HELP: clean install from usb - new ssd invisible !!

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Level 1

5 points

HELP: clean install from usb - new ssd invisible !!

After hours of replacing the old drive with an expensive SSD from ozc, my iMac 3,06 looked happy. The SSD showed up, so I reformatted it (extended journaled) before starting the clean install of Mountain Lion.

That looked good untill the text showed up which said something in line of; that some elements of Mountain Lion were unable to install.

There was only one thing: quit and try again.

But after that I was not able to find the SSD drive; not with disk utility from a start up Snow Leopard dvd, not with a Diskwarrior4.3 disk.

Help!!!!

I know it has not died, only it was harmed by a bad, self made Mountain Lion install USB stick.

What to do??

iMac Intel Core 2 Duo 3.06 24", Mac OS X (10.6.4), Bluetooth Mighty Mouse & Magic Trackpad

Posted on Dec 12, 2012 5:17 PM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Dec 12, 2012 6:07 PM in response to jebe68

Give this a try:

Drive Preparation

1. Boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.

2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.

3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.

4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.

5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.

6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.

7. After formatting is done quit DU and return to the installer. Complete the Snow Leopard installation. If all is OK upon completion then download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.

You can now re-download the Mountain Lion installer and complete the upgrade to Mountain Lion. Do not use your self-made flash drive installer.

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Answer 2

jebe68 Author

Level 1

5 points

Dec 12, 2012 6:29 PM in response to Kappy

TNX for replying in desperate times here, but the main Drive has disappeared after faulty clean install. So also no sign of it when starting up with a Apple Snow Leopard dvd I have which ur suggesting, or Diskwarrior dvd;

There just is no main HD (what used to be my Mac HD, replaced as Mac SSD... which was visible until... faulty clean install which only could have been abandoned)

TNX for each reply, horrible situation here!!!

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Answer 3

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Dec 12, 2012 6:45 PM in response to jebe68

Are you saying the SSD is not visible or your HDD is not visible or that neither are visible? If it's the SSD then it may be defective. It also may not be compatible. Not all are. Also could be a mismatch if the SSD is a 6.0 Gb/s drive because your controller only supports 3.0 Gb/s drives.

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Answer 4

jebe68 Author

Level 1

5 points

Dec 13, 2012 4:20 AM in response to Kappy

Thanks Kappy, here is what happened:

I replaced the old HDD for a new SSD. The same one a reknowned company (macrepair.nl) builds in old Macs, they asured me these exact SSD's they install every day and even work on older white iMacs.

The thing is I saw the SSD when firing up the iMac after the building in.

Then I erased it to Mac journaled extended as adviced.

And then freshly installed Mountain Lion from a self-made Install USB stick (method from http://youtu.be/aee0rZXowEA ).

But here is when disaster struck. All was going fine and rapid, only thowards the end of installing the fresh system it gave the warning that the installation couldn't be completed because of lack of necessary elements (don't recall the exact txt but that's what it royghly said).

There was no other option as to try and restart.

After that: no SSD anymore

nowhere, not with rescue disks, older Snow Leopard install dvd's, techtool and diskwarrior.

Terrible if that expensive SSD is not coming back! What to do???

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Answer 5

mmollo22

Level 1

115 points

Dec 13, 2012 4:52 AM in response to jebe68

Did you tried to install the SSD in another machine to garantee that's not hardware issue?

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Answer 6

jebe68 Author

Level 1

5 points

Dec 13, 2012 11:46 AM in response to mmollo22

no other machine at hand but i installed my old HHD and it still works

hope that there is software to revive a disk with a broken system/directory (diskwarrior and techtool just work with disk they can 'see')

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Answer 7

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Dec 13, 2012 11:54 AM in response to jebe68

Easier to just repartition and erase the SSD and try again. This time don't use your flash drive. Install Snow Leopard on the SSD with your installer disc, update to 10.6.8, re-download Mountain Lion from the App store and install it.

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Answer 8

jebe68 Author

Level 1

5 points

Dec 13, 2012 2:28 PM in response to Kappy

Kappy, I wish I could do that, but for repartitioning/erasing a disk the computer has to actually 'see' the bloody thing attached to its SATA bus. But that is the whole problem; after faulty install of the system it dissapeared into oblivion.

No trick, reboot method or software (Techtool nor DiskWarrior) where that bloody SSD shows up 😠

I even booted in the Linux Bootable Toolbox setup from OCZ which gives in its main window:

'No Supported Drives Found'

In the check mode: 'Root access has been verified: Running Config Check...

clout V3.02.00.3129: cli ssd drive tool

/dev/sda:

FAILED: Internal error

/dev/sdb:

FAILED: Could not connect to drive

Please write down config ID's for your drive(s) then

Select E to Exit"

same if I want to erase the disk from that boot software:

"/dev/sda:

FAILED: Internal error

/dev/sdb:

FAILED: Could not connect to drive"

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Answer 9

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Dec 13, 2012 2:35 PM in response to jebe68

Then I'd say you have a defective drive or a bent pin on the connector.

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