2TB Samsung M9T internal laptop hard drive will not read in MBP

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2TB Samsung M9T internal laptop hard drive will not read in MBP

I pulled a Samsung M9T 2TB 2.5" hard drive from an external case after I formatted it using my Mini before I removed the casing.

Installed it inside a 2008 MBP (first generation non unibody aluminum 15" 2.4Ghz C2D w/ 4GB RAM) and after starting up from USB/DVD 10.8 will not see the drive on my disk utility so I can not install the OS.

The laptop had a 1TB drive w/ Mountain Lion previously and worked great until I filled it up and needed to swap over to the 2TB.

Is there something different on the 2TB hard drive that differs from my 1TB ?

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8)

Posted on Mar 30, 2014 9:14 AM

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Answer 1

Mar 30, 2014 9:43 AM in response to Pat4Sally

As far as I know, that drive's not even available in the US? I Googled it and couldn't find it.

It may be that there's simply a compatibility problem with 2008 machines and 2.5" 2-terabyte drives. I don't know.

Maybe someone will come along who can answer your question - just consider this a 'bump.'

Clinton

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Answer 2

Mar 30, 2014 9:50 AM in response to Pat4Sally

Is there something different on the 2TB hard drive that differs from my 1TB ?

No. That should be a "regular" 5400 RPM notebook drive that uses only the 5 Volt power provided by your MacBook. It claims to "downshift" from SATA-3 to SATA-2 and SATA-1 if needed.

The wierd stuff happens when you go above 2.2TB.

Try putting it back in the external case, if possible, and installing Mac OS X from your MacBook while still in the external case. You can boot from it while it is still in the case. Even if it is slow USB-2 it should still work, just slower.

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Answer 3

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,329 points

Mar 30, 2014 9:56 AM in response to clintonfrombirmingham

Clinton, did you see these web sites:

http://www.seagate.com/www-content/support-content/samsung/internal-products/spi npoint-m-series/en-us/samsung-m9t-internal-ds.pdf

http://www.storagereview.com/samsung_spinpoint_m9t_hard_drive_review

In theory this should work.

Ciao.

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Answer 4

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,329 points

Mar 30, 2014 9:57 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Grant Bennet-Alder wrote:

The wierd stuff happens when you go above 2.2TB.

Last time I checked, 2 was less than 2.2. 🙂

Ciao.

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Answer 5

Mar 30, 2014 9:59 AM in response to OGELTHORPE

That sounds like a line to me. A number line.

¿Did you use "New Math" for that?😝

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Answer 6

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,329 points

Mar 30, 2014 10:04 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

My fingers. 😉

Ciao.

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Answer 7

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,329 points

Mar 30, 2014 10:14 AM in response to Pat4Sally

If Grant Bennet-Alder's suggestion does not resolve your issue, consider contacting Seagate customer service.

Ciao.

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Answer 8

Apr 2, 2014 2:33 PM in response to Pat4Sally

I can confirm that the Seagate M9T 2TB SATA hard drive does work in my mid 2012 MacBook Pro.

I got everything working fine by booting into recovery and transferring all my time machine backups over. Is that what you did as well?

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Answer 9

Pat4Sally Author

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Apr 4, 2014 10:13 AM in response to Pat4Sally

Found something interesting.

Thanks to Grant, I did exactly that - put the 2TB hard drive into an external enclosure, installed the OS and then booted from it.

Boots fine from external drive in the 2008 MacBook Pro.

However will not boot when put inside the MBP.

Took it out and tried it on a 2009/2010 white unibody MacBook and worked great.

Then tried it on my 2012 MBP and just like Steelogic - worked as well.

Appears that the 2008 firmware will not read a 2TB drive.

So now I transferred everything to my white MacBook which runs just fine with the 2TB drive.

It even allowed upgrade to Mavericks.

Thanks everyone for your help!

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Answer 10

Apr 4, 2014 10:29 AM in response to Pat4Sally

Boots fine from external drive in the 2008 MacBook Pro.

However will not boot when put inside the MBP.

There have been sporadic reports that marginal Hard drive cables (inside your MacBook) can cause this problem.

Drives under 2.2TB should have NO ISSUES. Drives over 2.2TB should only have possible issues if they shipped with systems older than 10.4.4

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Answer 11

Jun 1, 2015 2:16 PM in response to steellogic

Can you send a link of exact Samsug M9T drive you used? I found about 3 on amazon and not sure which is compatible. Thanks in advance

http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-SpinPoint-sata_6_0_gb-2-5-Inch-ST2000LM003/dp/B00M PWYLHO/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1433193360…

http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Samsung-Spinpoint-2-5-inch-5400rpm/dp/B00MVT9XR4/r ef=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1433193347&sr=8-3&keywords=2TB+Samsung+M9T

http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-HN-M201RAD-Momentus-SpinPoint-ST2000LM003/dp/B00I8 O6OQ4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1433193319&sr=8-2&keywords=2TB+Samsung+M9T

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Spinpoint-Mobile-Drive-ST2000LM003/dp/B00MI19WXK/r ef=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1433193244&sr=8-1&keywords=2TB+Samsung+M9T

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Answer 12

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,329 points

Jun 1, 2015 3:13 PM in response to Kissesnpopcorn

Kissesnpopcorn wrote:

Can you send a link of exact Samsug M9T drive you used? I found about 3 on amazon and not sure which is compatible. Thanks in advance

http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-SpinPoint-sata_6_0_gb-2-5-Inch-ST2000LM003/dp/B00M PWYLHO/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1433193360…

http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Samsung-Spinpoint-2-5-inch-5400rpm/dp/B00MVT9XR4/r ef=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1433193347&sr=8-3&keywords=2TB+Samsung+M9T

http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-HN-M201RAD-Momentus-SpinPoint-ST2000LM003/dp/B00I8 O6OQ4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1433193319&sr=8-2&keywords=2TB+Samsung+M9T

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Spinpoint-Mobile-Drive-ST2000LM003/dp/B00MI19WXK/r ef=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1433193244&sr=8-1&keywords=2TB+Samsung+M9T

All 4 are compatible with a MBP.

Ciao.

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