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Problems between two macOS versions

I keep my internal disk running Mavericks, and an external SSD with Mojave installed. How can I switch between them using the Startup Disk pane?

It’s normally possible to dual–boot in this way between two close versions of macOS, but doing so with 10.9 and 10.14 is inevitably difficult. The reason is Apple’s new file system, APFS: this wasn’t introduced until High Sierra, and Mavericks can’t recognize or mount any volume in APFS format.

When your Mac is running Mavericks, the Startup Disk pane therefore can’t see its external disk containing Mojave, so can’t offer it as a choice. The only way to start up in Mojave is to hold the Opt key during startup and select the system there. Even that relies on your Mac’s firmware being updated to work with APFS and Mojave, though.

You might be able to improve this using the systemsetup command in Mojave’s Terminal, but because of APFS there’s no way this can ever work seamlessly. If you need to have access to such different versions of macOS, consider using