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Q: Samsung 850 EVO as boot drive doesn't work

So I have a Samsung 850 EVO installed in a Akitio Thunder 2 Quad. On this SSD, I have OS X 10.11.6. When I boot up my Mac Pro (2013-black), the screen remains dark. When I remove the Samsung from the bay, the Mac boots up without issue's using my internal drive.

 

Does anyone know what would prevent the Samsung drive from booting up OS X externally? Thanks!

Posted on Sep 9, 2016 10:40 PM

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Q: Samsung 850 EVO as boot drive doesn't work

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  • by lllaass,

    lllaass lllaass Sep 10, 2016 12:45 AM in response to Imagine
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    Sep 10, 2016 12:45 AM in response to Imagine

    How was OSX installed on the Samsung drive?

    If you reconnect the drive after booting from the internal drive does System Preferences>Startup Disk show the external drive as a startup disk?

    Have you tried moving the Samsung disk to another bay?

    Are there other drives in the enclosure?

    Does the Samsung drive have the latest firmware?

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Sep 10, 2016 7:39 AM in response to Imagine
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    Sep 10, 2016 7:39 AM in response to Imagine

    Does that drive have the correct SATA interface for the enclosure, and the correct access method? they sell EVO 850 drives with a different interface, and with a different access system (NGFF) inside. NGFF are not bootable.

  • by Imagine,

    Imagine Imagine Sep 10, 2016 1:20 PM in response to lllaass
    Level 1 (108 points)
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    Sep 10, 2016 1:20 PM in response to lllaass

    Hi lllaass,

     

    Here are answers to your questions.

     

    How was OSX installed on the Samsung drive? I used SuperDuper. That's always worked for me.

     

    If you reconnect the drive after booting from the internal drive does System Preferences>Startup Disk show the external drive as a startup disk? Yes, I can also see the drive when booting up holding the Option key.

     

    Have you tried moving the Samsung disk to another bay? No, this is the next step. But I did try another enclosure and it still wouldn't boot.

     

    Are there other drives in the enclosure? Yes, the enclosure holds 4 drives.

     

    Does the Samsung drive have the latest firmware? I tried looking for the latest firmware, but cab't find it anywhere.


    Notice the two pictures. The folders in the internal drive are correct. When I SuperDuper'd the internal to the external drive, the external drive looked identical, but after I tried to use the external as a boot up drive, it created extra folders which you can see in the pic below.


    I don't know how to proceed. Maybe it's just a firmware issue, but I can't seem to locate that. Thanks!

    1.png 2.png

  • by Imagine,

    Imagine Imagine Sep 10, 2016 1:22 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (108 points)
    Apple TV
    Sep 10, 2016 1:22 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    Hi Grant,

     

    If I don't use the SSD as a boot up drive, it works perfectly. Only when I try to boot with it, it doesn't work. I don't know what a NGFF is but I'll look into it. Thanks!

  • by Imagine,

    Imagine Imagine Sep 10, 2016 1:29 PM in response to Imagine
    Level 1 (108 points)
    Apple TV
    Sep 10, 2016 1:29 PM in response to Imagine

    Here's the info on this specific SSD.

     

    3.png

  • by lllaass,

    lllaass lllaass Sep 10, 2016 1:39 PM in response to Imagine
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    Sep 10, 2016 1:39 PM in response to Imagine

    You said "

    But I did try another enclosure and it still wouldn't boot.".

    What type of enclosure did you try?

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Sep 10, 2016 1:42 PM in response to Imagine
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    Sep 10, 2016 1:42 PM in response to Imagine

    Do you have a link to the description on the Vendor's site where you bought it?

  • by Imagine,

    Imagine Imagine Sep 10, 2016 2:04 PM in response to lllaass
    Level 1 (108 points)
    Apple TV
    Sep 10, 2016 2:04 PM in response to lllaass

    Sorry IIIaass, not an enclosure, but a Newer Technology Voyager Q Dock.

     

    Dock.JPG

  • by Imagine,

    Imagine Imagine Sep 10, 2016 2:06 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (108 points)
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    Sep 10, 2016 2:06 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    Grant, I think I purchased it at Fry's Electronics, but not certain. I took a pic of the drives info.

     

    EVO.JPG

  • by lllaass,

    lllaass lllaass Sep 10, 2016 2:37 PM in response to Imagine
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    Sep 10, 2016 2:37 PM in response to Imagine

    As a test I would do a fresh install (using the OSX installer downloaded from the Mac App Store) of the version of OSX that is now on the SSD and the EVO 850. That will help determine if it is the clone or the SSD.

  • by Imagine,

    Imagine Imagine Sep 10, 2016 2:39 PM in response to lllaass
    Level 1 (108 points)
    Apple TV
    Sep 10, 2016 2:39 PM in response to lllaass

    I'll do that. Maybe the carbon copy isn't taking. I'll let you know if that worked. Thanks!

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Sep 10, 2016 7:11 PM in response to Imagine
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    Sep 10, 2016 7:11 PM in response to Imagine

    That looks like a genuine SATA drive. From a Hardware perspective, it should not be bootable.

  • by Imagine,

    Imagine Imagine Sep 11, 2016 12:55 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (108 points)
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    Sep 11, 2016 12:55 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    HI Grant, what do you mean it shouldn't be bootable? Aren't SSD bootable?

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Sep 11, 2016 6:55 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 9 (60,976 points)
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    Sep 11, 2016 6:55 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    I am sorry. I revised what I said three times and it still came out wrong. I MEANT to say it should definitely be bootable as far as Hardware goes. I edited my message too many times and messed it up. I am very sorry.

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