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Old 05-08-2021, 04:10 PM
Guy Kuo Guy Kuo is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 12
Filevaulted Catalina cannot boot from USB on 2012/2013 MacBook Pro

Was trying to create encrypted backup after changing from Mojave to Catalina. Followed the instructions for making a fresh, unencrypted clone and then booting off the clone and enabling FileVault to encrypt the clone.

Took a few days of failed, repeated cloning and smart update attempts with various versions of SuperDuper (even 3.5.2 beta) before finally finding the underlying issue with why I could not boot from my encrypted clones.

Catalina won't boot from USB after Filevault is enabled on MacBook Pro 10,1 (late 2012 / mid 2013).

One can select and start booting the clone via option key, but boot process hangs after apple logo appears.

The same Filevault encrypted clone WILL boot on newer machines, but not on my Macbook Pro 10,1 machines.

Apparently this is a Catalina issue that was previously noted in the CCC site. It's not a SuperDuper issue, but a USB boot problem if Catalina is Filevaulted.

I get no boot problem if not FileVaulted, but some of my clones legally must be encrypted filevaulted during transport.

At least I know I can update and maintain an encrypted clone, but recovery will require an intermediate, un-encrypted boot volume.

One other tip: remove all instances of your external drive from keychain before attempting a smart update with SuperDuper. If multiple entries are in the keychain, ASR will ask for your keychain password MANY times and may still fail to copy the system volume.

Last edited by Guy Kuo; 05-08-2021 at 04:21 PM.
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