Did I kill my Mac mini?

[Luis2004]

So I replaced my HD on the 2012mini with an Intel 530 series SSD. I booted up and instead of the Apple logo on the white screen, I get a blinking folder icon with a question mark on it.

How do I boot from the SSD?

Did I kill it?

[GGJstudios]

Originally Posted by Luis2004

So I replaced my HD on the 2012mini with an Intel 530 series SSD. I booted up and instead of the Apple logo on the white screen, I get a blinking folder icon with a question mark on it.

How do I boot from the SSD?

Did I kill it?

Did you install anything on the SSD? You can't boot from a blank drive.

OS X: About OS X Recovery
How to Clean Install OS X Mountain Lion
Apple - OS X Recovery restores your Mac with a few clicks.
Hands on with Mountain Lion's OS X Recovery and Internet Recovery

[Luis2004]

I've read about needing to format the new ssd before you can boot from it, but it appears that my Mac won't recognize the new drive. It will only give me the apple logo when I have the external HD plugged in at boot. I have the option of restoring from time machine (a partition on the External HD) but it will only restore to the external HD, erasing it in the process....

I can see the partition that I backed up OS X to prior to installing the SSD, but it won't let me restore that.

[GGJstudios]

Originally Posted by Luis2004

I've read about needing to format the new ssd before you can boot from it, but it appears that my Mac won't recognize the new drive. It will only give me the apple logo when I have the external HD plugged in at boot. I have the option of restoring from time machine (a partition on the External HD) but it will only restore to the external HD, erasing it in the process....

I can see the partition that I backed up OS X to prior to installing the SSD, but it won't let me restore that.

Here's a simple approach:

1. Buy an external enclosure and put your old drive in it.
2. Install your new drive in your Mac.
3. Boot from your old (external) drive by holding the Option key on startup.
4. Use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone the old (external) drive to the new (internal) drive.
5. Boot from the new internal drive.
6. Your now running on your new internal drive and your old drive is now an external drive, useful for backups or additional storage.

[thekev]

Originally Posted by Luis2004

I've read about needing to format the new ssd before you can boot from it, but it appears that my Mac won't recognize the new drive. It will only give me the apple logo when I have the external HD plugged in at boot. I have the option of restoring from time machine (a partition on the External HD) but it will only restore to the external HD, erasing it in the process....

I can see the partition that I backed up OS X to prior to installing the SSD, but it won't let me restore that.

It's not just an issue of formatting. It needs an OS installed to boot. You replaced a drive containing an OS with a blank piece of hardware, so the computer can't give you anything past an EFI screen. The only way you'd kill it during such a procedure would be if you break one of the fairly fragile clips used in these things. Make sure you save the original drive. Don't overwrite the recovery partition. If you ever need warranty service, you may need to put the original drive back prior to taking it in, as the hard drive isn't officially user serviceable in the Minis. In case you also bump the ram, make sure to test new ram as soon as it's installed. Bad sodimms aren't that rare, and they can cause a lot of grief.

If you restore to the other partition on the external drive, then boot via firewire from the external, you can always clone that volume to the new internal drive. Does that make sense? I know I've cloned boot volumes in the past even through disk utility, although it doesn't seem to optimize them very well. I typically end up running disk warrior after that. I really wish disk warrior would get past the dvd requirement.

[Luis2004]

Thanks for the tip, guys. I think I will go the route of the enclosure option.

However, I am now in the process of downloading a new copy of OSX to my external drive. Will I be able to use my external to boot up once I do that, and then can I format the ssd from there and move OSX to the new ssd? And therefore bypass the enclosure option?

[currahee2100]

I don't know about the mini, but I do know that you can do an internet restore on the Macbooks. After I installed my momentus XT I just pressed and held the option key after I booted it up and it let me download the recovery stuff I needed to restore Mountain Lion. I also had the question mark folder and I thought I killed my laptop.

[Luis2004]

Originally Posted by currahee2100

I don't know about the mini, but I do know that you can do an internet restore on the Macbooks. After I installed my momentus XT I just pressed and held the option key after I booted it up and it let me download the recovery stuff I needed to restore Mountain Lion. I also had the question mark folder and I thought I killed my laptop.

Did you do it from an external? I'm thinking of booting with a new OSX from the external, then do a time machine restore from another partition on the external....will this work instead of the enclosure option? I ask only because Best Buy doesn't have enclosures in stock and I'd rather not wait for shipping if I don't have to....

Also, if I do install to the external, will it erase the external?

[philipma1957]

if you install to an external you will kill the info on the drive. it will be fresh.

[Luis2004]

Originally Posted by philipma1957

if you install to an external you will kill the info on the drive. it will be fresh.

Okay, I can live with that.... But would I be able to boot from that external once it has OSX on it, and format the SSD from that?

[currahee2100]

Originally Posted by Luis2004

Did you do it from an external? I'm thinking of booting with a new OSX from the external, then do a time machine restore from another partition on the external....will this work instead of the enclosure option? I ask only because Best Buy doesn't have enclosures in stock and I'd rather not wait for shipping if I don't have to....

Also, if I do install to the external, will it erase the external?

I think you're making this a lot more complicated than it needs to be. The SSD is in the mini right? Boot it while holding down control R.

http://www.cultofmac.com/106669/forc...mac-os-x-tips/

I'm not really sure of macs booting from external drives. I know Windows can do it.

[Luis2004]

Originally Posted by currahee2100

I think you're making this a lot more complicated than it needs to be. The SSD is in the mini right? Boot it while holding down control R.

http://www.cultofmac.com/106669/forc...mac-os-x-tips/

I'm not really sure of macs booting from external drives. I know Windows can do it.

This will work even if it's a blank, un formatted drive?

[tom vilsack]

Your making everything way more complicated then needs be.

-boot from external harddrive (one with osx on it)
-download superduper,install it
-in superduper pick clone drive...from external drive to internal drive note: if wont allow,open disk utility and first format internal drive
-once clone is done,reboot holding down "alt" and pick internal boot drive
-done.

[Luis2004]

Originally Posted by tom vilsack

Your making everything way more complicated then needs be.

-boot from external harddrive (one with osx on it)
-download superduper,install it
-in superduper pick clone drive...from external drive to internal drive note: if wont allow,open disk utility and first format internal drive
-once clone is done,reboot holding down "alt" and pick internal boot drive
-done.

Nice. But it will erase my external, right? Once OSX installs to it, I mean

[GGJstudios]

Originally Posted by tom vilsack

-download superduper,install it

I recommend Carbon Copy Cloner instead of SuperDuper!, since CCC will also clone the recovery partition. SuperDuper! won't.

[donlab]

Try this if it doesn't work go the route of buying an external case and all that.

With the blank SSD now installed boot the machine and as soon as you hear the startup chime press apple - R until Internet recovery gets going. Once it's up you will find disk utility from the drop down menus. Format the drive as HFS Journaled. Then quit disk utility and continue on with installing mountain lion. It works I just did this with my 2012 mini. You will need a wifi / wired internets to download ML from apple.

[jeffsaha]

Doesn't cntrl+R just boot from the recovery partition? If it's a clean SSD then there will be no recovery partition. I just did this recently, adding another drive to the Mini. But if you are replacing the drive, the SSD is in and the old drive is out, then you would just have to put the external in an exclosure and plug it in. Then at boot hold shift down and it should let you select what to boot (external drive). Once booted go to disk utility and format the SSD to Mac journaled. I used Carbon Copy Cloner because I heard it's better for created a recovery partition. So you would load up CCC then select the external as the source and the SSD as the destination. When you click next it should pop a warning that there is no recovery drive. In the lower left theres a button called something like "disk tool" or "disk management" or something. If you click that it will give you the option to create a recovery partition, mirroring the one off the source/external. After that just go back to the main CCC window and hit the clone button again and it should allow you to continue to clone. Once done shutdown, disconnect the external and restart. This should allow the SSD to boot up with all your old stuff.

[donlab]

Originally Posted by jeffsaha

Doesn't cntrl+R just boot from the recovery partition? If it's a clean SSD then there will be no recovery partition. I just did this recently, adding another drive to the Mini. But if you are replacing the drive, the SSD is in and the old drive is out, then you would just have to put the external in an exclosure and plug it in. Then at boot hold shift down and it should let you select what to boot (external drive). Once booted go to disk utility and format the SSD to Mac journaled. I used Carbon Copy Cloner because I heard it's better for created a recovery partition. So you would load up CCC then select the external as the source and the SSD as the destination. When you click next it should pop a warning that there is no recovery drive. In the lower left theres a button called something like "disk tool" or "disk management" or something. If you click that it will give you the option to create a recovery partition, mirroring the one off the source/external. After that just go back to the main CCC window and hit the clone button again and it should allow you to continue to clone. Once done shutdown, disconnect the external and restart. This should allow the SSD to boot up with all your old stuff.

it looks for recover partition first and when it cant find one because the disk is blank it goes out on the internet and downloads a fresh copy.

from apple's own website...

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.

Internet Recovery.
Help is everywhere.


If your Mac problem is a little less common — your hard drive has failed or you’ve installed a hard drive without OS X, for example — Internet Recovery takes over automatically. It downloads and starts OS X Recovery directly from Apple servers over a broadband Internet connection. And your Mac has access to the same OS X Recovery features online. Internet Recovery is built into every new Mac.

[jeffsaha]

Ahh nice. Good to know. I always opt for internet recoveries last because they take a ridiculously long time to finish even with a fast connection. From my past experiences anyways, but having that option is always nice.

[Luis2004]

Okay so I booted from the fresh OSX on my external, went into disk utility, and the SSD is not in the list, just the external.

What should I do?

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And I also downloaded carbon copy cloner and tried to clone it with the SSD as the destination drive, but it's not there either....

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P.S. in System Information, under Serial-ATA, it lists an Intel 7 series chipset, 6 gigabit, AHCI version 1.30 Supported.

The Intel and the 6 gigabit sounds like the SSD I purchased...so why isn't it showing up in Disk Utility?

[jeffsaha]

What you are seeing there is probably the chipset, however the SSD should show up in disk utility. Are you fairly certain you reattached the ribbon cable from the drive to the motherboard properly? Seems like the drive is not getting detected at all and that could be the root of your problem. Under "Intel 7 Series Chipset" it should list the Intel 530 SSD. If it doesn't then the SSD is not being seen at all.

[niteflyr]

Originally Posted by Luis2004

Okay so I booted from the fresh OSX on my external, went into disk utility, and the SSD is not in the list, just the external.

I ran into that with mine also. I finally discovered that somehow the SSD's sata cable connector came unplugged from the logic board when I put it all back together.

The Intel 7 series chipset is probably the sata controller.

[Luis2004]

I will take a look and see. Argh

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Yep, SATA cable had come loose. I seated it in place again and hopefully it stays... Rebooting now

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Success!!!!! It's there. Now, a question. If I clone the time machine partition to my SSD, will that be enough to make it bootable?

[niteflyr]

Nope.

clone the OSX then use migration assistant to recover from time capsule.

[Luis2004]

Originally Posted by niteflyr

Nope.

Okay, so which part of my external should I clone? It never got erased like I thought it would....so maybe just the system folder, with the X on it, or what?