MacBook SSD not working

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Level 1

8 points

MacBook SSD not working

So about 3 months ago I had a job where I had to start using my laptop. I have a late 2012 MacBook Pro. So I needed to upgrade it. I bought an SSD and 16gb of ram. I bought a second hard drive caddy and removed the dvd drive. Everything worked fine. I just had to hold down option while booting to select the drive.

So quit the job, and the laptop sat for about a month. I just recently needed the computer but when I went to boot into the SSD, holding option, it would start to load then restart again on me.

I erased the drive since there wasn’t much on it, and did Mac recovery OS and installed a new version of Catalina. I tried doing this twice. Mid way through it would stop and say it can not be completed. Gave me an error code of -37? I think it was.

So I’m not sure what to do. The SSD is being recognized, but it’s not installing the OS correctly. And becoming so that I can’t use it. And suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thank you

MacBook Pro 13", macOS 10.15

Posted on Mar 29, 2020 2:12 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

leroydouglas

Level 10

200,274 points

Mar 29, 2020 2:21 PM in response to Lilmo2100

This is all in the caddy?

Run the Disk>First Aid would be the most obvious first step:

Boot into Recovery (Command R) and from the dropdown menu: Utilities> Disk Utility> run the First Aid on your Macintosh HD (and the "Macintosh HD-Data" volume as well if Catalina) If errors are found and repaired, run again until no errors reported.

How to reinstall macOS from macOS Recovery: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904

Well it could be the drive. put it in an external enclosure and try booting it from there as a test.

https://eshop.macsales.com/search/?q=OWCES2.5B USB 3 enclosure  

The SATA cable is known issue for the main HD bay, not quite as common the DVD/bay/caddy SATA cable.

However a very inexpensive fix if it proves true.

SATA replacement 13"MBP mid 2012

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Apple/8211480/%20%2013%22%20MacBook%20Pro%20SATA

SATA replacement 15" MBP mid-2012

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Apple/9230084#15_inch

The internal SATA cables are actually not cables but flexible circuit boards, usually mylar, with printed circuit traces taking the place of wires. This type of cable can experience cracks in traces due to aging, heat, vibration, impact or abrasion. They can be damaged quite easily if the unit is mishandled during assembly or re-assembly.

In the case of an intermittent generic failure, the electrical continuity of a cracked trace on both sides of the crack is very often a function of the temperature of the unit at the point where the crack exists. As a unit heats up, it expands, and as it expands, the crack widens, eventually forcing a complete electrical separation to exist on both sides of the crack, hence a failure. As it cools down, electrical contact may once again be restored.

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Answer 2

Mar 29, 2020 6:07 PM in response to Lilmo2100

What is the make and model of the SSD? Not all SSDs are compatible with a Mac and the optical drive bay is not ideal since the SATA cable is not properly shielded for SSD use and can sometimes cause issues.

Have you tried removing the SSD and booting it externally using a USB to SATA Adapter, drive dock, or enclosure?

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Answer 3

Lilmo2100 Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 29, 2020 5:07 PM in response to leroydouglas

Yes it is in the caddy.

Tried reinstalling it again and still the same issue.

The drive is showing up, and coming up. So Idk if that would still point to the cable and or the drive. The drive is only about 2 months old. So it’s still brand new.

attached some pictures of what’s happening when selecting the drive after holding option upon restarting. Shows this then shows an Apple logo.

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MacBook SSD not working

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