Help! Installed new hard drive and it won't work

chrisk1967 · May 4, 2014

The hard drive on my mac mini died and I followed all the guides on how to install it. It is installed correctly, but when I try to reinstall OSX it won't recognize the new drive. I also cannot hear the hard drive working. I got a Seagate 500 gb/go data. Any ideas? Could the new hard drive be bad?

Thanks for your help!

Thessman · May 4, 2014

Is your mini a PPC one? If yes then you need to format your drive like that.

chrisk1967 · May 4, 2014

I don't know if I have that type. But, when I turn on the computer holding "option" and it does an internet recovery, it doesn't even show any drives or volumes to choose. There is no error message, it says to choose a drive, but there is none to choose.

GreatDrok · May 4, 2014

chrisk1967 said:
I don't know if I have that type. But, when I turn on the computer holding "option" and it does an internet recovery, it doesn't even show any drives or volumes to choose. There is no error message, it says to choose a drive, but there is none to choose.

Here's a similar thread:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/524082/

You probably need to format the new drive for the machine to recognise it. I went through a similar process with my Mini recently and I needed to use Disk Utility to initialise the new drive before it would show up for installation.

chrisk1967 · May 4, 2014

Thank you for responding. I don't have an install disc. There is no cd/dvd drive on the mac mini.

I do have the OSX installed on a flash drive. When it is plugged in, the mac mini will run off it. When I go in the utilities, it is there but says it is empty. Can I format the new drive there?

jbarley · May 4, 2014

From Apple...

Command-R to the rescue.
Just hold down Command-R during startup and OS X Recovery springs into action. It lets you choose from common utilities: you can run Disk Utility to check or repair your hard drive, erase your hard drive and reinstall a fresh copy of OS X, or restore your Mac from a Time Machine backup. You can even use Safari to get help from Apple Support online. And if OS X Recovery encounters problems, it will automatically connect to Apple over the Internet.

casperes1996 · May 4, 2014

Here's what you do.

chrisk1967 said:
Thank you for responding. I don't have an install disc. There is no cd/dvd drive on the mac mini.

I do have the OSX installed on a flash drive. When it is plugged in, the mac mini will run off it. When I go in the utilities, it is there but says it is empty. Can I format the new drive there?

Pop Disk Utility, either by holding cmd+r during boot up and picking Disk Utility, or with the USB flash drive you mentioned. There, you click your drive, and select delete. You then delete it all. Settings should be GUID and Mac OS Extended (Journaled). After this is done, you should be able to install your OS.

----------

jbarley said:
From Apple...

Command-R to the rescue.
Just hold down Command-R during startup and OS X Recovery springs into action. It lets you choose from common utilities: you can run Disk Utility to check or repair your hard drive, erase your hard drive and reinstall a fresh copy of OS X, or restore your Mac from a Time Machine backup. You can even use Safari to get help from Apple Support online. And if OS X Recovery encounters problems, it will automatically connect to Apple over the Internet.

Hey! That's funny. I was writing the almost exact same thing when you posted that.

chrisk1967 · May 4, 2014

Thank you jbarley and casperes (sorry I'm sure I messed that up)! I did control-R and clicked erase, named my hard drive. Then clicked on install OSX and the hard drive was there! Oh I did the happy dance!! It is currently installing, will take 1 1/2 hours or so. But, I think I will be ok from there! Thank you again!!

casperes1996 · May 4, 2014

No problem

chrisk1967 said:
Thank you jbarley and casperes (sorry I'm sure I messed that up)! I did control-R and clicked erase, named my hard drive. Then clicked on install OSX and the hard drive was there! Oh I did the happy dance!! It is currently installing, will take 1 1/2 hours or so. But, I think I will be ok from there! Thank you again!!

Hehe, glad I could be of assistance. Hope you enjoy!

chrisk1967 · May 4, 2014

Just wanted to say Thank You, again! It works perfectly!! We were ready to take it in to Apple and pay more to have them fix it. Really glad it was a simple fix! Couldn't have done it without you all!!

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Help! Installed new hard drive and it won't work

chrisk1967

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Thessman

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chrisk1967

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GreatDrok

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chrisk1967

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jbarley

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casperes1996

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chrisk1967

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casperes1996

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chrisk1967

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