Mavericks won't boot on new SSD in main bay

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Level 1

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Mavericks won't boot on new SSD in main bay

I'm trying to install Mavericks properly on a new Samsung 840 Pro SSD. I connected the SSD via SATA to USB and installed Mavericks using another USB drive containing the Mavericks installer. This seems to work without any errors, and I'm able boot from the Samsung SSD when it is connected via USB. However, when I put the SSD into the main bay (of an early 2011 13" Macbook Pro) and turn on the computer one of the following things happens:

1.) The apple logo shows with the spinning wheel below. I wait several minutes but nothing changes.

2.) I get to the login screen and type my password. The apple logo shows for a few seconds and then I'm returned to the login screen where I'm unable to do anything (the mouse is frozen).

I've started the computer in verbose mode and after a little while, it continues to print one of the following line over and over:

Sandbox: authd(37) deny file-write-create /private/var/folders/zz/...

Sandbox: authd(38) deny file-write-create /private/var/folders/zz/...

I've tried putting the old hard drive back into the main bay, and everything works, so I don't think the problem is the hard drive cable. I've also tried updating the SSD firmware, but the Samsung firmware updater says that the SSD's firmware is already up to date. I've also tried reseting the NVRAM and SMC without any success. I have no idea what else to try.

Here are a few other data points that may or may not be relevant:

1.) I intially tried to put the SSD into the main bay and then install Mavericks from a USB drive. However, when I tried to erase the SSD using Disk Utility, it failed with error "Wiping volume data to prevent future accidental probing failed."

2.) I can boot from my old hard drive via USB while the SSD is in the main bay. I'm then able to mount the new SSD and navigate through the file system. However, if I use Disk Utility to verify the SSD, it sometimes causes a kernel panic.

I'd really appreciate some help resolving this issue. Let me know if there's any other information I can give. Thanks.

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Dec 7, 2013 8:51 AM

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Answer 1

arthur

Level 5

5,242 points

Dec 7, 2013 12:33 PM in response to DanTheWhite

Your post made my head hurt.

I replaced my HD with a Samsung SSD recently. I installed it and then reinstalled the original OS that came with the mac, which I think was Snow Leopard, with the discs that came with it; then I just installed Mavericks from the App store.

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Answer 2

tbirdvet

Level 6

13,647 points

Dec 7, 2013 12:49 PM in response to DanTheWhite

I recently did the same process but I first cloned my internal HDD to my external SSD using CCC then installed the SSD in the Mac. Then I upgraded it to Mavericks and no issues except the usual unique Mavericks issues others are living with.

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Answer 3

keg55

Level 6

11,743 points

Dec 7, 2013 1:08 PM in response to DanTheWhite

I upgraded my early 2011 MBP 13" from a 320GB HDD to a Samsung Pro 840 128GB. I also did the same as tbirdvet. I have a USB 3.0 external enclosure which I put my Samsung into, booted my MBP and cloned (OS X Mountain Lion) the HDD to the SSD. Then installed the SSD and booted from it. It didn't initally boot up very fast as I still needed to make the new SSD my Startup Disk. Once I hit the Desktop, I set the SSD as the Startup Disk and restarted. This time it booted within 10 seconds.

It sounds like you've done all the right troubleshooting. Try it again only this time try cloning whatever OS you have on your HDD to your SSD. If you don't have Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper!, you can boot into your Recovery HD on your HDD and use Disk Utility to Restore your HDD to your SSD. This takes a little longer but you get both your Macintosh HD and the Recovery HD cloned over. Be sure to format your SSD as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with the GUID partition table.

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Answer 4

DanTheWhite Author

Level 1

0 points

Dec 8, 2013 1:09 AM in response to DanTheWhite

Thanks for all the responses. I'm sorry, but I should have mentioned in my original post that I don't want to clone my old HDD because it has a bunch of garbage that I don't want to deal with anymore.

I've also lost the original installation disk for Snow Leopard. Could I accomplish the same thing (installing Snow Leopard on the SDD) by Internet Recovery?

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Answer 5

petermac87

Level 5

7,447 points

Dec 8, 2013 1:12 AM in response to DanTheWhite

DanTheWhite wrote:

I've also lost the original installation disk for Snow Leopard. Could I accomplish the same thing (installing Snow Leopard on the SDD) by Internet Recovery?

No. You can however contact Apple and buy replacement DVDs for your model Mac.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HE57

Pete

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Answer 6

DanTheWhite Author

Level 1

0 points

Dec 8, 2013 2:25 AM in response to petermac87

It turns out that Internet Recovery tries to install Lion. I tried this, but Disk Utility is unable to erase the SSD. Erase fails with "Could not unmount disk". Verify Disk causes Disk Utility to hang. I also tried reinstalling Lion without erasing the SSD, but the installer will not work because a more recent version of OS X is already installed.

Is it possible that the internal SATA cable is damaged in a way that affects the SSD but not the original HDD?

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Answer 7

Dec 8, 2013 2:37 AM in response to DanTheWhite

Is it possible that the internal SATA cable is damaged in a way that affects the SSD but not the original HDD?

That's not only possible but probable. Most of the time that folks have a bad SATA cable, it will work with a standard spinning drive but not with a SSD.

You can find fairly inexpensive SATA cables on eBay - or more expensive solutions at ifixit.com.

Good luck,

Clinton

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Answer 8

DanTheWhite Author

Level 1

0 points

Dec 13, 2013 8:05 AM in response to clintonfrombirmingham

I put in a new SATA cable from eBay and that solved the problem. Thanks a lot for the help. This was a pretty frustrating problem.

On a side note, in case anyone from Apple actually reads these threads, Apple really should sell these SATA cables themselves. It's pretty ridiculous that you either have to (a) pay way too much for an someone from the AppleStore to do the same fix you can or (b) hope that the cable you bought off eBay is actually functional and the correct part.

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Answer 9

wdejulio

Level 1

0 points

Apr 20, 2014 8:37 AM in response to DanTheWhite

Hi All,

I was having the same issue on a Macbook Pro Mid 2010. The way I got the Crucial M500 960G to work was to first upgrade the disks firmware to MU05. Even after this the carbon copy cloaner didn't work once I put the harddrive into the internal bay. The procedure I used that worked even though it took 8 hours to copy was:

1. Upgrade Firmware to MU05

2. Install Crucial M500 drive into internal bay.

3. connect original bootable drive to USB

4. Boot to the USB.

5. The Mac OS recognized the harddrive but asked to initialize it. I partitioned and formatted it as specified in previous posts.

6. Run the Carbon Copy Cloner to as explained from the USB to the Internal Crucial Drive

7. Waited 8 hours for 499G on used space on the original drive ( USB is slow! )

8. Rebooted.

This worked for me!

Good luck,

Warner

Norridge, IL

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Answer 10

Eric Root

Level 10

684,039 points

Apr 20, 2014 1:53 PM in response to DanTheWhite

Apple doesn’t routinely monitor the discussions. These are mostly user to user discussions.

Send Apple feedback. They won't answer, but at least will know there is a problem. If enough people send feedback, it may get the problem solved sooner.

Feedback

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