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Mountain Lion installer cant find my HD

H

Hima3d

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 4, 2014
5
0
I have a MBP 13" early 2013 / Mountain Lion 10.8.2

A while ago I got a spinning wheel right after starting my mac. I contacted Apple since my mac was still under warranty, and after further diagnosis, they told me that I have to replace the HD, so they mail me a new HD.

I connected the new HD using a USB cable to format and re-partition it using disk utility (At this point, DU was able to see the HD on a USB connection).

After partitioning, I removed my Mac cover to replace my HDs. I booted using a Mountain Lion USB drive, but the installer couldn't find the new HD, just the recovery partition.

I bought a new HD from Amazon, same result, my mac can start with teh old HD. Also, the disk utility can read the new HDs if they are on a usb connection, but it cant read them if they are on a SMART connection !

I deeply appreciate any suggestions ! I'm really stuck..
 
Early 2013 MacBook Pros were all retina models.

If your 13" MBP isn't actually a 2013 model, and has a normal HDD, the SATA cable may be at fault.
 
If you replaced the hard drive, then try to reseat the cable.

Also put the old drive in and see if its accessible.

Since you now have a new drive which may not be working correctly, and the old drive is not working. Maybe its not the drive but some other component on the laptop that is failing. The cable as mentioned is one possible suspect.
 
The old drive is readable and accessible, which means nothing wrong with the SATA cable.
Both drives are typical (HGST 500Gig) !
The new HD is not accessible on the cable, but accessible on a USB, so I cant install mountain lion from a USB.
 
Did you try partitioning it from the USB installer? It sounds like you did some work before you installed.

Put the drive back in the computer (assuming it was taken out for some reason).
Boot up the ML USB installer, and then start Disk Utility from there.
Does the drive show up on the left hand pane?
Can you recreate the partition?
 
Good question, and here is what I did.

I booted from a mountain lion USB installer while my old HD was connected by cable, and the new one on a USB connection. So, disk utility was able to read both drives ! I selected the new HD for mountain lion installation.

After the full instillation of Mountain Lion, I connected the new HD using a cable, but again, it wasn't able to start up, it gave me the gray folder icon with a question mark !
 
I have heard that some folks have the strange result where one hard drive works, but another hard drive does not, but you can verify the hard drive by trying another connection, such as USB - and you say that you have already done that.

Replace the SATA cable.

But, call AppleCare again.
If they already shipped you a hard drive, they could probably send you a replacement SATA cable, too -
Or, AppleCare may have other suggestions.
 
My suggestions (will be different from others)

Put the old HD back into the Macbook, so it boots.

Connect the NEW HD to USB.

Open Disk Utility.

RE-initialize the NEW HD via USB.

When done, use CarbonCopyCloner to clone the contents of the OLD HD to the NEW HD.
NOTE: you can download CCC for FREE, and use it for FREE for 30 days, from here:
http://www.bombich.com/download.html

Now, swap the drives around.

Does the NEW HD now boot the MacBook ?
 
Fishrrman,
Thanks a lot for your suggestion,
I did all the steps that you have mentioned, it was working good until I try to boot using my new HD, it fails ! I got the gray folder with a question mark !

Also, I tried to install a fresh copy of my mountain lion, after the full installation I got the same result ! the gray folder icon !

I cant believe that there is no way out of this issue !!!
 
Of course - you do have a way out to try.
I don't usually want to repeat myself, but:

DeltaMac said:
...
Replace the SATA cable.

But, call AppleCare again.
If they already shipped you a hard drive, they could probably send you a replacement SATA cable, too -
Or, AppleCare may have other suggestions.
Click to expand...

You do still need to return your old hard drive to Apple, right?
Give Apple an opportunity to do what your warranty is supposed to provide.
 
Last edited:
First, I would like to thank everyone who participated in this discussion.
upon your advice, DeltaMac, I contacted Apple support, they confirmed that Macbook pros mid 2012, have an issue with SATA cables, as they cant read newer HDs.
They created a case for me to replace my SATA cable with a newer version !
Again, thanks everyone
 
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