My Option key will not show me all my drives at boot up but I can see then on my desktop

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Level 1

8 points

My Option key will not show me all my drives at boot up but I can see then on my desktop

I have installed a SSD in my system and can see it on my desktop but I can not get it to aper when I use the option key at startup. The drive is formatted correctly (one partition Mac OS Extended (journaled) and set the GUID Partition Table) I was able to see it last week now no way will the option key work. I even used a different key board with the same result. the purpose for the SSD I am going to install new OS on this drive.

iMac (27-inch Mid 2011), Mac OS X (10.7.3)

Posted on Feb 13, 2015 9:52 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 14, 2015 1:04 AM in response to drivemaster

Did you install OS X on it?

Only bootable drives will show.

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Answer 2

drivemaster Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 14, 2015 8:21 AM in response to QuickTimeKirk

I did not install anything

on the SSD..Do I need to do this? if so how do I do it if it will not show up under Option key. I can open it from the icon on my desktop. Just don't want to do the wrong process. Thank you for your help, John

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Answer 3

Feb 14, 2015 8:35 AM in response to drivemaster

Until you install an OS X version on the drive it can only be used as a storage drive for files and data.

OS X: Installing OS X on an external volume - Apple Support

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Answer 4

iW00

Level 6

8,542 points

Feb 14, 2015 8:37 AM in response to drivemaster

How to choose a startup disk on your Mac - Apple Support

A "startup disk" is a volume or partition of a drive that contains a usable operating system. You can set your Mac to automatically use a specific startup volume, or you can temporarily override this choice at startup.

If you do not have usable operating system on your SSD, it won't appear on the Startup Manager window.

drivemaster wrote:

Do I need to do this?

Yes, if you want to have your SSD visible on the Startup Manager screen.

How to do it. Use Recovery Partition to install OS X on SSD drive. OS X Yosemite: Reinstall OS X

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Answer 5

drivemaster Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 14, 2015 9:37 AM in response to iW00

Thank you all very much. I downloaded OS and dropped it on the new SSD and installed it on the SSD and everything is working fine I am booting to the new SSD. Next I will try to remove the OS off of the spinning drive. But I will need some help for this to happen. Is this a good idea or just leave it alone?

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Answer 6

Feb 14, 2015 9:40 AM in response to drivemaster

Leave it alone for a few weeks and do some research.

Removing it from that drive would require you erase that drive and lose lots of your data.

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