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Cloned MB HDD won't boot internally but will externally, help please!

C

creationtwenty2

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 4, 2009
49
0
Hey there,

So I wanted to switch out my MacBook Pro (early 2011 model) HDD for a larger capacity drive. It came with the 750GB drive which I took out after purchase and put in a smaller, 500GB but faster 7200 drive, and the original 750 drive sat redundant up until now.

I now need more capacity than I do performance and intend to switch them back, however I've run into a problem;

I put the 750 in an enclosure and cloned my current 500 to it using CCCloner (it said 'it would make every effort to ensure the disk was bootable), the 750 was formatted at Mac OS Journaled if that matters.

Upon completion, I booted to the 750 whilst it was still in the enclosure connected via USB. It immediately recognised it and booted up fine. Disconnected, tried again to be sure... again, fine.

Put the 750 HDD into the MacBook and tried to boot up, I get the '? Folder' icon and it won't boot. So, I made sure it was connected properly and still, no boot success.

Put the 750 back in the enclosure, booted to it over USB and it was fine! Boots immediately. Put my old 500 back in the MacBook and that boots fine too.

Finally, I put the 750 in the MacBook, and booted to the 500 in the enclosure over USB and once booted, I got the 'this disk is not compatible' message, and whilst it was recognising the 750 in disk utility, I could only format it and not see it's contents.

So basically, my MacBook will boot from it if it's connected via USB, but not internally.

Help!

Thanks
 
heisenberg123

heisenberg123

macrumors 603
Oct 31, 2010
6,496
9
Hamilton, Ontario
creationtwenty2 said:
Hey there,

So I wanted to switch out my MacBook Pro (early 2011 model) HDD for a larger capacity drive. It came with the 750GB drive which I took out after purchase and put in a smaller, 500GB but faster 7200 drive, and the original 750 drive sat redundant up until now.

I now need more capacity than I do performance and intend to switch them back, however I've run into a problem;

I put the 750 in an enclosure and cloned my current 500 to it using CCCloner (it said 'it would make every effort to ensure the disk was bootable), the 750 was formatted at Mac OS Journaled if that matters.

Upon completion, I booted to the 750 whilst it was still in the enclosure connected via USB. It immediately recognised it and booted up fine. Disconnected, tried again to be sure... again, fine.

Put the 750 HDD into the MacBook and tried to boot up, I get the '? Folder' icon and it won't boot. So, I made sure it was connected properly and still, no boot success.

Put the 750 back in the enclosure, booted to it over USB and it was fine! Boots immediately. Put my old 500 back in the MacBook and that boots fine too.

Finally, I put the 750 in the MacBook, and booted to the 500 in the enclosure over USB and once booted, I got the 'this disk is not compatible' message, and whilst it was recognising the 750 in disk utility, I could only format it and not see it's contents.

So basically, my MacBook will boot from it if it's connected via USB, but not internally.

Help!

Thanks
Click to expand...

so niether boot internally?

maybe your damaged the connector in the HDD bay? maybe someting came loose between the connector and the logic board?
 
C

creationtwenty2

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 4, 2009
49
0
iisforiphone said:
so niether boot internally?

maybe your damaged the connector in the HDD bay? maybe someting came loose between the connector and the logic board?
Click to expand...

The 500GB will still boot internally if I put it back in. And if I boot to the 500 over USB and put the 750 in, it will acknowledge that the 750 is there, but it says it's 'not compatible' and the only option I have is to format it.

But if the 750 is in the USB enclosure, it'll boot to it just fine.
 
heisenberg123

heisenberg123

macrumors 603
Oct 31, 2010
6,496
9
Hamilton, Ontario
creationtwenty2 said:
Excuse my ignorance, but how do I find this?
Click to expand...

in disk utlity you should see Mount Path when you highlight the hard drive

like in this photo
mac_usb_wiki_01.png
 
C

creationtwenty2

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 4, 2009
49
0
It says 'Not Mounted'

Also, it shows as having one partition called 'disk0s1' of 90GB.

The disk should actually have a capacity of 750GB with about 320GB used.

Yet it works absolutely fine booted externally and shows as the exact clone of my original drive.
 
Last edited:
C

creationtwenty2

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 4, 2009
49
0
Ok I'm gonna take a guess that this is happening because the drive was cloned whilst in the USB enclosure rather than installed in the MacBook, presumably assigning it a boot path which is why it boots when itnis in the enclosure, but not internally.

I'm now cloning to the new drive whilst it's installed internally, from my old drive whilst it's conected externally, hopefully this will work.
 
C

creationtwenty2

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 4, 2009
49
0
Ok got it sorted. It seems the recovery partition in Lion has something to do with it. CCCLoner and SuperDuper don't clone the recovery partition along with the main drive, and although there are ways you can do it manually, it's not particularly straightforward.

The fix/method for anyone wanting to do this in future:

Install new HDD into Mac, connect old drive in an enclosure.

Boot to old drive recovery partition

Run Disk Utility from the recovery partition and 'restore' the image of your old drive (which is connected via USB) to the new drive.

Wait a LONG time (5 hours for a 750GB HDD) and it'll clone your entire HDD including the recovery partition.

Whilst still in recovery Disk Utility, change startup disk to the new HDD (the one installed in your Mac)

Disconnect USB drive and boot to the newly cloned intertnal drive.

Celebrate - up to you how to approach this one, I just did a little dance.
 
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