New hard drive, can't reload op system

[Rendrayarrum]

Hey everyone,

My original hard drive went bad in my 2013 Macbook Pro 13" and I just replaced it with a Samsung 8500 Pro.

At first the Samsung didn't show up as on option to Reinstall OS X. I went into Disk Utility and selected the Partition Tab, chose 1 Partition, named it, selected OS Extended (Journaled), and under options changed it to GUID. Then my new partition showed up on the left. I went back to the recovery window and chose to Reinstall OS X. It installs for about 30 mins and then automatically restarts. When it restarts, the question mark folder shows up, then I'm stuck... I also tried the recovery option using my Time Machine external drive, but that fails about 2 mins in to the process.

In Disk Utility I clicked Verify on the new partition of my Samsung. It failed and in Red
it says: Invalid b-tree node size.

I'm stuck! Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!!

 

[wlossw]

What year is your laptop... I assume you meant 13" macbook pro and Samsung 850 pro SSD... some models have faulty cables.

 

[Rendrayarrum]

What year is your laptop... I assume you meant 13" macbook pro and Samsung 850 pro SSD... some models have faulty cables.

I updated, '13, 13". Thanks.

 

[Rendrayarrum]

I updated, '13, 13". Thanks.

Anybody have any ideas? I'm pretty lost here. Thanks.

 

[DeltaMac]

Make another attempt with the SSD: Boot to the Internet Recovery (Command-Option-R), and again use Disk Utility to make One Partition.
When the partition is created, SHUT OFF your Mac - not a Restart, but a Shut Down, so power is completely off.
Disconnect the power adapter. Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds (a reset).
Plug in power again, press and release the power button. Press and hold Command-Option-P and R.
You should hear the boot chime sound. Continue holding the same 4 keys until you hear the boot chime 2 more times, then release the keys. Immediately hold Command-Option-R for the Internet Recovery.
Go to Disk Utility, and run Repair Disk (not Verify Disk this time) If you get a similar error, you can stop now.
Replace the SSD.
If you see errors or repairs completed during the Repair Disk, and it passes the test - I personally would not trust the SSD (It's new, eh?) Decide for yourself, but I would get a replacement for the SSD.

If it does pass the Disk Utility Repair Disk, with no problems, then install OS X, maybe that will succeed this time.

 

[Rendrayarrum]

Make another attempt with the SSD: Boot to the Internet Recovery (Command-Option-R), and again use Disk Utility to make One Partition.
When the partition is created, SHUT OFF your Mac - not a Restart, but a Shut Down, so power is completely off.
Disconnect the power adapter. Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds (a reset).
Plug in power again, press and release the power button. Press and hold Command-Option-P and R.
You should hear the boot chime sound. Continue holding the same 4 keys until you hear the boot chime 2 more times, then release the keys. Immediately hold Command-Option-R for the Internet Recovery.
Go to Disk Utility, and run Repair Disk (not Verify Disk this time) If you get a similar error, you can stop now.
Replace the SSD.
If you see errors or repairs completed during the Repair Disk, and it passes the test - I personally would not trust the SSD (It's new, eh?) Decide for yourself, but I would get a replacement for the SSD.

If it does pass the Disk Utility Repair Disk, with no problems, then install OS X, maybe that will succeed this time.

Make another attempt with the SSD: Boot to the Internet Recovery (Command-Option-R), and again use Disk Utility to make One Partition.
When the partition is created, SHUT OFF your Mac - not a Restart, but a Shut Down, so power is completely off.
Disconnect the power adapter. Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds (a reset).
Plug in power again, press and release the power button. Press and hold Command-Option-P and R.
You should hear the boot chime sound. Continue holding the same 4 keys until you hear the boot chime 2 more times, then release the keys. Immediately hold Command-Option-R for the Internet Recovery.
Go to Disk Utility, and run Repair Disk (not Verify Disk this time) If you get a similar error, you can stop now.
Replace the SSD.
If you see errors or repairs completed during the Repair Disk, and it passes the test - I personally would not trust the SSD (It's new, eh?) Decide for yourself, but I would get a replacement for the SSD.

If it does pass the Disk Utility Repair Disk, with no problems, then install OS X, maybe that will succeed this time.

Thanks for the reply! I will try this shortly and report back.

 

[Weaselboy]

Do you have an external USB enclosure you can pop the new SSD in to test it? Do that then command-r boot to recovery and after the spinning globe gets done and the recovery screen comes up, try to format and install again. If that works with it in the external, then you have a bad internal cable. Fairly common problem.

 

[DeltaMac]

Very true. The SATA ribbon cable can be more fragile than you might think, and may have no visible problem, but just might not work reliably after a drive change. The strange ones are when a spinner hard drive works, but an SSD is flaky.
Cable often fixes it.

 

[Rendrayarrum]

Ok, I tried the protocol that DeltaMac recommended a few times. I had the same results. Disk Utility is still telling me drive is bad. It is a brand new drive. The cable tested good a few days ago at the Genius Bar. Is it likely to have gone bad in the process of exchanging drives? My options are to go back to Genius Bar and test cable with new drive or to go back to B&H and exchange drive. What do ya'll suggest? Thanks!

 

[DeltaMac]

Your drive won't format properly.
It's a bad drive (Even new parts can fail - you have a warranty that handles that)
OR
It's a bad SATA cable (try a different cable, even if you believe that yours is OK.)
I have seen SATA drive cables that will not work correctly with SSDs, but no problems with spinning hard drives, replacing the cable fixed the issue.
OR
The SATA controller is flaky - which might have caused your original drive to fail, too. Well, that gets to be a little more work. And, if you don't have the extended AppleCare warranty, you're stuck with replacing the drive controller - which means replacing the logic board.
So, you try the easy fixes first (cable or the SSD), one of those may be all you need.

 

[Weaselboy]

Ok, I tried the protocol that DeltaMac recommended a few times. I had the same results. Disk Utility is still telling me drive is bad. It is a brand new drive. The cable tested good a few days ago at the Genius Bar. Is it likely to have gone bad in the process of exchanging drives? My options are to go back to Genius Bar and test cable with new drive or to go back to B&H and exchange drive. What do ya'll suggest? Thanks!

I still think you have a bad cable there. There is no way for the Apple Store to reliably test that cable.

The only true test here will be to do what I suggested earlier.... get a cheap USB enclosure and try the new drive in there. If it works, then you know it is the internal cable. Just run over to Best Buy and grab a cheap enclosure. Otherwise you will be running in circles here and potentially returning a drive that is not defective only to end up right back where you were.

Like DM mentioned, it is common for a cable to work with a HDD and not with a SSD. I suspect the higher transfer speeds cause a borderline cable to stumble.

 

[Rendrayarrum]

I still think you have a bad cable there. There is no way for the Apple Store to reliably test that cable.

The only true test here will be to do what I suggested earlier.... get a cheap USB enclosure and try the new drive in there. If it works, then you know it is the internal cable. Just run over to Best Buy and grab a cheap enclosure. Otherwise you will be running in circles here and potentially returning a drive that is not defective only to end up right back where you were.

Like DM mentioned, it is common for a cable to work with a HDD and not with a SSD. I suspect the higher transfer speeds cause a borderline cable to stumble.

Ok! Progress... I followed the advice of you helpful peeps and got a $20 enclosure. I popped in the new HD and it worked just as it's supposed to. For kicks, I put in the old HD and tried to repair in DU, but it failed. Anyway, my new HD is restoring in conjunction with my Time Machine HD as I type. Hopefully it will conclude in a few hours as it's supposed to. I'll get a new cable so I can put the new HD back inside where it belongs. I'll report back when everything is restored. Thanks so much to everyone for steering me in the right direction.