You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

how to make a raw ssd visible

I bought a larger ssd for my mbp but I can't see the drive in Recovery mode.

So, I can't install macOS or do any other thing.

I know that there is a way to make the disk visible but I don't know where to find it.

Has any one experience with this?




MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 11.7

Posted on Nov 20, 2024 2:27 AM

Reply
7 replies

Nov 20, 2024 7:47 AM in response to Lance.scs

Before you can install macOS on your new drive, you may need to format it. While in recovery mode you can use Disk Utility to format it. Once formatted, it should become a selectable option for the installation of macOS. Your signature says you're using macOS 11 Big Sur, so you'll want to format the new drive with a GUID partition scheme and APFS volume format.

Erase and reformat a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support




If the drive came with any utilities from the manufacturer, don't use those. They are wholly unnecessary and can and often do create conflict with the OS.

Nov 20, 2024 9:34 AM in response to Lance.scs

Disk Utility is the Grand Arbiter between raw drives and Mount-able Volumes.


A drive that will not tell Disk Utility its make&model and a reasonable non-zero size/capacity is not usable in its current condition. if it has adequate power and data connections, it has died.


Rather than burden users with multiple obscure steps, "the Apple way" is bundled into the ERASE command, which erases what is needed for the partitions and directory areas, creates a partition map and index information, and creates a Volume of the type of your choosing with a name of your choosing. For MacOS bootable use, for 10.13 High Sierra and later, that will be GUID partition map and APFS volume scheme.

Nov 20, 2024 11:15 AM in response to Lance.scs

Is this an internal or external SSD?


Sounds like an internal SSD since you mentioned Recovery Mode. If this is an NVMe SSD upgrade for an older non-USB-C Retina model laptop, then you need to be using a macOS 10.13+ installer. Plus that laptop must have already had macOS 10.13+ installed at some point in the past so that the system firmware can work with an NVMe SSD.


Plus the SSD adapter used for convert a standard M.2 NVMe SSD to fit the Apple proprietary SSD connector on the Logic Board should be from Sintech. That is the only brand SSD adapter that is known to be most compatible & reliable.

how to make a raw ssd visible

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.