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gr4z

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 7, 2010
318
48
England
Hi all

I have fitted a 2nd SSD into my Mini (late 2012) using the iFixit kit. This disk is second hand and has been used in a Windows PC and a MBP 2010. I am having some problems getting OSX to see the disk.

When the disk was moved from a Macbook into the Windows PC I remember Windows complaining this disk was GPT configured and needing changing to a MBR. I cannot remember what I did to get this to work but I converted it somehow.

Now I have taken it out of the Windows PC and put it into the Mini.

I can boot the Mac using the option key and using a Windows 8 USB bootdisk boot Windows and use DiskPart to see and manipulate the disk. So there is not a hardware failure.

I have used Diskpart to clean the disk, convert it from GPT to MBR and back again, create a partition, etc etc. However, I simply cannot get OSX to see the disk at all. Disk utility simply does not see the disk.

I am pulling my hair out with what to do next. Can anyone suggest anything? Thanks
 

ZMacintosh

macrumors 65816
Nov 13, 2008
1,445
684
Boot into the recovery partition, using command R during boot up.

Open disk utility and see if the secondary drive is listed there. If so, click on it and select the partition tab and select one partition and click options and change the format from master boot record to guid partition.
 

gr4z

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 7, 2010
318
48
England
OSX Disk Utility cannot see it - nothing is listed. Windows via DiskPart can. I don't understand why :)
 

gr4z

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 7, 2010
318
48
England
Thanks for this, but I don't have a Fusion drive nor want this hack. This is just a simple SSD which is not seen by the Disk Utility but is seen in Windows.

Not sure I understand the web site you mention. Did you just use the diskutil command to reformat the disk? As I said, Disk Utility does not see the drive but can confirm Windows does so there isn't a hardware failure. Something to do with MBR and GPT partitions maybe?
 
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jwjsr

macrumors 6502
Mar 15, 2012
335
0
Fairhope, Alabama
Thanks for this, but I don't have a Fusion drive. This is just a simple SSD. Not sure I understand. Did you just use the diskutil command?

I added an sad to my 2012 Mac mini w 1tb he'd and screwed it up and used this to fix it and create fusion. I followed those exact instructions
I assumed you were doing the same, sorry
 

gr4z

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 7, 2010
318
48
England
So possibly if you do this once fixed you could then re-format and reinstall again? Its weird as Windows doesn't have a problem with the disk.
 

gr4z

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 7, 2010
318
48
England
I really don't understand this. I have just used diskpart to clean the disk and convert it to GPT. I have booted into Windows 8 and installed it to the disk. OSX will still not see this disk. But Windows is using it.

DISKUTIL will not see it. TESTDISK will not see it. DISKPART can see it.

When booting if I press the option key it sees the Windows partition!! WTF?

Can anyone help here?
 
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gr4z

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 7, 2010
318
48
England
I have now booted into Gparted for Linux and even this sees the drive fine. I have formatted it to fat32 and while creating a new partition. Still OSX Disk Utility refuses to see anything.

Please I am pulling my hair out with this, does anyone have any suggestions?
 

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
28,241
12,388
"Please I am pulling my hair out with this, does anyone have any suggestions?"

Two suggestions follow.

FIRST SUGGESTION:
When you installed the SSD into the Mini, did you leave the pre-existing hard disk drive where it was?
If this is what you did, re-open the Mini (yes, I know it's a pain), and SWITCH THE POSITIONS of the factory hard drive and the SSD.
Then, boot from the factory drive (into Mac OS 10.8.2), open Disk Utility, and see if it then recognizes that the SSD "is there".
If it is, initialize it to the Mac OS (GUID partition map, journaling enabled)

SECOND SUGGESTION:
Take the SSD completely out of the Mini (yes, I know it's a pain).
Buy one of these:
http://oyendigital.com/hard-drives/store/U32-M.html
or
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00APP6694...=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B00APP6694
or
http://www.amazon.com/Plugable-Dock...=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B003UI62AG
(NOTE: I realize you're in the UK, not sure if these are available to you. If not, any USB3/SATA "docking station" should work)
Then, put the SSD into the dock.
Connect the dock to the Mini and turn it on (booted to the Mac OS)
Open Disk Utility.
Do you see the presence of the drive now?
 

gr4z

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 7, 2010
318
48
England
FIRST SUGGESTION:
When you installed the SSD into the Mini, did you leave the pre-existing hard disk drive where it was?
If this is what you did, re-open the Mini (yes, I know it's a pain), and SWITCH THE POSITIONS of the factory hard drive and the SSD.
Then, boot from the factory drive (into Mac OS 10.8.2), open Disk Utility, and see if it then recognizes that the SSD "is there".
If it is, initialize it to the Mac OS (GUID partition map, journaling enabled)

SECOND SUGGESTION:
Take the SSD completely out of the Mini (yes, I know it's a pain).
Buy one of these:
http://oyendigital.com/hard-drives/store/U32-M.html
or
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00APP6694...=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B00APP6694
or
http://www.amazon.com/Plugable-Dock...=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B003UI62AG
(NOTE: I realize you're in the UK, not sure if these are available to you. If not, any USB3/SATA "docking station" should work)
Then, put the SSD into the dock.
Connect the dock to the Mini and turn it on (booted to the Mac OS)
Open Disk Utility.
Do you see the presence of the drive now?

To your first suggestion, I moved the stock HDD onto the other connection within the new iFixIt drive bay. The SSD is now in the main original bay.

The second...these bays you have suggested are for 3.5" and my SSD is a 2.5" but will have a look around. I guess a normal 2.5" USB powered drive bay would do?

Are there any disk formatting tools anyone can suggest for diagnosing the problem? Just so weird why OSX simply won't see the damn thing.
 

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
28,241
12,388
"The second...these bays you have suggested are for 3.5" and my SSD is a 2.5" but will have a look around. I guess a normal 2.5" USB powered drive bay would do?"

The USB3/SATA docks I listed above take BOTH 3.5" and 2.5" drives, including SSD drives.

The Oyen Digital enclosure is 2.5" only.

I currently use the plugable.com "lay-flat" dock (see link in reply #11) as my "external booter" using an Intel 520 series SSD. It works beautifully.

At this point, I think your best best is to REMOVE the SSD temporarily, connect it externally, and try to use Disk Utility to initialize it.

If that works, use either SuperDuper or CarbonCopyCloner to "dupe" the contents of your existing hard drive to the new (externally-mounted) SSD.

Then, DO A TEST BOOT to see if it's "a good clone job". Restart, and hold down the option key and KEEP HOLDING IT DOWN. The startup manager will appear and you'll see what to do next. The idea is to be sure the SSD is indeed a bootable drive before you re-install it.

Then, move the SSD back into the Mini, and see how that does for you.
 

gr4z

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 7, 2010
318
48
England
OK latest is...

I removed the SSD and placed it in my MBP (mid-2010) and it complained it was locked. Followed other posts on Macrumors and unlocked it. I then just to try installed OSX on my MBP with this SSD. Worked fine.

Put the SSD back into the Mini and the disk was visible with the option key pressed. Tried to boot and got the 'no entry' sign when trying to boot. Subsequently found that late 2012 Mini have their own proprietary version of OSX 10.8! So re-partitioned the disk in Linux.

Now Mini won't see drive again!!!! FFS.

So to summary:

SSD will work in any other PC or MacBook.
SSD will work under Linux or Windows in Mini.
SSD simply will not been seen in Mini under OSX.

This is just stupid...
 

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
28,241
12,388
"This is just stupid..."

If you want to end the stupidity, consider taking the advice I gave you in replies 11 & 13...
 

chown33

Moderator
Staff member
Aug 9, 2009
10,706
8,346
A sea of green
Put the SSD back into the Mini and the disk was visible with the option key pressed. Tried to boot and got the 'no entry' sign when trying to boot. Subsequently found that late 2012 Mini have their own proprietary version of OSX 10.8! So re-partitioned the disk in Linux.

Now Mini won't see drive again!!!! FFS.

So to summary:

SSD will work in any other PC or MacBook.
SSD will work under Linux or Windows in Mini.
SSD simply will not been seen in Mini under OSX.

This is just stupid...

This sounds like you really need to break the diagnostic procedure down into discrete steps, and find out exactly which step is the cause. It may be tedious, but I don't think it's any worse than the current strategy.

Perhaps the step I hilited in red is contributing to the problem.

Clearly, creating the partition-map on the MBP (mid-2010) worked, since the MBP-bootable volume was visible on the Mini. The failure came in trying to boot the Mini therefrom. However, logic suggests the partition structure at that point was readable, otherwise the Mini would not have listed the volume at all. So go back to the MBP (mid-2010), partition the drive, don't put anything on it (not bootable), and see if the Mini can see the drive. If the mini sees the drive, try writing and reading files to it. If the mini doesn't see the drive, see if Disk Utility on the mini sees it.

This is what I mean by breaking it down into individual steps. Step 1 is to verify that an SSD partitioned on the MBP with nothing else done to it is readable and writing on the mini. Once that's confirmed or refuted, try the next step: reading & writing data to the volume using each computer, and ensuring it's readable on the other. Then take the drive to the mini and see if you can do a volume erase. Then another back and forth with files. Then to the mini and try a partition (GPT first). Again, back and forth with files. Again to the mini for a partition, then make it bootable.


Finally, you've identified the computer hardware, but not which OS version is running on which systems. Maybe that's playing a part. There may be an OS problem specific to the SSD model or its controller (which I don't think you've identified yet, either).


My personal view at this point is I wouldn't trust the SSD to work reliably on the mini, regardless of the reason or which step I finally narrowed down as the failure. Why would I put an unreliable SSD or HD into my system? I'd sell it and get something reliable.
 

gr4z

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 7, 2010
318
48
England
"This is just stupid..."

If you want to end the stupidity, consider taking the advice I gave you in replies 11 & 13...

I will - I have a disk caddy on order from Amazon and this should arrive tomorrow.

----------

This sounds like you really need to break the diagnostic procedure down into discrete steps, and find out exactly which step is the cause. It may be tedious, but I don't think it's any worse than the current strategy.

Perhaps the step I hilited in red is contributing to the problem.

Clearly, creating the partition-map on the MBP (mid-2010) worked, since the MBP-bootable volume was visible on the Mini. The failure came in trying to boot the Mini therefrom. However, logic suggests the partition structure at that point was readable, otherwise the Mini would not have listed the volume at all. So go back to the MBP (mid-2010), partition the drive, don't put anything on it (not bootable), and see if the Mini can see the drive. If the mini sees the drive, try writing and reading files to it. If the mini doesn't see the drive, see if Disk Utility on the mini sees it.

This is what I mean by breaking it down into individual steps. Step 1 is to verify that an SSD partitioned on the MBP with nothing else done to it is readable and writing on the mini. Once that's confirmed or refuted, try the next step: reading & writing data to the volume using each computer, and ensuring it's readable on the other. Then take the drive to the mini and see if you can do a volume erase. Then another back and forth with files. Then to the mini and try a partition (GPT first). Again, back and forth with files. Again to the mini for a partition, then make it bootable.


Finally, you've identified the computer hardware, but not which OS version is running on which systems. Maybe that's playing a part. There may be an OS problem specific to the SSD model or its controller (which I don't think you've identified yet, either).


My personal view at this point is I wouldn't trust the SSD to work reliably on the mini, regardless of the reason or which step I finally narrowed down as the failure. Why would I put an unreliable SSD or HD into my system? I'd sell it and get something reliable.

Thanks for this - I will try this once my disk caddy arrives tomorrow as per @Fishrrman's advice...
 

gr4z

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 7, 2010
318
48
England
OK I have tried the external disk caddy. The disk was seen straight away by the Mini. I cloned the disk and rebooted with the option key pressed. OSX booted fine. Disk Utility saw no issues with disk after a repair.

Moved the disk back into the Mini and pressed the option key on boot. It is seen in the options disk list but when I press it I get the 'no entry' sign.

Rebooted and when into the stock disk utility it now does not see the disk.

Rebooted again and pressed the option key. The SSD is seen again but cannot boot as 'no entry' sign.

Took disk out and put into MacBook Pro. Booted fine. Took out and put back in disk caddy. Booted fine on Mini.

Put disk back into Mini and same problem. No entry on boot. Disk utility cannot see it.

At the point of giving up and buying another SSD.

I know Mac Mini 6,1 with 10.8.2 is a different OS than other Macs, 10.8.3 is meant to consolidate them when released. Perhaps that is the issue? Don't see how this is a problem with the SSD as other OS's work fine.
 

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
28,241
12,388
"At the point of giving up and buying another SSD.
I know Mac Mini 6,1 with 10.8.2 is a different OS than other Macs, 10.8.3 is meant to consolidate them when released. Perhaps that is the issue? Don't see how this is a problem with the SSD as other OS's work fine."

A few thoughts…

Could the drive need some kind of firmware update? What kind of drive is it?

When you did your final re-install back to the Mini, did you move the _original_ HDD that was in the Mini, and install the SSD into that position (rather than leave the HDD in place and install the SSD into the "extra" slot)?

Since you already have an external "dock" for the SSD, and since it boots the Mini that way, have you considered to simply leave it "as is", and let it serve as your "external booter"?

That's what I did, because I didn't want to go through the trouble of opening the Mini and possibly breaking something (a number of folks on this board have started the job, and unintentionally damaged something while doing the swap). In my case, I used a USB3 dock with a controller chip that I knew would deliver "close-to-internal" speeds. I get 410+mbps reads and 247mbps writes -- that's "good enough for me".

Suggestion:
Download the drive benchmark utility called "BlackMagic" from the app store (or elsewhere).
Put BlackMagic on your SSD (mounted in the external dock), boot up, and give it a run.
What kind of results do you get?

If they're halfway decent, my advice is to just "let it be" for now, and enjoy.

Final suggestion:
If you do go to an "external booter", PARTITION the existing internal drive, with the first partition being the same size as your SSD.
Then use CarbonCopyCloner to "clone" the contents of your boot drive to the internal "second boot partition".
If you do this, you will have an instantly-accessible second boot drive as a backup.
 

aarond12

macrumors 65816
May 20, 2002
1,145
107
Dallas, TX USA
Was the model of SSD posted earlier and I missed it?

Some models of Apple computers don't like SATA-3 SSDs. Might this be the problem? What does System Profiler show when booting from the other drive with the 2nd hand SSD attached?

w6VHsUX.png
 

gr4z

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 7, 2010
318
48
England
"At the point of giving up and buying another SSD.
I know Mac Mini 6,1 with 10.8.2 is a different OS than other Macs, 10.8.3 is meant to consolidate them when released. Perhaps that is the issue? Don't see how this is a problem with the SSD as other OS's work fine."

A few thoughts…

Could the drive need some kind of firmware update? What kind of drive is it?

When you did your final re-install back to the Mini, did you move the _original_ HDD that was in the Mini, and install the SSD into that position (rather than leave the HDD in place and install the SSD into the "extra" slot)?

Since you already have an external "dock" for the SSD, and since it boots the Mini that way, have you considered to simply leave it "as is", and let it serve as your "external booter"?

That's what I did, because I didn't want to go through the trouble of opening the Mini and possibly breaking something (a number of folks on this board have started the job, and unintentionally damaged something while doing the swap). In my case, I used a USB3 dock with a controller chip that I knew would deliver "close-to-internal" speeds. I get 410+mbps reads and 247mbps writes -- that's "good enough for me".

Suggestion:
Download the drive benchmark utility called "BlackMagic" from the app store (or elsewhere).
Put BlackMagic on your SSD (mounted in the external dock), boot up, and give it a run.
What kind of results do you get?

If they're halfway decent, my advice is to just "let it be" for now, and enjoy.

Final suggestion:
If you do go to an "external booter", PARTITION the existing internal drive, with the first partition being the same size as your SSD.
Then use CarbonCopyCloner to "clone" the contents of your boot drive to the internal "second boot partition".
If you do this, you will have an instantly-accessible second boot drive as a backup.

Will try that thanks.

----------

Was the model of SSD posted earlier and I missed it?

Some models of Apple computers don't like SATA-3 SSDs. Might this be the problem? What does System Profiler show when booting from the other drive with the 2nd hand SSD attached?

w6VHsUX.png

Its a Intel 160G2, SATA2 I believe.
 

gr4z

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 7, 2010
318
48
England
Just tried Blackmagic and it reports the disk is read only! I have done a Repair Disk Permissions in Disk Utility but it does not make a difference. I guess this is a major problem although why could CCC do a disk clone on a read only disk???

Erased the disk and re-partitioned. All OK again. Blackmagic working its magic...

Just looking I tried Blackmagic on my stock drive and it reports that is read only as well. Is this right?
 
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gr4z

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 7, 2010
318
48
England
Right after a week away I came back to this damn this and fixed it! Firmware! Upgrade the disk to the latest Intel code and bamn, worked straight away.

Thanks for all you guys efforts in trying to help.

Cheers
 
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