MBP 2011, switched to SSD + HDD, SSD Problem

Boot the computer from your external HDD. The alert you received is normal. One of the alert's options is "Initialize." Select that option which should open Disk Utility. Proceed as follows:

Install OS X Using Internet Recovery

Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.

Boot to the Internet Recovery HD:

Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND-OPTION- R keys until a globe appears on the screen. Wait patiently - 15-20 minutes - until the Recovery main menu appears.

Partition and Format the hard drive:

1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
2. After Disk Utility loads select your newly installed SSD (the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. 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. Quit DU and return to the main menu.

Reinstall OS X: Select Reinstall OS X and click on the Install button. Be sure to select the correct drive to use if you have more than one.

Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

This should restore the version of OS X originally pre-installed on the computer.

That is an error from Disk Utility. That does not or should not occur at startup. You'll need to be clearer about what you were doing. Have you tried to do the Internet Recovery?

Would you please look in the Disk Utility status area to see if the SSD is already formatted NTFS. Also, you should install OS X on the SSD using the Internet Recovery. Your computer should be able to use it. However, if it isn't then you need to start the computer from the Recovery HD which is now on your HDD.

Would you do a snapshot of the entire Disk Utility window with the volume sub-entry selected under the SSD main entry. I think your SSD is already good to go.

I don't see why Disk Utility shouldn't be able to partition the SSD, but then your filesystem has been converted to use core storage. Disk Utility may think you are trying to configure a Fusion Drive. You don't have FileVault enabled, do you?

I can only show you how to return the filesystem from core storage to standard. I believe this will allow you to set up the SSD normally, but it requires you use the Terminal in your Utilities folder.

Open the Terminal and paste this at the prompt:

diskutil list

Press RETURN.

Please copy the resulting output from the Terminal window and paste it into your next post here.

OK. Now you will enter:

sudo diskutil cs convert /dev/disk1s2

Press RETURN. You will be prompted to type in your admin password. It will not echo to the window - type carefully. Press RETURN again.

If there's no problem you will not get an error and the prompt will return.

Now, give the partitioning of the SSD a try in Disk Utility again.

I think we can instead try fixing up the SSD instead.

sudo unmountDisk force /dev/disk0

sudo diskutil partitionDisk disk0 GPT HFS+ vol1 100%

Paste each of the above lines into the Terminal window and press RETURN after each one.

I mistakenly gave you a wrong parameter before, so don't use the command again.