Cloned Startup External SSD only boots if Option held at power up

Let me explain further. The System arrived with a HDD with Ventura 13.7.6 all APFS file system so firmware upgrade must have been done. I upgraded to Ventura 13.7.7 all working fine but just very slow. Cloned to External SSD using SuperDuper and The Migration Assistant. Boots fine. User, files, apps, etc. all good. Just this Option key thing. Diskutil List shows all APFS.

Could you explain a little more about this "recovery OS is HPF+" If this is the case why doesn't Diskutil list show it?

@aactech - As you hadn't expressed what the OS was I only commented IF it was running Sierra 10.12.x you could encounter issues just with the drive (either HDD or SSD).

The internet recovery accesses Apples servers and by default the base OS is used. So if you jump to 2017 21.5 iMac as an example we have: Pre-Installed MacOS: X 10.12.4 (16F2073) as such that will be default which is Sierra and has HPFS+ for a file system. If you use the keys Option-Command-R you get to the highest supported version your system will support. In this case that would be Ventura 13.7.x I've had issues with this system with the older OS's which is why I prefer using USB thumb drives already setup with desired OS as I like sticking with the one already on.

Start up your Intel-based Mac in macOS Recovery

Hi @danj

I have worked on Macs but am more experienced with PCs and Windows so have blind spots with some macOS stuff. I am used to just setting the boot drive in the BIOS/UEFI after a cloning operation to a new drive.

You said "You need to build a bootable drive with what Apple supports for an OS. Then using that drive to boot from partition and format the drive (single partition) and install the OS.". Is this a reinstall saving all settings, user, apps, etc?

I haven't completely followed where you are going with the Option-Command-R. What do I do there? I already have a bootable thumb drive with Ventura 13.7.7 install on it. But how does all that fix the Startup drive setting not being saved?

What do you think of below?

Some have suggested booting <Command-R> and using Terminal to disable SIP, run sudo bless. . .to set startup drive, re-enable SIP and should bootup fine without having to press Option and select drive (only one).

@aactech - This gets into the experience level of the person and what is the quickest way to complete the task. Most of the people we see here are true novices attempting their first repair so I try to couch my answers for them. So your skills are more refined working on PC's and Mac's are a bit different in the same vein as some vehicles run on diesel versus gasoline! So while a lot of the internals are the same there are some sizable differences!

'Cloning' a drive Vs 'Backing Up' are different more so within APFS as Apple never officially documented the inner workings of it so the Cloning App developers had what they needed, and do to how APFS works it's just not possible to Clone in the traditional sense. Your only way is a traditional copy file by file here we are using Apples Backup or Migration Apps. This saves the files holding their integrity and the given users settings and keys. Cloning is a faster process as it was intended to duplicate at the HDD recording level not within the OS's so its faster

(Pt2) While messing with Apple's EFI firmware settings can often get things going Apple has altered it a few times making it a bit of a moving target. To add to the basic IPL function a system which offered a Fusion Drive has a second setting embedded in the EFI which is why Safe Mode worked. Here the IPL pointer is set to the caching PCIe/NMVe Blade SSD. But as the HDD was removed the boot can't complete the process for the Blade SSD to Ack its HDD mate as it can't find the HDD's hidden partitions.

So the best way to deal with this is Booting up under the external and within Disk Utility wipe the drives (2) within the system the new SSD you put in and the hidden Blade SSD. Then setup the SATA SSD with a single partition and install the OS. Then using Migration Assistant restore the users data which appears you have on an external backup.

While messing about within the EFI and GUID structures is possible it's still a sizable minefield that's just easier to wipe fully and start anew!