Swapped a HDD for a SSD, can't access Recovery now

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Level 1

8 points

Swapped a HDD for a SSD, can't access Recovery now

Hello, proud owner of a late 2009 macbook since it was new. The 250 GB HDD finally started biting the dust. Bought an Crucial MX500 250 GB SSD. Managed to clone it using Carbon Copy Cloner and now it boots into macOS succesfully, but I want to give it a Factory reset, in other words erase everything on that disk completely and just go through the macOS setup wizard like I was turning it on for the 1st time. When I try accessing Recovery (by pressing CMD+R), it just gives me a crossed circle. What does that mean? What can I do to achieve what I want?

Thanks for your help,

-Tom.

MacBook

Posted on Aug 13, 2020 5:45 AM

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Answer 1

chris_g1

Community Specialist

Aug 14, 2020 12:27 PM in response to Lith3332

Hello Lith3332,

Thanks for using Apple Support Communities!

We understand that you are seeing a prohibitory symbol when starting your Mac or trying to enter macOS Recovery. We would be happy to take a look at this with you.

Usually when you see that prohibitory symbol come up, it means that the disk you are trying to start from has a macOS version or build that your Mac is unable to use.

The next step would be to enter macOS Recovery to repair your startup disk or reinstall macOS. Since that symbol seems to be coming up while you are trying to enter macOS Recovery, take a look at the steps listed in this helpful article on what to do next:

About macOS Recovery

Specifically the steps listed in the section "If you can't start up from macOS Recovery".

Here is some additional information about the different key combinations you can try when starting up to macOS Recovery:

How to reinstall macOS from macOS Recovery

Cheers!

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Answer 2

HWTech

Level 9

68,678 points

Aug 15, 2020 6:29 PM in response to Lith3332

As for issues booting into Internet Recovery Mode make sure to perform a PRAM reset (hold the PRAM reset for at least three chimes so it activates several times).

FYI, I have encountered a couple of our organization's Macs where I've had similar issues trying to boot into Internet Recovery Mode and even resetting the PRAM. For some reason a couple of our laptops just won't recognize the key combinations even though every key works perfectly fine when booted into macOS (I determined it was a hardware issue with the Logic Board).

Instead of using Internet Recovery Mode you can create a bootable macOS USB installer if you have access to a compatible Mac:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372

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Answer 3

Lith3332 Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 15, 2020 9:12 AM in response to chris_g1

"Usually when you see that prohibitory symbol come up, it means that the disk you are trying to start from has a macOS version or build that your Mac is unable to use. "

The macOS starts perfectly normally when you are trying to boot it regularly. (By just pressing the "power on" button)

Weirdly enough, it completely disregards/ignores

Option-Command-R
Shift-Option-Command-R

With the only key combination that does anything being Command-R (the aforementioned prohibitory symbol)

I also tried plugging in a Internet cable but that changed nothing, the same things happened.

I am running High Sierra 10.13.6

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Answer 4

Lith3332 Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 15, 2020 9:16 AM in response to HWTech

Thanks, I will look into that, I am exploring my options before committing to a reinstall from an USB, sounds like a real hastle, especially when I wasted a whole day trying to migrate from an HDD to an SSD. (Recovery tools didnt work at that time either, and I installed the SSD into the macbook without having done anything prior to that, then I had to remove it, get a sata to USB cable, connect in through USB, reformat it, then put it back in, then clone it)

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Answer 5

HWTech

Level 9

68,678 points

Aug 14, 2020 9:47 PM in response to Lith3332

It is possible drive's hidden recovery partition was corrupted by the old failing drive.

Try creating a bootable macOS USB installer using these instructions:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372

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Swapped a HDD for a SSD, can't access Recovery now

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