My SSD wouldn't boot

You need to prep the SSD.

Drive Partition and Format

1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.

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.

Could be the SSD has gone bad. It happens. If you can move the original drive to the main bay and it works fine, then it's the SSD that's gone bad.

SSD drives have a problem with deleted data. They cannot seem to get rid of it, and can get completely clogged up with un-needed, deleted data stacking up.

If the drive has stopped working, it may sometimes respond after powering up and leaving it alone for about 20 minutes. You may need to do this as many as three times. [The theory is that it needs to run its internal Garbage-Collection routines un-interrupted, until it can consolidate enough free space to start working again.]

If you can get the drive working again, the long-term solution is to eliminate the deleted data, by notifying the drive about what is not needed any more. This notification is exactly TRIM commands, which most SSD drives can support. Mac OS X will not take responsibility for the operation of non-Apple SSD drives, so TRIM commands are not sent to non-Apple SSD drives.

There is a third party add-on you can Install called TRIM Enabler, that will pass TRIM commands for all SSD drives, but of course you use it at your own risk, and Apple does not endorse it in any way.

FWIW. I might point out that the newest SSD models do their own garbage collection without the need for TRIM, which is not recommended. A more extreme solution is to reformat and zero the drive which will eliminate the extant problem. Some users are concerned that this will shorten the life of the SSD, which it probably would if you were doing it several times a day, but a once in a while application will have a minimal impact on the SSD's expected life.

Our Bostonian is right: it may be the Garbage Collection did not work, or it is too full anyway. It may have failed altogether, but SSD's normally have a long lifetime.

Does Disk Utility does not see it at all?

What SSD did you build in, make model and year of production?

Then do it this way:

Drive Erase for Lion/Mountain Lion

1. Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.

2. After DU loads select the SSD main or topmost entry from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. Select one partition from the Partition Scheme dropdown menu.

3. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.

I slightly disagree with my colleague, Kappy, over whether internal Garbage Collection is adequate. I think it is true that some SSDs can get by with only their internal Garbage Collection, but at times they still have a tendency to clog up with deleted data. I do not think TRIM Enabler is harmful in any case, and may be helpful.

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The most punishing operation you can perform is cloning onto an SSD, because it is relentless writing with no breaks for Garbage Collection to go thorugh and make more space available.

I stand by my suggested solutions above, specifically:

Power on, then leave it alone for twenty minutes. Then launch Disk Utility and see if it show up.

If it still does not show up, try again up to three times.

If that does not succeed in showing it in Disk Utility, send it back to OWC/Macsales.

If that does get it to show in Disk Utility, I recommend a different procedure for next time, if possible:

Erase the SSD

Install from fundamental sources (DVD or online RE-Install). This gives the SSD time to recover between large writes.

I also suggest you Install TRIM Enabler.