Brian Scott

> On 1 Jul 2019, at 5:27 pm, Neil Houghton  wrote:
> 
> 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 > <mailto:n...@possumology.com>> wrote:
>>  
>> Huawei 

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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& Unsubscribe - 

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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 --
Archives - 
Guidelines - 
Settings & Unsubscribe - 

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 
<https://consumer.huawei.com/en/mobile-broadband/e8372/> and 
<https://consumer.huawei.com/en/mobile-broadband/e8372/specs/> 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 
<https://wirelessgear.com.au/content/huawei-e8372-qsg.pdf> 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 
<https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206886> 
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, Weste

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

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

[Ronni Brown]

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,
>>  
>> 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: 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.
>> 
>> After a couple of hours or so the USB disk ended up with 23.2 BG used 
>> and with these directories on it ...
>> 
>> Applications
>> bin
>> cores
>> dev
>> etc
>> Library
>> Network
>> OS X Install Data
>> OS X Install Data copy
>> private
>> sbin
>> System
>> tmp
>> Users
>> usr
>>

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

[Brian W Scott]

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: n...@possumology.com <mailto: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.
> 
> After a couple of hours or so the USB disk ended up with 23.2 BG used and 
> with these directories on it ...
> 
> Applications
> bin
> cores
> dev
> etc
> Library
> Network
> OS X Install Data
> OS X Install Data copy
> private
> sbin
> System
> tmp
> Users
> usr
> var
> Volumes
> 
> But still not a bootable drive.
> 
> I thought it prudent to make copy of OS X install Data incase it got 
> removed by the installation process and because I was 
> warned at the start I would not have the Recovery option when installing 
> to the USB disk.
> 
> So do I go for broke and try to re-install the OS on the MacBook Air?
> 
> I’ll have a think about it but after how that went I’m not too keen.
> 
> I still want to make the external USB drive bootable. 
> Perhaps if I use it to make a clone of my Macmini which has El Capitan on 
> it.
> 
> Regards
> 
> Brian
> 
> > On 30 Jun 2019, at 11:34 am, Brian W Scott  
> wrote:
> > 
>

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

[Neil Houghton]

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: 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.

    

After a couple of hours or so the USB disk ended up with 23.2 BG used and 
with these directories on it ...

    

Applications

    bin

    cores

    dev

    etc

    Library

    Network

    OS X Install Data

    OS X Install Data copy

    private

    sbin

    System

    tmp

    Users

    usr

    var

    Volumes

    

But still not a bootable drive.

    

I thought it prudent to make copy of OS X install Data incase it got 
removed by the installation process and because I was 

warned at the start I would not have the Recovery option when installing to 
the USB disk.

    

So do I go for broke and try to re-install the OS on the MacBook Air?

    

I’ll have a think about it but after how that went I’m not too keen.

    

I still want to make the external USB drive bootable. 

Perhaps if I use it to make a clone of my Macmini which has El Capitan on 
it.

    

Regards

    

Brian

    

> On 30 Jun 2019, at 11:34 am, Brian W Scott  wrote:

    > 

> Hi Neil,

    > 

> Thank you for your reply.

    > 

> The short WHY is I have a Huawei USB stick fitted with a SIM for mobile 
internet that works with my iMac (High Sierra) and my

    > Mac Mini (El Capitan) but there is something stopping it from working on 
the MacBook Air (El Capitan) so I want to clean out what 

> ever is stopping it from working.

    > 

> To make the WHY even longer; 

> Web pages I use were not loading any more while the OS on the MacBook Air 
was Lion so I updated to El Capitan.

    > 

> The web pages work fine now using my home modem, but when I tried to 
access the web using my old USB stick (from Optus, 

> mobile account with Exetel)  that had been working fine since 2011 under 
Lion it came up with a warning to install legacy Java SE 6 which I did, 

> 

> I in fact updated to the latest, and the warning went away. 

> But the stick still was not logging onto the web. 

> So I figured the stick is simply old technology that won’t work anymore 
and got this latest one from Exetel with a new SIM and new 

> account. Except it’s not working on my MacBook Air but works fine on my 
other computers. 

> 

> When the stick is first inserted a window pops up with an Install icon 
which I double clicked and something was installed, what and

    > where I don’t know. The stick doesn’t appear as device on the system so 
there is no way finding an un-install which probably doesn’t

    > exist any way.

    > 

> I feel that there may something from the old stick in the MacBook Air’s 
system preventing it from working, (maybe the Java update?) 

> I can’t find anything in my Library and don’t know what to look for 
anyway hence the desire for another clean install.

    > 

> I thought if I boot from an external drive with the

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

[Neil Houghton]

Hi Brian,

 

OK, it definitely helps to know what your problem is!

 

We all tend to have our different ways to go about things like this and I'm not 
familiar with your USB mobile modem. I have used them when travelling overseas 
when some places I have stayed that offered internet access used them. Some 
worked better than others but that could just have been down to how the owners 
set them up  ;o)

 

So just a few thoughts:

 
An alternative approach:
· You do not say what model of a Huawei USB modem this is but the 
Exetel site https://www.exetel.com.au/mobile-broadband suggests it is the 
Huawei E8372 and the quick start guide for this modem 
https://wirelessgear.com.au/content/huawei-e8372-qsg.pdf shows that it has a 
wi-fi function - if this is your model, have you tried turning on the wi-fi 
whilst the modem is in one off the working computers and then connecting the 
other computer(s) by wi-fi?

· If the modem DOES have inbuilt wi-fi then this could be the most 
convenient way to go - installed in one of the fixed macs (iMac or Mac mini) 
and providing wi-fi internet access to the other two - which would avoid having 
to swap the modem from computer to computer.

· The performance of this set-up is likely to be very dependent on the 
positioning of each device both with regard to the mobile reception of the 
modem in the host device and the proximity of the other computers for the wi-fi 
connection.

· If this seems like a good solution except for the poor performance of 
the inbuilt wi-fi then there are wireless routers which accept a plug-in USB 
modem eg: 
https://wirelessgear.com.au/dovado-tiny-3g-4g-lte-usb-modem-router-bulk-packaging/
 note this is just an example from google – not a recommendation.

 
Troubleshooting the existing problem:
The alternative solution may not be an option or, like me, you like to solve 
the problem anyway ;o)
Whilst re-installing your OS MIGHT solve the problem - to me it seems a bit 
premature to jump to this conclusion.  Sort of like "My car won't start, I'd 
better put a new engine in!" 
Personally, I would be trying a few tests to try and work out where the problem 
lies.
The fact that the modem is working with the two other computers proves that the 
modem and network connection work OK.
The fact that your Mac mini also uses El Capitan rules out basic OSX 
incompatibility - I assume both computers are running the latest El Capitan 
version OSX 10.11.6?
Have you tried setting up a new, bare admin account and seeing if you can get 
the modem to work – that would rule out the problem being any corrupted user 
preferences/settings.
With regard to your old setup and the warning to install legacy Java SE 6 – 
this is definitely an old, unsupported version of Java – so this may well have 
been the problem (rather than the old technology of the old USB device. The 
current version of Java is Java 8. Installing Java is straying off topic a bit 
but, if you are interested, there are OSX FAQs here < 
https://www.java.com/en/download/faq/java_mac.xml> 
Your idea of booting of of a clean  bare install of El Capitan on an external 
boot drive should work OK – but it doesn’t really help you know where the 
problem is. The problem then is how to manage the mirastion of all your user 
apps and data that you do want  - without migration over whatever is causing 
the problem.  Not that it can’t be done – but it may involve eitherquite a bit 
of time and trial/error or just starting with a completely clean installation 
and then re-installing apps one by one and managing your data accordingly.
 

 

That’s probably enough for now  ;o)

 

 

Just my thoughts.

 

 

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 11:34

To: WAMUG 

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

 

    Hi Neil,

    

Thank you for your reply.

    

The short WHY is I have a Huawei USB stick fitted with a SIM for mobile 
internet that works with my iMac (High Sierra) and my

    Mac Mini (El Capitan) but there is something stopping it from working on 
the MacBook Air (El Capitan) so I want to clean out what 

ever is stopping it from working.

    

To make the WHY even longer; 

Web pages I use were not loading any more while the OS on the MacBook Air 
was Lion so I updated to El Capitan.

    

The web pages work fine now using my home modem, but when I tried to access 
the web using my old USB stick (from Optus, 

mobile account with Exetel)  that had been working fine since 2011 under 
Lion it came up with a warning to install legacy Java SE 6 which I did, 



I in fact updated to the latest, and the warning went away. 

But the stick still was not logging onto the web. 

So I f

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

[Brian W Scott]

ure if that’s even practical 
> except to maybe to find what was installed and where.
> 
> Thanks for your help.
> 
> Brian
> 
>> On 29 Jun 2019, at 6:18 pm, Neil Houghton  wrote:
>> 
>> Hi Brian,
>> 
>> Before starting anything, I assume that you have at least one full up-to 
>> date backup of your existing system!
>> 
>> 
>> I think you need to be a bit clearer on what you are trying to do and why.
>> 
>> Some thoughts:
>> 
>>  • If you just want to have a temporary external USB boot drive then you 
>> do not need a large USB drive. When I decided to upgrade 3 computers to El 
>> Capitan I created a bootable USB flash drive with just the El Capitan 
>> installer on it. The actual USB drive is only 32GB capacity and only 6.2GB 
>> of that is used for the El Capitan Install app.
>>  • This drive allowed me to boot-up the computer and erase/reformat the 
>> internal hard drive and do a clean install of El Capitan. Obviously this 
>> approach requires that I have already got my original system and user data 
>> backed up elsewhere. Then you need to decide what apps and data you 
>> want/need to migrate over.
>>  • When you say "I would like to wipe MacBook Air’s drive and 
>> re-establish El Capitan on it. (Why I need to do this is a longer story)" - 
>> the "WHY" will probably have a bearing on "HOW" you should go about it! For 
>> example:
>>  • If your existing setup is all working fine and you just want/need to 
>> reformat the internal drive (say change the partition scheme) then you would 
>> probably just clone the existing system drive/partition to an external 
>> drive, reformat the internal drive and then clone back from the external 
>> drive to your new internal target.
>>  • On the other hand, if your reason(s) to wipe the drive and re-install 
>> the OS is down to some perceived problems with the existing set-up then just 
>> moving the existing set-up to the external drive and then back again will 
>> most likely retain the problem!
>>  • The nature of any existing problem would, most likely, tend to drive 
>> the best approach to reinstalling the system and user data - is the problem 
>> likely down to system corruption or user data/preference corruption?
>> 
>> I'm not sure how helpful all that is but my experience has definitely been 
>> that more time spent analysing and planning BEFORE you dive in will often 
>> save problems down the track and save time in the long run.
>> 
>> HTH
>> 
>> 
>> 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: Saturday, 29 June 2019 at 17:23
>> To: WAMUG 
>> Subject: Re: Is it possible to have an External USB boot drive?
>> 
>>Hi,
>> 
>>I found I could do it with the Recovery Disk/Partition.
>> 
>>But it’s complaining that the 4TB drive I’m trying to put it on is not 
>> big enough.
>> 
>>I suspected it must using the MacBook Air drive to store stuff so I’ve 
>> made some room on it and will try again tomorrow.
>> 
>>208.95 GB should do it I guess.
>> 
>>At one time it said it had About 1,102,053,030 hrs 22 mins to go. (That’s 
>> 125,722 average Gregorian years)
>> 
>>But about a minute later it continued on to it’s next activity.
>> 
>> 
>>> On 29 Jun 2019, at 1:34 pm, Brian W Scott  wrote:
>>> 
>>> Hi,
>>> 
>>> I have a MacBook Air 13 inch, Mid 2011 with Mac OS 10.7.5 El Capitan 
>>> 10.11.6 on it.
>>> 
>>> I would like to wipe MacBook Air’s drive and re-establish El Capitan on it. 
>>> (Why I need to do this is a longer story)
>>> 
>>> I have a 4TB USB powered by the USB port it doesn’t have a power supply. 
>>> 
>>> I was thinking I could use it as an external boot drive while I deal with 
>>> the MacBook Air’s drive.
>>> 
>>> If it is possible to do the above could someone please point me to some 
>>> instructions for getting this done.
>>> 
>>> Thank you,
>>> 
>>> Brian Scott
>>> 
>>> -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List --
>>> Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml>
>>> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/

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

[Brian W Scott]

en back again will 
> most likely retain the problem!
>   • The nature of any existing problem would, most likely, tend to drive 
> the best approach to reinstalling the system and user data - is the problem 
> likely down to system corruption or user data/preference corruption?
>  
> I'm not sure how helpful all that is but my experience has definitely been 
> that more time spent analysing and planning BEFORE you dive in will often 
> save problems down the track and save time in the long run.
>  
> HTH
>  
>  
> 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: Saturday, 29 June 2019 at 17:23
> To: WAMUG 
> Subject: Re: Is it possible to have an External USB boot drive?
>  
> Hi,
> 
> I found I could do it with the Recovery Disk/Partition.
> 
> But it’s complaining that the 4TB drive I’m trying to put it on is not 
> big enough.
> 
> I suspected it must using the MacBook Air drive to store stuff so I’ve 
> made some room on it and will try again tomorrow.
> 
> 208.95 GB should do it I guess.
> 
> At one time it said it had About 1,102,053,030 hrs 22 mins to go. (That’s 
> 125,722 average Gregorian years)
> 
> But about a minute later it continued on to it’s next activity.
> 
> 
> > On 29 Jun 2019, at 1:34 pm, Brian W Scott  
> wrote:
> > 
> > Hi,
> > 
> > I have a MacBook Air 13 inch, Mid 2011 with Mac OS 10.7.5 El Capitan 
> 10.11.6 on it.
> > 
> > I would like to wipe MacBook Air’s drive and re-establish El Capitan on 
> it. (Why I need to do this is a longer story)
> > 
> > I have a 4TB USB powered by the USB port it doesn’t have a power 
> supply. 
> > 
> > I was thinking I could use it as an external boot drive while I deal 
> with the MacBook Air’s drive.
> > 
> > If it is possible to do the above could someone please point me to some 
> instructions for getting this done.
> > 
> > Thank you,
> > 
> > Brian Scott
> > 
> > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List --
> > Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml>
> > Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml>
> > Settings & Unsubscribe - 
> <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug>
> 
> -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List --
> Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml>
> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml>
> Settings & Unsubscribe - 
> <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug>
> -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List --
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> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml>
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Re: Is it possible to have an External USB boot drive?

[Neil Houghton]

Hi Brian,

 

Before starting anything, I assume that you have at least one full up-to date 
backup of your existing system!

 

 

I think you need to be a bit clearer on what you are trying to do and why.

 

Some thoughts:

 
If you just want to have a temporary external USB boot drive then you do not 
need a large USB drive. When I decided to upgrade 3 computers to El Capitan I 
created a bootable USB flash drive with just the El Capitan installer on it. 
The actual USB drive is only 32GB capacity and only 6.2GB of that is used for 
the El Capitan Install app.
This drive allowed me to boot-up the computer and erase/reformat the internal 
hard drive and do a clean install of El Capitan. Obviously this approach 
requires that I have already got my original system and user data backed up 
elsewhere. Then you need to decide what apps and data you want/need to migrate 
over.
When you say "I would like to wipe MacBook Air’s drive and re-establish El 
Capitan on it. (Why I need to do this is a longer story)" - the "WHY" will 
probably have a bearing on "HOW" you should go about it! For example:
If your existing setup is all working fine and you just want/need to reformat 
the internal drive (say change the partition scheme) then you would probably 
just clone the existing system drive/partition to an external drive, reformat 
the internal drive and then clone back from the external drive to your new 
internal target.
On the other hand, if your reason(s) to wipe the drive and re-install the OS is 
down to some perceived problems with the existing set-up then just moving the 
existing set-up to the external drive and then back again will most likely 
retain the problem!
The nature of any existing problem would, most likely, tend to drive the best 
approach to reinstalling the system and user data - is the problem likely down 
to system corruption or user data/preference corruption?
 

I'm not sure how helpful all that is but my experience has definitely been that 
more time spent analysing and planning BEFORE you dive in will often save 
problems down the track and save time in the long run.

 

HTH

 

 

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: Saturday, 29 June 2019 at 17:23

To: WAMUG 

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

 

    Hi,

    

I found I could do it with the Recovery Disk/Partition.

    

But it’s complaining that the 4TB drive I’m trying to put it on is not big 
enough.

    

I suspected it must using the MacBook Air drive to store stuff so I’ve made 
some room on it and will try again tomorrow.

    

208.95 GB should do it I guess.

    

At one time it said it had About 1,102,053,030 hrs 22 mins to go. (That’s 
125,722 average Gregorian years)

    

But about a minute later it continued on to it’s next activity.

    



> On 29 Jun 2019, at 1:34 pm, Brian W Scott  wrote:

    > 

> Hi,

    > 

> I have a MacBook Air 13 inch, Mid 2011 with Mac OS 10.7.5 El Capitan 
10.11.6 on it.

    > 

> I would like to wipe MacBook Air’s drive and re-establish El Capitan on 
it. (Why I need to do this is a longer story)

    > 

> I have a 4TB USB powered by the USB port it doesn’t have a power supply. 

> 

> I was thinking I could use it as an external boot drive while I deal with 
the MacBook Air’s drive.

    > 

> If it is possible to do the above could someone please point me to some 
instructions for getting this done.

    > 

> Thank you,

    > 

> Brian Scott

    > 

> -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List --

    > Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml>

    > Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml>

    > Settings & Unsubscribe - 
<http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug>

    

-- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List --

    Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml>

    Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml>

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<http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug>

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

[Brian W Scott]

Hi,

I found I could do it with the Recovery Disk/Partition.

But it’s complaining that the 4TB drive I’m trying to put it on is not big 
enough.

I suspected it must using the MacBook Air drive to store stuff so I’ve made 
some room on it and will try again tomorrow.

208.95 GB should do it I guess.

At one time it said it had About 1,102,053,030 hrs 22 mins to go. (That’s 
125,722 average Gregorian years)

But about a minute later it continued on to it’s next activity.


> On 29 Jun 2019, at 1:34 pm, Brian W Scott  wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I have a MacBook Air 13 inch, Mid 2011 with Mac OS 10.7.5 El Capitan 10.11.6 
> on it.
> 
> I would like to wipe MacBook Air’s drive and re-establish El Capitan on it. 
> (Why I need to do this is a longer story)
> 
> I have a 4TB USB powered by the USB port it doesn’t have a power supply. 
> 
> I was thinking I could use it as an external boot drive while I deal with the 
> MacBook Air’s drive.
> 
> If it is possible to do the above could someone please point me to some 
> instructions for getting this done.
> 
> Thank you,
> 
> Brian Scott
> 
> -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List --
> Archives - 
> Guidelines - 
> Settings & Unsubscribe - 
> 

-- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List --
Archives - 
Guidelines - 
Settings & Unsubscribe - 

Is it possible to have an External USB boot drive?

[Brian W Scott]

Hi,

I have a MacBook Air 13 inch, Mid 2011 with Mac OS 10.7.5 El Capitan 10.11.6 on 
it.

I would like to wipe MacBook Air’s drive and re-establish El Capitan on it. 
(Why I need to do this is a longer story)

I have a 4TB USB powered by the USB port it doesn’t have a power supply. 

I was thinking I could use it as an external boot drive while I deal with the 
MacBook Air’s drive.

If it is possible to do the above could someone please point me to some 
instructions for getting this done.

Thank you,

Brian Scott

-- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List --
Archives - 
Guidelines - 
Settings & Unsubscribe -