Clean install on Macbook Pro fails, as does a time machine restore
Hi all,
I am helping out my neighbour and have been at this since Wednesday in the hope that I have missed something. I have scoured the Internet in the hope that I have missed something. I am now reaching out to the community since it cannot be this difficult, especially on a Mac.
The scenario is as follows:
The Macbook Pro main hard drive intermittently makes a clicking sound on startup which is never a good sign on mechanical drives; after which the Mac displays the flashing folder with the question mark. So, as I have regularly suggested, obtain and install a new SSD. Since the owner presented a drive with a time machine backup, this should be easy; especially since the startup hardware tests complete without issue.
Not so fast...
- I have attempted Time machine restores both by creating multiple different versions (El Capitan, Sierra, High Sierra and Mojave) of USB boot disks, as well as using Recovery mode (which attempts to use Lion) and Internet recovery mode (which attempts the action with Catalina). In all cases the recovery completes, but the machine will not reboot and attempting First Aid produces a failure with code -8.
- So, failing that, I reasoned a brand new install would be OK, especially since the owner indicated that all relevant data is backed up somewhere. Again attempted new installs with boot disks of the multiple different versions as mentioned above, as well as an Internet Recovery with Catalina; the end result is the same; the installations all fail. These attempts were done both disconnected and connected to the Internet before starting the reinstall.
- In some cases, the install got to "less than a second remaining" and then just sat there, for 12 hours!
- Lastly, since the original drive only intermittently failed on startup I attempted to restore the old drive to the new drive. After a couple of attempts, the old drive responded and the restore process got to the "restore complete, restarting" part and then just sat there.
What am I missing?
MacBook
