cables needed for target disk mode macbook air

When you need to reinstall macOS or restore from a Time Machine backup, head to macOS Recovery.

We’re all still learning about the new platform, but it seems that you need a Thunderbolt 3 SSD that has been freshly formatted with APFS and set up with a new installation of macOS 11.1 Big Sur. Note that M1-based Macs can’t boot from just any external drive. To set a selected drive as the default, press the Control or Option key and click the Always Use button underneath it. Then, for Safe mode, press the Shift key and click the Continue in Safe Mode button below it. Startup Manager (but not Startup Disk) also lets you start up in Safe mode and set a drive as the default to use for booting. If you work your way into macOS Recovery but then want to back out in order to select a startup drive, look in the Apple menu for a Startup Disk command, which provides similar functionality with a slightly different look. To boot from a particular drive, select it and click Continue under it.

Immediately after you see “Loading startup options…,” the Mac displays the new Startup Manager, which shows icons for all the bootable drives, along with buttons for Options, Shut Down, and Restart. If you have multiple boot drives and wish to switch among them, you’ll want to use Startup Manager. Unfortunately, Apple is still a little fast and loose with terms, so we’ve tried to list all of the ones you might see. Instead, press and hold the power button until the screen shows “Loading startup options…” and displays the Startup Manager. The most important part is that you no longer have to press a key combination during startup. Needless to say, obscure key combinations aren’t the friendliest way to help someone who may already be stressed out about their Mac not working, so Apple improved things for the new M1-based Macs. Most notably, pressing Option displays the Startup Manager and lets you pick a boot drive, Command-R starts up from macOS Recovery, Command-Option-P-R resets the NVRAM, Shift starts up in Safe mode, D opens Apple Diagnostics to check the hardware, and T starts up in Target Disk Mode. Got a new M1 Mac? Here’s What You Need to Know About the New Startup Modes.įor many years, Macs have relied on sets of keys held at startup to enable specific modes.

Cables needed for target disk mode macbook air