2TB SSD isn't showing up

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Level 1

4 points

2TB SSD isn't showing up

My 2017 iMac with 2TB SSD and 64GB memory was stolen from my house for about a week, and when the police brought it back, there was monterey on on my 2TB SSD, and a drive full of porn. I erased the drive with disk utility and tried to reinstall OS X Catalina 10.15.7 on it, it didn't work. Then I tried to install Catalina on an empty Mercury Elite Pro Quad using Recovery. Even though I specified High Sierra, Recovery installed Sierra with a missing firmware partition, at that point I had more than enough problems without playing with firmware partitions. My logic (perhaps faulty) was that if I could get Catalina on a second drive, perhaps the SSD needed another Catalina drive to properly erase the bifurcated SSD drive. Trying it was just another headache. So I decided to reinstall Monterey again, but now the 2TB SSD was MIA.

If the computer had been a MacPro, I would have had everything on the table checking it out in record time, but I always hated taking apart an iMac — even back in the 90s. It's the obvious next step, I just wish my Applecare hadn't expired in January 2022. Because of COVID, none of my clients had any design projects for me, so I am not flush enough to either get a new computer or try and renew Applecare – and now that the iMac has a pre-existing condition that might not be grandfathered in. So in the past 3 weeks I've been going slowly insane.

Has any else had this issue, and if so did you find a magical cure?, because I could really use one right now.

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Apr 27, 2022 3:21 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

mxyzptlk613 Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 27, 2022 7:06 PM in response to BDAqua

Actually I just solved the problem, and I didn't play the bootable installer game. My logic was that if I could get Catalina on a second drive, perhaps the SSD needed another Catalina drive to properly erase the bifurcated SSD drive, sadly Recovery served up Sierra minus the firmware partition. I figured that was a battle for a different day. Turns out my logic was spot on. Fortunately I had an eDrive that I'd created when I was using Catalina. So I booted to the eDrive, and when I'd logged in there were both halves of the SSD sitting there, as if they'd been waiting for me. Then I combined the two drives into a Volume Container using Disk Utility. I restarted Recovery using Cmd+Opt+R, thus forcing Recovery to serve up the latest Mac OS. I chose to install Monterey into the Volume Container, figuring if there were still bifurcated drives, this was the easiest way to make them do all the work. When I saw Monterey show up in Recovery, I started to have hope. When I saw the spinning Globe, I instantly knew that all my choices had been correct. It took a while to download and automatically install, but it was well worth the wait. Please note, I'm on an Intel iMac (2017). There are different commands for m1, etc., but the concept is is pretty much the same.

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Answer 2

John Galt

Level 10

156,314 points

Apr 27, 2022 6:42 PM in response to mxyzptlk613

It seems the most pressing issue is that you are not seeing a device on which to install any operating system. At the risk of asking an obvious question, did you exhaust all Disk Utility options? Did you select "Show All Devices" from its View menu or taskbar icon?

... I always hated taking apart an iMac — even back in the 90s.

Things haven't gotten any easier since then.

If it makes you feel any better, it wouldn't help anyway. If the internal storage volume is not appearing at all, perhaps it has failed catastrophically, in which case removing it won't help.

It's much too soon to draw that conclusion though. Set that thought aside in anticipation of the possible future need to replace it. SSDs can fail, usually catastrophically, but it seems too much of a coincidence for that to happen along with your other miseries.

I erased the drive with disk utility and tried to reinstall OS X Catalina 10.15.7 on it, it didn't work.

Explain what didn't work. It might be a clue.

For now try booting macOS Internet Recovery which should load the ability to connect to Apple's download server from firmware, apart from any presumably broken or absent storage device. Press and hold ⌘ ⌥ R to force Internet Recovery. It seems you had been successful in using that option to download Sierra, and that would be a start. Install it on an external device as BDAqua wisely suggested, and you'll be getting somewhere.

So in the past 3 weeks I've been going slowly insane.

Why the long wait? 😆

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Answer 3

mxyzptlk613 Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 29, 2022 1:37 PM in response to John Galt

When I tried to update to either High Sierra or Catalina, I got got the same firmware partition error. I didn't have a Sierra installer in my collection, but I most definitely had High Sierra and Catalina. I really liked High Sierra. Since Catalina was the first OS with bifurcation, it made sense that any older OS wouldn't have ability to recognize it. I have a background in abstract mathematics, proof by contradiction is always a card in my deck. LOL

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Answer 4

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Apr 27, 2022 5:04 PM in response to mxyzptlk613

I doubt you could get AppleCare on it.

Are you using this method?

How to create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support

Might have to install to an external drive.

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Answer 5

John Galt

Level 10

156,314 points

Apr 27, 2022 6:38 PM in response to mxyzptlk613

... or try and renew Applecare –

That was never an option anyway. However, should all your efforts fail, your Mac remains very supported. Apple or an AASP would be able to fix it at a reasonable cost.

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Answer 6

mxyzptlk613 Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 29, 2022 2:03 PM in response to John Galt

Yes, I most definitely exhausted everything disk utility had to offer. My mantra is Easy Things First. For Monterey, the Volume Container has a LOT more than 2 pieces. If something goes wrong, there are almost too many culprits to blame. They'll need to be tested and eliminated one at a time.

To be completely honest, if my computer hadn't been stolen for a week, and had I gotten it back with Catalina on it; I'm not so sure I'd have done the update for awhile. I learned early on to avoid bleeding edge hardware and software. However, trying to downgrade, is a hellish path to follow, and one devoid of Security. Updates. Now that I'm up and running on Monterey, I really like it, except for the fact that Apple is eliminating what we can do within a new OS; even for the basics. Case-in-point, I would never name a home folder with my name. I used to have my boot drive come up with two empty text fields: and more often than not, the username would be a number.

Way back when, my tech buddies mercilessly teased me for not upgrading to System 7. Part of the reason was that I was well aware that if you booted up from a 7.0.1 disk, there was a 50/50 chance it would wipe the entire hard drive. Good times 😢

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Answer 7

mxyzptlk613 Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 29, 2022 2:19 PM in response to BDAqua

Thank you. I miss the Blessed System Folder philosophy, and it worked just as well as SCSI Voodoo; I was in a big NY office and one of the workers couldn't get a Syquest Disk to mount; so I sent for a second terminator slapped it over the existing terminator, and voilà!

One of my biggest pet peeves with Apple is saying that software is unrecognizable, and in order to use it, requires a trip to the Security & Privacy Pain (and that's not misspelled). I've been doing this for over 37 years, I'm a big boy, and I obviously know how to fix these problems. Thus, I'm seriously considering scripting the dang thing. 😈 Open Anyway, if I could package that philosophy, I could get 90% of the lawns in America green.

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Answer 8

mxyzptlk613 Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 29, 2022 2:39 PM in response to BDAqua

I asked Applecare precisely how the plus, minus, and save works in the upper right of the Search this Mac window. I told him that I'd tried it dozens of times, and each time what it saved was pretty useless. Dead silence. Then he said that he hadn't figured that out yet either.. ROTFLMAO I did respect his honest answer tho.

I also wanted to know why TextEdit didn't have Save As option – unless you knew the keyboard short cut. No answer.

Applecare wanted to know if I would purchase the new pricey MacPro (introduced while were getting stimulus checks). I told him I'd wait and see if it's more of a hit than the Trash Can. 🤷‍♂️

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Answer 9

John Galt

Level 10

156,314 points

Apr 29, 2022 3:14 PM in response to mxyzptlk613

I learned early on to avoid bleeding edge hardware and software. However, trying to downgrade, is a hellish path to follow, and one devoid of Security. Updates.

Time Machine makes it easy. Better yet, install the latest macOS on an external hard disk drive or SSD and evaluate it first. You can even run Setup Assistant (Migration Assistant) and test-run your system before committing to an upgrade. And you can still restore a TM backup if you change your mind.

The last time I did not upgrade that way was from Panther to Tiger, but even the upgrade from OS 9 to the first OS X public beta went smoothly. I just didn't happen to like OS X at first (hated it!) and kept using Classic for a while.

I would never name a home folder with my name. I used to have my boot drive come up with two empty text fields: and more often than not, the username would be a number.

You can still do that. Apple retains some good ideas.

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