Macbook pro can't find SSD on DiskUtility or Installation stage

I was using my older Macbook 2015, Model : A1502. I have upgraded the SSD to 1TB after I purchased (2nd hand) and I remember having the same issue of the new ebay purchased ssd not being recognised but I remember once I completed the installation on the older ssd it came with, that it started working. Recently I tried to upgrade to Big Sur and it wasn't as smooth as so i decided to downgrade.Once I used internet recovery and diskutil to wipe the disk, when I went back to reinstallation of mac os, the disk couldnt be recognised. I assumed the same issue as when I first bought the ssd, but I didn't have the original ssd so I decided to use my girlfriend's laptop (Macbook 2013, with Mavericks installed). That didnt read it either when cmd+R. but after trying to find a solution on the internet, tried alt+cmd+R and I was prompted to install BigSur and I did. I put my SSD back on my laptop and it worked. now the issue is when I put her ssd back on her 2013 mbp, her ssd isn't being recognised. not even alt+cmd+R or a SD card Mavericks installation disk. I was thinking maybe installing a higher version on her laptop made her SSD not to be recognised so I was trying to put back my SSD in her laptop, reinstall Mavericks so once installation is completed on my disk and I put her ssd back it would go back to normal. That didn't work. My ssd works with alt+cmd+R for reinstallation on both laptops. but when i reboot the Mavericks installation SD, no show on either laptops. Please give me a hint to preserve her ssd if possible or a clean installation as a last resort.

MacBook Pro

Posted on Apr 21, 2022 11:05 PM

Top-ranking reply

HWTech

Level 9

68,642 points

Posted on Apr 22, 2022 7:47 PM

The problem with your third party NVMe SSD is it requires booting to macOS 10.13+. Sometimes Internet Recovery Mode will only boot to an older online macOS installer for an OS which originally shipped with a Mac. The older versions of macOS cannot recognize a third party NVMe SSD since they do not know anything about this type of SSD.

Since you have access to another Mac from 2013, it is possible for you to create a bootable macOS 10.11 to 10.15 USB installer for your 2015 laptop using the instructions in this Apple article:

How to create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support

Now, the issue with your wife's laptop is indeed having an incompatible OS on the SSD since an MBPro (early 2013) model only supports up to macOS 10.15 Catalina. In theory you should be able to boot into Internet Recovery Mode using Command + Option + R to boot to the online macOS 10.15 Catalina installer. Just make sure to use Disk Utility to erase the whole physical SSD as GUID partition and APFS (top option). You may need to click "View" within Disk Utility and select "Show All Devices" so that the physical SSD appears on the left pane of Disk Utility.

Here is an article which shows which versions of macOS are compatible with the different Apple models:

https://eshop.macsales.com/guides/Mac_OS_X_Compatibility

FYI, if you want to install macOS 12.x Monterey onto your 2015 laptop, then you should do so now with your wife's SSD since the Monterey installer will not update the system firmware while a third party SSD is installed in the laptop. Once the system firmware has been updated, then you can reinstall your third party SSD and upgrade to Monterey on that SSD.

This is why people should never get rid of their original Apple SSDs. You are very lucky that your laptop works with the SSD from your wife's laptop. This is not always the case.

You should always have frequent and regular backups of your computer and all external media (including the cloud) which contains important & unique data.

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Macbook pro can't find SSD on DiskUtility or Installation stage

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