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User profile for user: MartinR
MartinR Author
User level: Level 7
21,697 points

Question about upgrading 2014 Mac mini w/High Sierra to Monterey

I have a Late 2014 Mac mini currently running High Sierra 10.13.6. All is well.


I'd like to upgrade it to Monterey by installing Monterey on an external drive. And keep the existing High Sierra installation on the internal drive. This would be a dual-boot configuration.


The internal drive is formatted MacOS Extended Journaled for High Sierra. I know that the external drive will need to be formatted APFS, in advance, for Monterey and I believe I would have to do that via Disk Utility in my current High Sierra environment before installing Monterey on the external drive.


I am aware that macOS installers (including Monterey) usually include a firmware update.


If I go ahead and download/install Monterey on an external drive attached to the mini, will the firmware update in any way preclude or interfere with continued operation of High Sierra if/when I attempt to boot again from the internal drive?

Posted on Oct 9, 2022 9:45 AM

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User profile for user: BDAqua
BDAqua
User level: Level 10
245,459 points

Posted on Oct 9, 2022 9:59 AM

I don't have any macs capable of both 10.13.6 & 12, but I do have a 2019 iMac that boots 10.14.6 off an external SSD formatted MacOS Extended Journaled, and 10.15.7, 10.11, 10.12, & 10.13 off of APFS volumes.


Con is 10.14.6>Sys Prefs>Startup Disk cannot see the APFS volumes as bootable & I have to use Option key on startup to choose other than 10.14 to boot from.

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User profile for user: BDAqua
BDAqua
User level: Level 10
245,459 points

Oct 9, 2022 9:59 AM in response to MartinR

I don't have any macs capable of both 10.13.6 & 12, but I do have a 2019 iMac that boots 10.14.6 off an external SSD formatted MacOS Extended Journaled, and 10.15.7, 10.11, 10.12, & 10.13 off of APFS volumes.


Con is 10.14.6>Sys Prefs>Startup Disk cannot see the APFS volumes as bootable & I have to use Option key on startup to choose other than 10.14 to boot from.

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Question about upgrading 2014 Mac mini w/High Sierra to Monterey

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