Disk Utility not recognizing new drive.

[digger100]

I have a 2013 Mac Air. The drive died and I installed a new drive. Disk Utility does not recognize the drive.
When I boot up and select internet recovery, it asks where to install system, but there is nothing showing.
I installed MacOs on a USB, and the laptop starts. Could there be a faulty SATA cable if the laptop starts from the USB ?

Also, where I purchased the drive from gave me this answer today and I have to say I really don't understand it....
" We would need to move the EFI up via installing an Apple OEM drive and moving it to High Sierra, However if unavailable we would have a OEM SSD rental program to allow you to move the EFI update up"

Hope thats all not to confusing. Thanks

 

[mikzn]

It sounds like you might have to update the ‘boot rom’ firmware to recognize a non-Apple SSD ?

Have you tried installing High Sierra or Mojave on the external bootable drive while attached to that MacBook Air? That should update the firmware

You need to install ‘High Sierra” or later for this firmware update - once installed on the external “reboot the drive a few times” - then use disk utilities to format the new drive as APFS

Of course it could be something else such as a cable or bad connection?

 

[Audit13]

The bootrom can only be updated by installing macOS to an internal drive; therefore, you will need to install at least High Sierra.

If you do get an OEM Apple drive, I recommend installing the latest release of Big Sur to ensure the Air is running the latest firmware. Older versions of macOS will run on new firmware.

 

[digger100]

Thanks for the replies. I'm going to start over with a new bigger USB. Does it need to be formatted ? I read this..."format the thumb drive to GUID Journaled file system do the drive can be setup as a boot drive" Is this right or should it be something else.

 

[mikzn]

If you are formatting a new external USB drive to potentially install High Sierra or Mojave - it should be formatted to APFS

Also if you want to install Mojave ( My recommendation) or High Sierra on an external drive to update the MacBook Air - I would recommend a bootable external drive and not a 'Thumb Drive"

This worked for me on a mid 2015 rMBP Sierra upgrade - I was able to install "High Sierra" at the time before Mohave was released and then format the replacement internal SSD drive (a Samsung 970 Pro) - see this post and this post for some details and thoughts on my replacement of the internal SSD in a similar situation

All this may not be the case - especially if you have already upgraded past High Sierra - what was the last macOS that was installed on the defective internal drive?

If what @Audit13 is saying is correct for your model of MacBook Air and you have not had the firmware updated yet - you may need to find an apple SSD to allow the firmware update - on the other hand if you have a bootable drive or backup clone etc you could "try upgrading that external drive" while connected to the USB external - maybe it won't work but it did for my rMBP mid 2015 from Sierra to High Sierra

I also agree with @Audit13 - I much preferred Mojave to High Sierra

 

[digger100]

So good news. I was able to make a bootable usb, with the help of a terminal
command. The computer recognized the drive and I was able to install Mac OS High Sierra. The APFS format didn't work. I believe I ended up using mac journaled. Thanks for all the input.

 

[Audit13]

So good news. I was able to make a bootable usb, with the help of a terminal
command. The computer recognized the drive and I was able to install Mac OS High Sierra. The APFS format didn't work. I believe I ended up using mac journaled. Thanks for all the input.

Great news! Congratulations on your success.

If possible, I recommend upgrading to the latest version of Big Sur so the MacBook is running the latest bootrom. The bootrom has native drivers for NVMe.

 

[digger100]

Thanks I might give it a go.