Hard Drive died. Help to install Mountain Lion on SSD.

[Andreasaaroe]

Hello there!

A week ago my hard drive (Toshiba 750 GB 7200 RPM) died.

I have now bought a new Sandisk Extreme 240 GB SSD, but cant figure out how to install Mountain Lion.

Here is the solutions i tried so far.

On a friends mac I downloaded the install for Mountain Lion and placed the install on a external drive. I replaced the internal broken harddrive with the new SSD. When reaching disk utility after booting I cant get to partition the new SSD and i read somewhere on the internet that apple blocks some internal SSD in disk utility since it can destroy them? Anyways - I took the SSD out and connected it to my MacBook with a StoreJet sata to USB. This granted me the opportunity to partionen, erase and so in Disk Utility which also led to permission to make a partition where I could install Mountain Lion. The installation went fine and it booted fine from the external SSD. BUT when i replace the SSD internal inside the MacBook and tries to boot from the SSD I get a "No Access" sign after the Apple. After this I tried to make a partition external again and put the SSD back internal before installing ML. But when booting up I can't.

Anyone out there got a solution to this?

Here is my theory:
When the SSD is connected external trough the StoreJet Sata to USB I see the name "Store Jet" in Disk Utility instead of "Sandisk SSD.....". When I check disk utility, when the SSD is connected internal the name in is "Sandisk SSD..."

Could the name change be causing the "No access" sign since it cant find the right files somehow? Or do anyone know how to get the SSD working internal?

 

[simsaladimbamba]

What MacBook Pro do you have? A year of release would suffice, if you do not know, but you can always look at the bottom of the MBP.

PS: The SSD in the external S-ATA device gets only recognised by the controller of that S-ATA device, thus no SanDisk name is available.

 

[Andreasaaroe]

I bought it late 2011 and the model number is A1278.

How come I get the "No access" sign when booting then? I can find the partition in boot menu, but cant boot due to the prohibitory sign.

 

[Andreasaaroe]

After making a partition with the sata to usb and taking the SSD internal again the partitaion dont have the same name in disk utility and its greyed out.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

After making a partition with the sata to usb and taking the SSD internal again the partitaion dont have the same name in disk utility and its greyed out.

What exact settings did you use in Disk Utility?

How to format a new HDD to install Mac OS X onto (or make a bootable copy onto)​

 

[Andreasaaroe]

I did use those exact settings.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

I did use those exact settings.

Then I am a bit flabbergasted, as I know some people, who were successful in installing a custom Intel or Samsung or Crucial or OCZ SSD in their late 2011 MBPs.

Maybe your SSD is kaputt in a way and you should return it and get another one?

 

[Andreasaaroe]

I dont think its broken since I can boot from the SSD when connected external.

 

[glenthompson]

It's possible that you have a cable issue in the MBP. Could you have dislodged the connection internally while swapping drives? Do you have a 2.5" drive that you can test with? That would eliminate the SSD as the problem.

 

[Andreasaaroe]

It might be the internal cable thats broken. I do not have another 2,5" drive to test it 🙁

 

[Andreasaaroe]

I'm pretty sure its not the SSD since it works perfectly trough external connection. Must be cable or mainboard problem then. I would find it odd if it is a cable problem, since it can find the harddisk in the boot menu, just not boot from it when changed for external to internal.

 

[Andreasaaroe]

Reading around the internet makes me pretty sure its the hard drive cable thats failing.