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Having a heck of a time installing an OS on a new SSD.

GameGuru38

GameGuru38

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 7, 2009
148
9
Ohio
** UPDATE ** SOLVED **

First I want to thank Weaselboy for all the help he had given me, I wouldn't have been able to do it without you. I now have a fresh install of Lion on my iMac (soon to be Mavericks as soon as I get the Mavericks USB I bought from Amazon). My AppleID now has Lion, Yosemite and El Capitan. I sure wish I could have added Mavericks to my account. Anyway here is how I fixed it.

Since it was a brand new SSD without a recovery partition and my iMac is too old for internet recovery I had to have an actual copy of OS X. At the time the only version of OS X I had in my account was Yosemite and I couldn't download it on my wife's 2007 Mac Mini since it could only go to Lion. I wound up making a Lion recovery USB and attempted to install it on my iMac but since I didn't have Lion in my AppleID it wouldn't let me do it. I had to purchase Lion on my account and wait 24 hours for it to be added. Once it was I installed it easily!

I am typing this on my system now!


Before I put in my new SSD in my 2008 20" iMac I was able to get into internet recovery. After installing it I can't get it to get into internet recovery or boot from USB. When trying to get to internet recovery it never gets to the menu, right after the apple symbol it displays a filet with a question mark in it and it blinks. If I try to boot from USB it lists it add EFI BOOT and when I select it I get the blinking folder again.

What can I check for?
 
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You would be better off to clone your HD over to the SSD. Carbon Copy or SuperDuper will work and they have a free trial period.
Format your SSD for Mac before cloning and after cloning go to setting and try to boot from the SSD to confirm all is well.
 
I've used SuperDuper and Carbon, but they never worked perfectly. Cloning the drive using Disk Utility always gives me a perfect clone.
 
Crosscreek said:
You would be better off to clone your HD over to the SSD. Carbon Copy or SuperDuper will work and they have a free trial period.
Format your SSD for Mac before cloning and after cloning go to setting and try to boot from the SSD to confirm all is well.
Click to expand...
HDD took a poop, that's why I bothered doing the upgrade to an SSD.

How can I verify the iMac is even seeing the SSD?
 
GameGuru38 said:
Before I put in my new SSD in my 2008 20" iMac I was able to get into internet recovery. After installing it I can't get it to get into internet recovery or boot from USB. When trying to get to internet recovery it never gets to the menu, right after the apple symbol it displays a filet with a question mark in it and it blinks. If I try to boot from USB it lists it add EFI BOOT and when I select it I get the blinking folder again.

What can I check for?
Click to expand...
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202313

Your iMac does not have Internet recovery. Can you explain what you are trying to boot from to install the OS?
 
Do you have access to another mac and an external enclosure? If so you could download the os from your account on the app store and choose to install it on the external drive. I just did this, a bit of work but you don't have to worry about internet recovery hiccups.
 
cyclingplatypus said:
Do you have access to another mac and an external enclosure? If so you could download the os from your account on the app store and choose to install it on the external drive. I just did this, a bit of work but you don't have to worry about internet recovery hiccups.
Click to expand...
I have a 2007 Mac Mini that can only use Lion so I can't download Mavericks, Yosemite our El Capitan.
 
Bummer. Know anyone with a mac? I wonder if you could install Lion and boot the newer mac from it and then upgrade?

Wouldn't happen to be in the metro dc area would you?
 
GameGuru38 said:
I have a 2007 Mac Mini that can only use Lion so I can't download Mavericks, Yosemite our El Capitan.
Click to expand...
Did you format your SSD for Mac.? if not then you will have to take it out of the iMac and use a dock that you can put the SSD in. Then hook it up to your Mac Mini and format the SSD and then put it back in your iMac and reload OS X.
 
GameGuru38 said:
Weird, I have gone into recovery and two stalled the OS and it downloaded it and installed, I didn't use a DVD or thumb drive.
Click to expand...

Your Mac has recovery partition if you upgrade to the new OSX (forget since when, but sure not from the 2008 iMac stock OSX), which stored on the HDD, and you took that out. This recovery partition allow you to install the current OSX on to the main partition.

And your Mac do not have internet recovery function, which allow you to install the factory OSX (not the current one) on to your HDD / SSD.

Anyway, do you still have a disk that came with your iMac, which allow you to partition / format your new SSD, and install the factor OSX onto it.
 
Ok I know I am more versed in Windows machines than Macs but I know I have gotten into a utilities program where I would format the hard drive and re-install OS X. I have never formatted a hard drive outside the Max, didn't think I had to do this. I normally just clicked on disk utility, then the erase tab and formatted then re-install OS X and would do it from disc or USB but for some reason I can't get into the OS X utilities so I can do this.

What am I doing wrong?
 
GameGuru38 said:
Ok I know I am more versed in Windows machines than Macs but I know I have gotten into a utilities program where I would format the hard drive and re-install OS X. I have never formatted a hard drive outside the Max, didn't think I had to do this. I normally just clicked on disk utility, then the erase tab and formatted then re-install OS X and would do it from disc or USB but for some reason I can't get into the OS X utilities so I can do this.

What am I doing wrong?
Click to expand...
Like h9... was explaining and I mentioned, you don't have Internet recovery. Internet recovery is where you could put a new blank drive in and the system firmware would allow you to boot and get the recovery utility and installer over the internet.

What you have been using is just regular recovery (not Internet recovery). What that is is a hidden 650MB partition on your drive that allows you to boot with command-r and get the disk based recovery utility and use that to download the OS. Since you have installed a new, blank drive, that drive of course does not have that 650MB recovery partition on it.

So you will need to somehow download the OS and get a USB installer onto USB key and install that way.
 
Ok I did create a Maverick boots USB on my Windows machine using Transmac and when I boot it I get a single drive listed that says "EFI Boot" but no other drive listed like it used to with the old one. I know it isn't formatted yet since it is brand new but shouldn't it still be seen by the Mac? When I click the arrow under "EFI Boot" it acts like it is trying to load and then gives me the blinking folder with the question mark in it. Is the USB drive not functioning properly or is something wrong with the brand new SSD?
 
It is not going to boot from that EFI partition. That is used as a cache for firmware updates.

So you insert the USB installer and option key boot to it... then is that booting to the recovery screen? It should look something like this.

iu.jpeg


Once there, launch Disk Utility and you should see the new SSD and then go to the erase tab and format the drive to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Then quit Disk Util and click reinstall Mac OS X.
 
If I can get to that screen then I know what I am doing. No, the USB thumb drive shows up on a screen like below but it is the only one on there and it is a circle with the words "EFI" on it when I click the arrow to boot it then it goes to that screen with just the flashing folder with a question mark.

Does this mean the USB drive isn't created right? I used Transmac to format it and then restored the Mavericks DMG to it and it said it completed. I guess I can try making it again with the Yosemite and El Capitan images but I really wanted Mavericks on it.


Win8BootScreen.jpg

[doublepost=1463272716][/doublepost]PS, that isn't an actual screenshot of what I am seeing, that is just an image I found on the internet to illustrate what I am trying to say it is showing. No drives at all and it is calling the USB an EFI and then booting to the blinking folder with a question mark.
 
This is kicking my butt. Ok I checked my Mavericks USB and it was still MBR which means when formatting Transmac doesn't change it to GPT. I went through the diskpart procession and made it GPT and used Transmac again to make the Mavericks USB but it is giving me the circle with line through it. What can I do here?

My wife has a 2007 Mac Mini, how can I make a Lion USB installer using that?
 
All your options are Windows, nothing to do with OSX. Your USB stick doesn't looks like have Mavericks installer on it.

Can you burn a disk? It's much easier to use disk on the old Machine.
 
Yeah just used my last DL disc and burned the image in windows and tried it and blinking folder again.

Question. Even if the new hard drive isn't working properly I should still be able to boot up an install USB our disc right?
 
GameGuru38 said:
Does this mean the USB drive isn't created right?
Click to expand...

If all you see at option key boot is the EFI partition, then I don't believe you have created the bootable USB key correctly.

GameGuru38 said:
Even if the new hard drive isn't working properly I should still be able to boot up an install USB our disc right?
Click to expand...

Correct. You could have no internal disk at all and still be able to option key boot to the USB key.

If the wife's Mini is on Lion or never, just use this utility to make a recovery key. Then boot to that and install. Or, put your SSD in an external enclosure, then clone the wife's Mini to the SSD... then put the SSD back in the iMac. Or use this utility with one of the DMG installers you have to make a USB installer on the Mini.
 
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Weaselboy said:
If all you see at option key boot is the EFI partition, then I don't believe you have created the bootable USB key correctly.



Correct. You could have no internal disk at all and still be able to option key boot to the USB key.

If the wife's Mini is on Lion or never, just use this utility to make a recovery key. Then boot to that and install. Or, put your SSD in an external enclosure, then clone the wife's Mini to the SSD... then put the SSD back in the iMac. Or use this utility with one of the DMG installers you have to make a USB installer on the Mini.
Click to expand...


I am trying a different brand USB thumb drive (other was Sandisk, this one is PNY) to see if I can make it on my Windows 10 with TransMac. Next attempt is on my wife's Lion.
 
GameGuru38 said:
I am trying a different brand USB thumb drive (other was Sandisk, this one is PNY) to see if I can make it on my Windows 10 with TransMac. Next attempt is on my wife's Lion.
Click to expand...

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1433

If Transmac won't work, her Mini being on Lion makes things easier. Just pop the USB key into the Mini then run the Apple utility at this link and it will make a recovery utility key for you.
 
I am about ready to break everything.

So on my wife's Lion Mac Mini I put the Sandisk USB thumb drive in, went to Disk Utility, created one GUID partition, formatted as Journaled, restored El Capitan (only image I had on her computer) to the drive, took about 28 minutes and completed.

BLINKING QUESTION MARK FOLDER

At the same time using the PNY USB thumb drive, diskparted, clean, converted to GPT, created primary partition then with TransMac I restored the image of Mavericks.

CIRCLE WITH LINE THROUGH IT

What is going on?!?!?!?
[doublepost=1463323942][/doublepost]
Weaselboy said:
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1433

If Transmac won't work, her Mini being on Lion makes things easier. Just pop the USB key into the Mini then run the Apple utility at this link and it will make a recovery utility key for you.
Click to expand...

Ok while reading the link it does say:

  • If your computer came with OS X Lion or OS X Mountain Lion, the external recovery drive you create with this utility should only be used with the computer that created it. Other Mac models may not be able to start from this recovery drive.
So does that mean I can't create it on the Mini and use it on the iMac?
[doublepost=1463324036][/doublepost]Oh and Weaselboy, I do appreciate the help, I am just frustrated beyond belief.
 
GameGuru38 said:
So on my wife's Lion Mac Mini I put the Sandisk USB thumb drive in, went to Disk Utility, created one GUID partition, formatted as Journaled, restored El Capitan (only image I had on her computer) to the drive, took about 28 minutes and completed.
Click to expand...

That is not how you make a El Capitan installer. You need to use one of the methods explained here.

GameGuru38 said:
So does that mean I can't create it on the Mini and use it on the iMac?
Click to expand...

You CAN use it on the iMac. What Apple is talking about there is if for example you made that utility on the Mini under Lion then tried to use it on a 2015 iMac that requires El Capitan, it would not work.
 
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