Q: New SSD will not boot internally, only from USB.

Yes, it was.

This morning, after doing further research, I decided to swap the drives. Meaning put my old HDD in the external and install the SSD inside the machine. I held down command R and wiped the drive clean. I am now in the process of installing the OS X.

I hope this works. This was a solution that worked for many people.

Similar problem. Late 2011 MBP, Crucial M500 240Gb SSD, cloned fine with Carbon Copy over usb. After install, it could not be seen. Reinstalled HDD, SSD now cannot be seen over USB. Returning to Amazon. At least they make the return easy.

Has the drive been set to a GUID partition map prior to installing OS X? If not, that'll be the problem. Even if a drive is formatted for mac, if the partition map isn't set to GUID you won't be able to boot from it.

I didn't set the partition map, but woulnd't cloning take care of that?

I did boot from it over USB after cloning to test and it worked.

Hopefully, this will be helpful.

I had the same problem with a Crucial 500M hard drive installed in a Macbook Pro. The drive would work OK and boot when attached to a USB port but I got the file folder error when it was installed internally.

Through experimentation, I found that if I pressed the Option key while booting, I could boot from the original hard drive connected to the USB port. But I also noticed that the system recognized the SSD drive mounted internally. Furthermore, I could select it at the option screen and it would boot!

So, I opted to boot from the recovery partition on the internal SSD and re-installed Mountain Lion. After the system re-install, the system recognized the SSD mounted internally and boots and runs fine!

I'm guessing that somehow I didn't get the new hard drive formatted quite properly for internal installation and that re-installing the OS corrected this. I'm not sure what I might have done wrong, because I basically followed the steps I have used on other Macbooks with traditional hard drives. Maybe someone here can enlighten us.

Thanks. I returned the SSD, recieved a new one 2 days later, followed the same procedure and it is working beautifully.

I had a 960GB Crucial SSD installed and was working no problems until 2 weeks ago when it froze and wouldnt boot again, all I got was the no entry sign first then the folder sign and 'grey screen of death'. After going through the whole 'its working in a caddy but not internally' issue I sent the SSD back but the new one has the exactly same problem. When I hold option at boot the MBP recognises it as mounted but will neither boot from the Recovery Partition or The SSD itself.

I'm going to get a new SATA cable and try that this week. Did anyone posting here solve the same issue by replacing their SATA cable?

Yes. One of my clients had a SSD that worked just fine for about half a year (the original drive on delivery) - suddenly it stopped. When mounted in target mode or externally it was readable, but behaved 'funny' - but I was able to migrate the user account.

I couldn't format from Mac OS.

Succeded from Windows, and the drive behaved normally - but ony externally mounted....

Tried different cable - everything worked fine (as did old fashioned hard disk using the original cable!).

Bought and installed new cable (should have been fixed under guarantee - couldn't wait for crappy Apple service).

Client happy again:-)

I had the cable replaced also and it sorted the issue. I was thrown by the fact the place I bought my ssd replaced it and acknowledged a fault.

Incorrect - replacing the SATA cable did not resolve my issue. After trying and failing to find the exact SATA cable used in MBP's, I said screw it and had the apple store replace mine. $60 down the drain and they didn't even let me keep my old (perfectly functional) cable...

I'm still at square 1 with this. I'm typing this from my externally booted SSD, so I know it works fine.

This is pretty frustrating, and to exacerbate the situation Crucial banned me from the support page. Not because I used profane language or made legal threats, but because I condecendingly told them of my problem and the 5 other unanswered support threads pertaining to the identical problem, which happened to emerge in the three months prior.

I will give mad brownie points to anybody who can help me!

Usually - well, at least 99% of the time - replacing the SATA cable will 'fix' the problem that you're having: were it not so, we wouldn't recommend it straightaway. It seems that the 'cheap' cables on eBay work better than an 'official' Apple cable - and I've no idea why.

I don't know why you were 'banned' from the Crucial user forums, but did you manage to get in touch with Crucial support? I've had, now, four Crucial SSDs (two SATA, two mSATA) and never had a problem with the drives nor getting tech support the two times that I've needed it - have you contacted actual tech support other than through the user forums.

Sorry that the new cable didn't solve your problem - if you want to take a chance on a non-Apple cable, search eBay with the Apple part number. I simply don't trust the Apple cables.

Clinton

I think i am having the same problem...just tried to add a kingston hyperX 3k and same thing... drive not recognized.. put in the old drive and its recognized... going to try the dual boot thing you did.. will keep you posted

I had the same problem, and my fix didn't involve replacing the SATA cable. I simply swapped the old HDD and new SSD BEFORE cloning. Then, I booted to my old HDD externally and cloned it to my SSD. Then, I just restarted my MBP. It took a little longer to boot the first time, but it got quicker after that. It worked after that.

Another option to consider, instead of cloning the drive immediately. Try doing a fresh install of Mavericks on the new SSD. If you can't do that, you know you have a problem. After the fresh install, clone over the top of it. I noticed the logic board recognizes the new SSD better when a fresh install is done. My HDD had a bunch of errors that were irreparable in Disk Utility, and those errors clone over to the new drive. So, Idecided to just do a fresh install of Mavericks instead of clone my HDD to the new SSD. Noticeable speed increase with a fresh install as opposed to cloning. I just copied my essential files over to the SSD after the fresh install of Mavericks and all of my software.

I hope this helps you!

My MBP is still running fine on the SSD after a month. It appears that the key may be to do the OS install while the drive is mounted internally. SailorT800 did it clean and I did it with a reinstall, but the common element is that the SSD was installed internally when the OS was installed.

iron_mike,

I don't know... I've done it both ways (putting the SSD in the enclosure AND installing the SSD into the internal bay and booting from my old drive in an enclosure) and both methods have worked for me and SHOULD work for either setup.

I'm just glad that you who've had problems have found another solution - I'll put it in my notes.

Clinton