Before you do that, we recommend you verify that your Mac can actually run Monterey.
You’re now ready to install macOS Monterey on your external hard drive.
Install macOS on Your External Hard Drive Its name is “Install macOS Monterey.” Step 3. Just like all apps downloaded from the App Store, the downloaded installer can be found in the Applications folder.
This step is the easiest one because you can download the macOS Monterey installer directly from the App Store: Be patient and don’t interrupt it.ĭisk Utility will refuse to format any drive that’s in use, so make sure to close all running apps (or restart your Mac) if you’re experiencing issues during hard drive preparation. The process may take a while, depending on the size and speed of your drive. Click Erase and wait for Disk Utility to prepare your external drive for you.Give the external hard drive a suitable name and select “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)” as the drive’s format and “GUID Partition Map” as the drive’s partition scheme.Select your external hard drive (not just a single partition).Click View and choose the Show all devices option.Launch Disk Utility (located in Applications -> Utilities).Connect the external hard drive to your Mac.Unless you’re 100% sure that your external hard drive is freshly formatted based on the above-described requirements, we recommend you go through the following preparation steps: More specifically, it must be at least 64 GB large (the more storage space you have, the better) and formatted using the GUID partition scheme and the APFS file system (Mac OS Extended is no longer supported) To successfully install macOS on an external drive, the drive you want to use must be suitable for the task ahead.
Just being curious and wanting to learn something new and potentially useful is the best reason you can have.
Of course, you don’t actually need a good reason to install macOS Monterey on an external drive.
By learning how to install macOS on an external hard drive, you can safely test everything macOS 12 Monterey has to offer while preserving your current installation intact.