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MacPro SSD died?

I have a 2008 MacPro 2.8 with 3 drives. (80 GB SSD, 320 GB HD and a 1TB Time Machine HD) The older Intel X-25 80 GB SSD containing Snow Leopard (upgraded from Leopard) seems to have died. (Grey screen) I tried the usual resets, used Disk utility which found the SSD unrepairable (SMART: verifed) and used the Apple hardware test which came up with the 4HDD/11/40000004 :SATA (0,0) error. The test ran twice with the same result. Trying to reinstall the orginal Leopard from the install disk couldn't even find the SSD.

Has the SSD failed? I may just want to replace the older SSD with another, more reliable SSD. Any recommendations? Brand? SLC? MLC? eMLC? Would the Intel 313 series- 20 GB be too small? Smallest practical drive capacity (GB)?

Best way to achieve the swap? Can Time Machine be used to recover the OS? Is the OS recoverable from the older SSD?

I don't have a clone of my OS I'm afraid.

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.4)

Posted on Feb 1, 2013 6:39 PM

30 replies

Lhotse8511 Author

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Feb 2, 2013 6:48 PM in response to Lhotse8511

Just tried DU from the Snow Leopard DVD. I verified the SSD and got this error:

Invalid record count

The volume SSD-Boot Drive could not be verified completely.

Error: This disk needs to be repaired. Click repair disk.

Repair disk:

Volume repair complete.

Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required.

Error: Disk Utility can't repair this disk...disk, and restore your backed-up files.

I appear to be running Snow Lion at this point.

The SSD has disappeared from the destination when trying to reinstall the OS again.

How about putting the OS onto one of the other 2 internal HD's, then erasing the SSD and transferring Snow Leopard back to the SSD? CAn this be done? How?

Feb 2, 2013 7:06 PM in response to Lhotse8511

Attempting the repair with 10.6 was worth a shot. Sometimes it can repair more than the previous version, but it does not seem to be able to fix this one.

If you have about 20GB free on another drive, you can probably install Mac OS X there.

Once you have Mac OS X running from another Drive, Mounting your damaged SSD to get files off it may be more successful than Booting off a damaged SSD or trying to Install onto a damaged SSD.

Lhotse8511 Author

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Feb 2, 2013 7:10 PM in response to Lhotse8511

If I were to erase the SSD and try a fresh re-install of Snow Leopard, how probable is recovering lost software off of Time MAchine?

THe SSD doesn't appear on the install OSX page.

Lhotse8511 Author

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Feb 2, 2013 7:18 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

So, if I install the OS on another drive, I could zero the SSD and reinstall a clone?

Feb 2, 2013 7:21 PM in response to Lhotse8511

The SSD will not appear on the list of candidate drives because it is damaged. As I noted above in detail, you cannot install onto it in its current state.

But you can install onto another drive. Then you may be able to mount the SSD and get files off it.

--------

RE: Time machine.

If you have copies of your files in a Time Machine backup, you should be able to restore those files WITHOUT erasing the SSD. But you would need to be running Mac OS X from another drive (not just the Installer) to do that Restore.

Feb 2, 2013 7:22 PM in response to Lhotse8511

If you have a clone, why do you not Set Startup to the clone and boot it up?

Lhotse8511 Author

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Feb 2, 2013 7:30 PM in response to Lhotse8511

I don't have a clone of the OS.

I was wondering if I were to install the OS on another drive, could I make the SSD usable again? I would want to remove the OS off the other drive and re-install it on the SSD. Would I have to clone it to do this?

Feb 2, 2013 7:35 PM in response to Lhotse8511

If you want to, you can install a copy of Mac OS X on every drive in your Mac and every external drive as well. They can be the same version or different versions. There is no "special place" that your Mac boots from. It uses

System Preferences > Startup Disk ...

... to decide what Volume to boot from.

You do not need to clone a certain magical copy of Mac OS X back and forth. Leave one or leave several. Or erase all but one. 10.6 takes up about 20GB.

Lhotse8511 Author

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Feb 2, 2013 7:50 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

I realize what you say, but I had created the 3 drive system when I got the Mac to make it more compartmentalized. I used the original, single 320 GB HD, cloned the OS, installed it onto the then new Intel SSD and got the 1 TB drive for Time Machine. I prefer this orderly system with a dedicated SSD for the OS. Operation is quicker, seems logical.

Again, is the SSD capable of being cleared and reused? I do not wish to go back to a 2 drive system and will try to make the SSD boot drive work.

Lhotse8511 Author

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Feb 3, 2013 1:56 AM in response to Lhotse8511

Can anybody recommend a good, reliable replacement SSD for my Boot drive?

Feb 3, 2013 7:28 AM in response to Lhotse8511

Yes it can be, if you trust your backups. This removes all data on the drive.

You can boot from the latest Installer DVD you have, answer only the "what Language" question and wait for the MenuBar to be drawn. Choose Disk Utility off a Menu. Select the SSD and choose the Erase tab. Now select ( Security Erase ) and Zero all data one pass [NOT random data and NOT more passes]. This will take an hour or more, and will do a number of things:

Erase the directory area, removing the scrambled information from before.

Write Zeroes into every block on the drive, and check whether that pattern holds.

Any blocks found to be bad will be substituted from the drive controller's private stash of spare blocks.

When it passes, you have 100 percent good blocks again.

Then choose Partition, one partition, Mac OS X Extended (journaled). You can name it "Macintosh HD" or anything you like, just avoid most punctuation except hyphen "-"

NOW it will appear as a drive onto which you can Install Mac OS X.

Lhotse8511 Author

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Feb 3, 2013 10:41 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

I'd really like to erase the SSD at this point, but there is data on there I don't want to lose. If I were to zero it out, could TIme Machine supply the now lost programs after I re-install the OS? Time Machine is always backing up my system, but I've never had to actually use it to recover anything.

Is Target disk mode able to recover a few files from the SSD before I erase it?

Feb 3, 2013 11:20 AM in response to Lhotse8511

Target Disk Mode requires that you have another Mac that can be connected via FireWire. Programs in your damaged Mac's ROM can allow it to fucntion as an external Hard drive for the other mac.

How to use and troubleshoot FireWire target disk mode

Lhotse8511 Author

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Feb 3, 2013 11:41 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

I had read about the Target disk mode and have since ordered a FireWire 800 to 400 9 pin to 6 pin cable. I do have a MacBook (FireWire 400 only) , but need a cable.

Unfortunately, ordering takes time and the MacPro has been down a week already.

Lhotse8511 Author

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Feb 5, 2013 9:33 PM in response to Lhotse8511

I took a chance today, deleted the problem SSD boot drive. Apple HT process of elimination earlier showed it as the culprit. Re-installed SL from disk, then backed up with a suitable date from Time Machine. Worked surprisingly well- never used TM before. Some PAsswords were lost and the bookmarks lost their little symbols until they were opened again.

I have another internal drive coming- 2TB of WD Black goodness that I'll back up everything on again, especially the OS. Would this drive have to be partioned for each of the 3 disks backing up on it? Would CCC be of use here?

I also have another SSD ordered and on the way as a replacement in case I have another problem sooner than later- I don't trust the older Intel ssd I have. The Apple tech support guys I spoke to were split on the problem, 1/2 said HD problem and 1/2 said OS for sure.

Looking back to when the grey screen problem started, We seem to recall maybe trying to start/stop the computer when it MAY have been asleep. (it was very early in the morning) It's not clear, but could improperly shutting down the computer cause the OS to fail?

MacPro SSD died?