Samsung 850 EVO can't erase, unmount, boot, or anything else

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MBTafan2011 Author

Level 1

25 points

Samsung 850 EVO can't erase, unmount, boot, or anything else

Hi all, I have a really bad problem that seems not to have a fix. i was running OS X 10.10.3 when I decided to check out the beta for OS X 10.11. Well the second beta patch installed, not the actua operating system. Now my disk is fooled into thinking it's running OS X 10.11 and it's impossible to do anything. Is there any way to fix this? I am currently booting off a recovery disk and I got error 69888 when attempting to force erase the disk through terminal. I'm desperate at this point because I just spent almost 200 in the new disk and now it's become unusable! Thanks for any help

Tim

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on Jun 25, 2015 4:40 PM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

362,023 points

Jun 25, 2015 4:43 PM in response to MBTafan2011

You were asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement when signing up for the beta program:

CUSTOMER SEED AND CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT

OSX Beta Program FAQs>

The NDA prohibits you from discussing software beta issues here or anywhere else. The two documents above describe how to submit problem reports to Apple.

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Answer 2

MBTafan2011 Author

Level 1

25 points

Jun 25, 2015 4:47 PM in response to Kappy

This isn't an issue of running the beta, because I'm not, I'm just trying to erase the disk to go back to OS X 10.10. My disk is being fooled into thinking its running 10.11 when it isn't. I'm currently booting from 10.10.3 so I'm not sure what the issue is

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Answer 3

Kappy

Level 10

362,023 points

Jun 25, 2015 4:53 PM in response to MBTafan2011

Are you booting from the same computer? In other words can you access the other drive? If you can access the SSD from another disk or from a Recovery HD, then you need to just erase the SSD via Disk Utility.

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Answer 4

MBTafan2011 Author

Level 1

25 points

Jun 25, 2015 5:18 PM in response to Kappy

That's the problem, the disk won't erase through Disk Utility on my recovery disk. I think the main reason is because the disk is mounted using the SATA 3 cable. If i connect the SSD externally using a SATA 3 to USB cable, would the Disk Utility be able to unmount the disk and erase and partition?

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Answer 5

Kappy

Level 10

362,023 points

Jun 25, 2015 5:27 PM in response to MBTafan2011

Since the SSD is a SATA III disk, the cable shouldn't matter. In fact it shouldn't matter at all regardless. Is the Recovery HD you are booted to on the SSD or on a different drive? Where, exactly, is the SSD mounted? If it's in the computer then try this:

Install OS X Using Internet Recovery

Boot to the Network 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:

Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
After DU loads select your newly installed hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
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.

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Answer 6

MBTafan2011 Author

Level 1

25 points

Jun 25, 2015 5:37 PM in response to Kappy

I created my own USB boot drive which contains DU, Terminal, and OS X 10.10.3 install software. The disk just doesn't seem to want to erase. Could this be a disk defect rather than a software defect? It also mentioned there were background processes preventing the erasing of the disk and the computer couldn't boot off of the disk if trying to set it as the default boot drive. Something like couldn't install boot files or something like that

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Answer 7

Kappy

Level 10

362,023 points

Jun 25, 2015 5:46 PM in response to MBTafan2011

So the computer has the SSD mounted internally while you are booting the computer from an external USB drive with OS X installed on it. Do I have that right?

By any chance was that message something like, "Can't find Bless tool," when you tried to set it as the boot drive? If so, then I think that is a defect with the SSD. It sounds like a problem I've encountered with that exact same SSD model. Oddly, I have two of them, but can only get one of them to boot OS X. The other one always encounters this "Bless tool" problem

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Answer 8

MBTafan2011 Author

Level 1

25 points

Jun 26, 2015 9:25 AM in response to Kappy

Yes that sound like what showed up, which is weird because it was running OS X Yosemite fine for at least 2 weeks. And yes I am currently booting off of a recovery USB drive that I created. I was able to successfully format and install OS X on the SSD before but now something seems to be wrong with it

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Answer 9

Kappy

Level 10

362,023 points

Jun 26, 2015 1:41 PM in response to MBTafan2011

Disconnect the USB drive. Follow these instructions:

Boot to the Network 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:

Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.

After DU loads select your newly installed hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.

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.

Since this will boot from an Apple network server there should not be a problem unmounting the SSD. If you still cannot succeed then you have goofy drive. I have two of those. One works and one doesn't on my new MacBook. But the one that doesn't work on the MacBook works fine on my new iMac.

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Answer 10

MBTafan2011 Author

Level 1

25 points

Jun 26, 2015 2:26 PM in response to Kappy

Hopefully this will work! Thanks for your time 🙂

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Answer 11

MBTafan2011 Author

Level 1

25 points

Jun 26, 2015 5:48 PM in response to Kappy

Still didn't work, here are the errors I got when trying to erase and unmount the device:

http://hostthenpost.org/uploads/4e59025670eb6ee7ce670450bf2713af.jpeg

http://hostthenpost.org/uploads/b16f104e527c80a49d1649775768c529.jpeg

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Answer 12

Kappy

Level 10

362,023 points

Jun 26, 2015 5:56 PM in response to MBTafan2011

Have you tried using Disk Utility (from the external drive) to simply select and erase Macintosh HD on the SSD?

Drive Erase for Mavericks, Lion/Mountain Lion

1. Boot from your USB external drive. After startup is finished open Disk Utility.

2. After Disk Utility loads select the Macintosh HD volume on the SSD. Click on the Erase tab in the Disk Utility main window.

3. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.

This should essentially repartition the SSD so you can start over with a new device and new volume. Now, I'm not certain what's going on with the SSD you have, but I think it is encrypted, so you may need to decrypt the drive (Security & Privacy preferences.)

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Answer 13

MBTafan2011 Author

Level 1

25 points

Jun 26, 2015 7:03 PM in response to Kappy

Thats what baffles me, I specifically made sure I didn't encrypt it, unless there's some software in the disk itself that has. There's no way to acsess the disk now that the bless files can't be reached, I just believe the disk is messed up. I'll try using an external program that should be able to clear the disk, not using disk utility. If not looks like the old hard drive is going in and I'm contacting Samsung about returning the SSD because it doesn't seem to be a software issue at this point. One thing that I notice is different is that the tabs of being able to erase and partition the disk are changed from when I first installed it. There is no selection to partition, only erase.

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Answer 14

MBTafan2011 Author

Level 1

25 points

Jun 27, 2015 4:32 PM in response to Kappy

Finally I've fixed it, I had to put my SSD into my home computer, a Dell XPS 8700, and boot off a program called Acronis. I was able to erase the disk completely, and now OS X 10.10.3 runs perfectly fine. Odd, but I guess the solution is to not use DU, use a trusted 3rd party application.

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Answer 15

Kappy

Level 10

362,023 points

Jun 27, 2015 4:34 PM in response to MBTafan2011

But now your disk isn't configured for GUID or a Mac format, correct?

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