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New hard drive is not recognized by my MacBook Pro.

New hard drive is not recognized by my MacBook Pro. The supplier says I need to update my BIOS. True? How do I do that?


Hard drive: NN2-72-500-SSE Seagate Momentus 7200.4 (ST9500423AS) 500GB Laptop Hard Drive

Mac OS: Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Jul 3, 2013 4:20 PM

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22 replies

Jul 3, 2013 5:46 PM in response to tomfromaz

I went through a similar issue with a Seagate Momentus 750GB HDD/8GB SSD with my late-2011 MBP. No matter what I tried, the machine would not recognize the drive.


To test it, I installed the drive in an old ThinkPad, and it worked fine. Then I tried installing it in my PS3, and the drive worked fine there, too. It was only the MBP which had issues.


I don't *think* Macs have a BIOS to update. But I know my MBP has issues with certain HDD's (including another external which works fine on other Macs and all Windows machines).


You might be able to find my thread by searching under my username, perhaps something in there will offer a tip. Otherwise, you might have to go the same route I did: install a WD Scorpio Black instead. Or upgrade to an SSD.


Good luck to you-

Jul 3, 2013 6:34 PM in response to thelightbulbsun

I don't *think* Macs have a BIOS to update.

They don't use BIOS in battery-backed RAM, they use an entire EFI partition on the Hard Drive. So a new drive Must be partitioned for GUID Partition map, and a Mac OS X extended, journaled Volume.


If you have a Time machine backup from 10.7.4 or later, it contains a Recovery_HD that can be used first to Erase or Partition the drive, then to download Mac OS X 10.7 or later IF you already bought it or it came on your Mac. and finally to install Mac OS X 10.7 or later.


Hold down Alt/Option at startup to access it.

Jul 3, 2013 7:55 PM in response to Csound1

I do but am currently running Snow Leopard. (This is actually for a Macbook, not MacBook Pro.)


Some here have indicated that the hard drive should first formatted/partitioned.


"If you have a Time machine backup from 10.7.4 or later, it contains a Recovery_HD that can be used first to Erase or Partition the drive, then to download Mac OS X 10.7 or later IF you already bought it or it came on your Mac. and finally to install Mac OS X 10.7 or later.


Hold down Alt/Option at startup to access it."


I have a Time Machine backup. Do you concur?

Jul 3, 2013 8:01 PM in response to Csound1

when you boot to the 10.6 DVD, answer only the "what Language" question, and do not proceed. Wait a quarter minute for the menuBar to be drawn, the choose Disk Utility of one of those menus.


If you make a mistake and proceed, you are on the path to Installation, and Utilities are no longer available. In that case you will have to start over

Jul 3, 2013 8:26 PM in response to Csound1

I used the 10.6 DVD to get to Disk Utility. I assume I go to "Partition" but from there not sure what to do.


https://support.apple.com/kb/HT4848

If you need to create a new partition on the external disk

  1. Open Disk Utility, located in the Utilities folder in Launchpad.
  2. Select the drive on which you would like to install the Recovery HD and add a partition. Note: Partition should be at least 1 GB in size.
  3. Click Options and make sure GUID Partition Table is selected.
  4. Make sure the format for the partition is Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
  5. Click Apply.


GUID Partition Table is selected and the format for the partition is Mac OS Extended (Journaled).


What to do regarding Volume Scheme (number of partitions), Volume Name, Volume Size? The hard drive is 500 GB.

New hard drive is not recognized by my MacBook Pro.

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