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Online recovery Disk Utility can't see my SSD

Hello!

I want to upgrade my Internal SSD from 128 to 500 Gb on my 2015 13" MBP using Kingston NV1 NVMe SSD and SSD Adapter for Mac SSD connector. Disk utility can't see the new SSD. Windows PC can see it and format it. I've tried Formating it to exFat on windows 10 PC, Wiping it to unallocated space but nothing seems to work. It looks like the adapter is working, because the SSD is warm to touch. What can be the problem?


Thanks.

MacBook Pro

Posted on Oct 31, 2022 10:02 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 31, 2022 5:18 PM

What OS is the installer you are booting? You must boot from macOS 10.13+ in order to use an NVMe SSD internally on a Mac. Unfortunately sometimes booting into Recovery Mode will boot you into the installer for the older version of macOS which originally shipped with the Mac from the factory which for a 2015 laptop would be macOS 10.11 El Capitan.


If you cannot boot into the macOS 12.x Monterey online installer using Command + Option + R for Internet Recovery Mode, then you will need to create and use a bootable macOS 10.13+ USB installer using the instructions in this Apple article:

Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support


Make sure you erase the whole physical SSD as GUID partition and APFS (top option). Within Disk Utility you may need to click "View" and select "Show All Devices" before the physical drive appears on the left pane of Disk Utility.


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5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Oct 31, 2022 5:18 PM in response to Sven1705

What OS is the installer you are booting? You must boot from macOS 10.13+ in order to use an NVMe SSD internally on a Mac. Unfortunately sometimes booting into Recovery Mode will boot you into the installer for the older version of macOS which originally shipped with the Mac from the factory which for a 2015 laptop would be macOS 10.11 El Capitan.


If you cannot boot into the macOS 12.x Monterey online installer using Command + Option + R for Internet Recovery Mode, then you will need to create and use a bootable macOS 10.13+ USB installer using the instructions in this Apple article:

Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support


Make sure you erase the whole physical SSD as GUID partition and APFS (top option). Within Disk Utility you may need to click "View" and select "Show All Devices" before the physical drive appears on the left pane of Disk Utility.


Nov 1, 2022 5:56 AM in response to Sven1705

With the Monterey installer do you actually see the physical SSD? If so, then select it and erase it as GUID partition and APFS (top option).


If not, then most likely it means the SSD adapter is bad or incompatible. From reading these forums it seems the Sintech SSD adapter is the most reliable and compatible. Otherwise your SSD is bad or incompatible (not all SSDs are compatible with all computers), or the Logic Board is bad (least likely).



Online recovery Disk Utility can't see my SSD

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