Folder With ? and Startup Disc Can't be Found

[Pagi1984]

Hey, my Macbook Air is seriously messed up and I can't afford to send it to Apple and pay 300-400 for them to fix it.

When I turn on the Mac I am greeted with a folder with a ? inside flashing, so I hold power and then cmd and R and go to recovery mode. Log into my wifi, then go to disk utility and try and view and repair/erase my hard drives but my Mac can no longer see my HD. So then I go to reinstall Mac OS instead and it doesn't work as ye can't see any HD.

Do I just have to buy a flash drive, erase it using disk utility, then install the Mac OS on the flash drive? If so, are these flash drives compatible with my Macbook Air?

128 GB USB 2.0 PEN DRIVE

Also, after for a new SSD I also have a brand new external SSD Kingston A400, if this is compatible. It's a 2013 Macbook Air MODEL: A4166.

 

[Audit13]

I assume your MacBook Air is a mid-2013 model and the SSD from a mid-2013 to 2017 Air and a late 2013 to early 2015 Pro will work in your Air.

The mid-2013 Air uses a proprietary Apple connector and the Kingston a400 will not work.

What you can do is place the Kingston a400 into a USB 3.0 enclosure and use Internet Recovery to install macOS the external, boot from the external, and see if the internal drive is visible Disk Utility.

 

[Pagi1984]

I assume your MacBook Air is a mid-2013 model and the SSD from a mid-2013 to 2017 Air and a late 2013 to early 2015 Pro will work in your Air.

The mid-2013 Air uses a proprietary Apple connector and the Kingston a400 will not work.

What you can do is place the Kingston a400 into a USB 3.0 enclosure and use Internet Recovery to install macOS the external, boot from the external, and see if the internal drive is visible Disk Utility.

My SSD is newer/later I think, I bought it only like a year ago, brand new. I have it and the packaging here, but not sure what to show you to know for sure. Here it is: SSD FULL SPECS

What does that mean an enclosure? Just buy a USB 3.0 cable that connects to my SSD and then install the macOS onto it? If so, is this cable suitable? AMAZON

 

[Audit13]

You can use a USB 3.0 enclosure like this one: https://www.amazon.ca/UGREEN-Extern...4844&sprefix=usb+3.0+to+sata+,aps,178&sr=8-15

 

[Significant1]

Apple's support article about the subject:

If your Mac starts up to a question mark - Apple Support

A folder with a flashing question mark means that your startup disk is no longer available or doesn't contain a working Mac operating system.

support.apple.com