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HELP! iMac doesn't see SSD blade

C

ctsa6

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 3, 2020
6
1
I have Late 2013 iMac with 128GB SSD blade, I decide to update it to 512GB Samsung 970 PRO NVMe M.2, I used Sintech NGFF M.2 nVME SSD adapter, but when I power it on my iMac, the computer doesn't see the blade and when I do to Disk Utility it's not showing there either.

What did I do wrong?
 
It could be some kind of "hardware incompatibility":
- something with the blade itself
- something with the adapter
- some kind of incompatibility between the blade and the adapter
- etc.

If you put the FACTORY 128gb blade back in, will the iMac work?
 
See my thread. I would follow the terminal commands and see if your drive is listed.

forums.macrumors.com

Trying to install SSD in Mac mini 2011

SO I pulled the old HD out and installed an SSD in my Mac mini I have a USB Bootable Disk and hold option down on chime and get to the screen where I can select Disk Utility. Plan was to Erase and Format the SSD since it has never been used. When I go into Disk Utility it is not listed. I...
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ctsa6 said:
I have Late 2013 iMac with 128GB SSD blade, I decide to update it to 512GB Samsung 970 PRO NVMe M.2, I used Sintech NGFF M.2 nVME SSD adapter, but when I power it on my iMac, the computer doesn't see the blade and when I do to Disk Utility it's not showing there either.

What did I do wrong?
Click to expand...
In addition to Fishrrman's points:
Fishrrman said:
It could be some kind of "hardware incompatibility":
- something with the blade itself
- something with the adapter
- some kind of incompatibility between the blade and the adapter
- etc.

If you put the FACTORY 128gb blade back in, will the iMac work?
Click to expand...

... consider the following:
  1. do you have the latest Mac OS version?
  2. did you seat the SSD in the adapter/the adapter in the iMac port correctly?
  3. did you apply Kapton tape to the adaptors' socket to prevent short-circuiting with the iMac's motherboard?
  4. did you select 'show all devices' under the 'View' menu top left? It might be that your SSD is simply not formatted and does not show on the 'Volumes' display:
    show-all-disks-mac-disk-utility-2.jpg

Good luck,
Magnus
 
I think I should paint a bit bigger picture, so my iMac had 3TB HDD hard drive and 128GB SSD blade, I decided to replace Hard Drive with SSD 2TB Samsung 860EVO and SSD Blade with 512GB Samsung 970 PRO NVMe M.2. After I boot my computer and I only see Hard Drive in Disk Utility, Blade is not showing up.


Fishrrman said:
If you put the FACTORY 128gb blade back in, will the iMac work?
Click to expand...

I haven't tried it yet, want to see if there is a way to solve the issue without taking the computer apart again.



Bolanders said:
See my thread. I would follow the terminal commands and see if your drive is listed.
Click to expand...

I used disk utility in the terminal as you suggested and it doesn't show Blade there, but I see the new hard drive I installed.
 
"I used disk utility in the terminal as you suggested and it doesn't show Blade there, but I see the new hard drive I installed"

Does disk utility have the option to choose "show all devices" in the view menu?
If it does, try that.

If that doesn't work, my guess is that there is some hardware incompatibility going on (drive, adapter, or a combination), and you're going to have to open it up whether you want to or not.

I would suggest putting the factory drive BACK IN.
Get an EXTERNAL USB3 enclosure for the blade, and use that instead.
You can still boot and run the iMac from the externally-connected blade drive.
 
I have put the factory blade drive back, and it showed up in the Disk Utility, so I decided to put Samsung 970 PRO NVMe M.2 again it not showing up.

So it's either not compatible or the blade itself doesn't work.

What Can I replace the factory blade with to get a little bit more and more space?
 
Sometimes using a Sintech adaptor the SSD is not exactly 180" with the logicboard connector.

Can you remove the SSD again and this time try to make sure there is no flex or bend in the connection?
 
ctsa6 said:
I have put the factory blade drive back, and it showed up in the Disk Utility, so I decided to put Samsung 970 PRO NVMe M.2 again it not showing up.

So it's either not compatible or the blade itself doesn't work.

What Can I replace the factory blade with to get a little bit more and more space?
Click to expand...


Do you know you can’t use internet recovery to format the drive? had me puzzled for a while. You have to boot from USB. After I made the USB boot disk, i was able to use my NVME SSD.

Another possibility is that you didn't seat the adaptor far enough in the slot on the logic board.

your Samsung 970 pro should work fine.
 
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Reactions: komatsu
mbosse said:
Did you set the ‘view all’ option correctly?
Click to expand...

I didn't, I think it's because I don't have OS installed, I boot the computer from the boot disk.


komatsu said:
Can you remove the SSD again and this time try to make sure there is no flex or bend in the connection?
Click to expand...

There is no flex or bend, I check it when I put it in, it seats there pretty well.




Crwoo said:
Do you know you can’t use internet recovery to format the drive?
Click to expand...

This is interesting, I didn't know that, how can I create a USB boot disk?
 
Finally, I start seeing PCi SSD Samsung 970 PRO NVMe M.2, I booted the computer from USB boot disk and now it showing up in Disk Utility.

One more question, I have two Drives

2TB Samsung 860EVO and 512GB Samsung 970 PRO NVMe M.2, would you guys combine then to Fusion drive or would you keep them separate and install OS on 512Gb and use 2Tb just for storage?
 
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Reactions: komatsu
Crwoo said:
You can’t fusion them. And you shouldn't want to.
Click to expand...
You can fusion them.
[automerge]1591601775[/automerge]
Crwoo said:
Do you know you can’t use internet recovery to format the drive? had me puzzled for a while. You have to boot from USB. After I made the USB boot disk, i was able to use my NVME SSD.
Click to expand...
This is not correct. You can format a drive using Internet Recovery, otherwise you'd have severe problems installing macOS on an unformatted drive. You don't need a bootable USB stick for that.

See also: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/How+to+use+Internet+Recovery+to+install+macOS+to+a+new+SSD/119499

Magnus
 
OP --

You DON'T want to "fuse" the two drives.
Let them run as two, "independent" standalone drives.
Just manage things that way. It's easy.
 
Thank you everyone for the help, my iMac is back on and running.
I really appreciate your time.
 
mbosse said:
Care to elaborate?
Click to expand...
If you use an apple ssd, you can use internet recovery to format the drive. If you use that small converter with a NVME SSD booting from internet recovery, the drive will not show up.
 
ctsa6 said:
Thank you everyone for the help, my iMac is back on and running.
I really appreciate your time.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the update.

So what do you think was root-cause? Internet Recovery could not see the Evo?
 
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