Mac internal SD - cannot view in mac installer or disk utility

[MagicHAM]

So I am trying to re-install mac os EL Capitan on the MacBook 2015, to prepare for transfer. On the internal hard drive I have Windows on it just for the fun of it, as it was really just a spare toy I purchased, and I am planning on giving it to a cousin who needs it for uni.
However I the internal hard drive is not showing up in the Mac OS El Capitan installer. But when I reboot and boot into windows on hte same drive, there is nothing wrong.

Usually I can access and reformat the internal disk before proceeding with the installation (of course backups were already made of all my data, so thats no issue).

It is a 1TB internal Solid State Drive. It previously had Mac OS Big Sur on it. (but I hated the ipadishy look it had). I actually wiped that off and installed Windows 10.

Question is how can I tell if there hard drive is corrupted? It doesn't make sense to me that I can run Windows currently on it, but can't format it completly.

Just a side note, I did a disk clean using the Windows installation.

Is the internal sd about to crash?

 

[BrianBaughn]

Won't help if the SSD is kaput in some way but did you try Internet Recovery?

Another thing…when you start up from the EC installer are you then running Disk Utility to try to reformat the drive?

 

[MagicHAM]

Hi Brian,

Thanks for the reply.


Yeah I am using Internet recovery right now. It's a bit odd that Windows can access it and use it (as its installed on there).But the fact even it is a NTFS partition i should still be able to see it in disk utility through the Internet Recovery. Just shows the OS X Base system.

Even when I had nothing installed (empty drive after the format through the installer), it just didnt get recognized by El Capitan. I wonder if the SSD is too new for the El Capitan installer?

Yes, I sure am, i have opened it up it doesn't see the disk, but when i restart the Mac it boots into Windows 10 as if nothing is wrong. Clearly something is up or I have missed a vital step in someway.

 

[MagicHAM]

 

[chrfr]

It is a 1TB internal Solid State Drive. It previously had Mac OS Big Sur on it. (but I hated the ipadishy look it had). I actually wiped that off and installed Windows 10

Is this an aftermarket NVMe drive in the computer? If so, you need to use High Sierra or later as earlier OSes don't have NVMe support.

 

[MagicHAM]

ahh okay, that might be it in there, can I download the High Sierra dmg onto the windows thats installed and then install it to a USB ? Is there a way to do that?

 

[DCBassman]

Also, check Disk Utility settings are showing you everything, not just osx stuff.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Didn't the OP say it had Big Sur on it previously?

 

[MagicHAM]

Yes I did. , I think it was mentioned that it could have been a newer drive as mentioned by chrfr, I got this last year, so I had Big Sur on it for a while before I wacked Windows on it. I'm download High Sierra now, and going to use Transmac in windows to create the bootable usb for it. Its worth a shot.

 

[MagicHAM]

Further update, yep just as Chrfr suggested, it is definetly with the NVME bus. So now I am just creating the usb installero Mac OS High Sierra, and then I should be good to go and be in business! Thanks for everyones help.
TransMac is very handy!

 

[Fishrrman]

Either boot to INTERNET recovery (command-option-R)
or
Boot from the USB flash drive

then
Open disk utility.
VERY IMPORTANT VERY IMPORTANT VERY IMPORTANT VERY IMPORTANT
If there is a "view" menu, you MUST go to it and choose "show all devices"
(if you do not do this, you can't see the internal drive)

If there IS NOT a "view" menu, just proceed.

Once you do this, look at the list on the left.
The "topmost" item should be the internal drive.
Click on it and click "erase".
If you're going to install High Sierra (or earlier), erase to
Mac OS extended, journaling enabled, GUID partition format.
Then quit disk utility and open the OS installer.

Start clicking through.
The Mac will reboot one or more times, and the screen will go dark for a minute or more with no indication of activity. Be patient.
When done, you should see the initial setup screen (choose your language).

WHAT YOU DO NEXT depends on what you're going to do with it.
If you're going to give or sell it to someone else, at this point PRESS AND HOLD the power on button until the display goes black and the MBP shuts down. It's ready for them, and they will see the initial setup screen (as if it were new) the next time they boot.

 

[winxmac]

If you are still able to boot into Windows, you can try to download and install Speccy to confirm the type of internal storage your computer is using... My MacBook Pro 2015 still uses the Apple internal SSD and I was able to install 10.10.5 up to Monterey... I can install any supported version via USB flash drive and Disk Utility can detect it even though I have upgraded to Monterey at one point...

 

[chrfr]

WHAT YOU DO NEXT depends on what you're going to do with it.
If you're going to give or sell it to someone else, at this point PRESS AND HOLD the power on button until the display goes black and the MBP shuts down. It's ready for them, and they will see the initial setup screen (as if it were new) the next time they boot.

You can just press command-Q to quit the setup assistant which will then offer a graceful shutdown rather than forcing the computer to shut down and risking some sort of disk corruption.

 

[MagicHAM]

I have done that. Windows boots fine, I know that the internal sd is one that is not recognised by El Capitan installer. But I am trying to get the installer on the USB. But I think I am missing a vital step in the configuraiton process with Trans Mac.

 

[chrfr]

I have done that. Windows boots fine, I know that the internal sd is one that is not recognised by El Capitan installer. But I am trying to get the installer on the USB. But I think I am missing a vital step in the configuraiton process with Trans Mac.

Why not try command-option-r at boot to use internet recovery on the Mac? If you had Big Sur on the computer before this will get you an operating system which is new enough to recognize the disk.

 

[MagicHAM]

There is no mac OS installers / recovery partitions on there. I completed wiped it.

That doesnt work. Only Command R which takes me to internet recovery for El Capitan.

So basically just Windows.

I am trying to put High Sierra onto USB as a boot usb so I can install that over Windows (completely re-image/format the drive).

Nonetheless, you also said that the hard drive is newer and that El Capitan won't read it. Hence why I am doing it this way.

 

[BrianBaughn]

I've never used TransMac so I'm no help there except to say I'm pretty sure I've seen folks having issues using it.

If you don't have access to another Mac to create the USB installer and you can't get TransMac to work another option would be to attach a hard drive or SSD via USB and use the EC installer to install EC to it…then proceed from there to get up to whatever macOS version you want.

 

[MagicHAM]

Actually I managed to getr the MacOS Big Sur installation working, not sure if it will work, but i managed to get it and is installing.

 

[chrfr]

There is no mac OS installers / recovery partitions on there. I completed wiped it.

command-option-r doesn't require any partitions on the disk at all. It pulls what should be the most recent installer for that computer directly from the internet.

 

[MagicHAM]

Ahh okay well I did that and it worked. I let it download all night and it’s all good to go and gave it to my cousin over coffee this morning.

I ended up having to re read some of the suggestions and when I did and did your one it worked.

Thanks for everyone’s help 👍🏻