Q: Problems erasing ssd, and installing new os x
Hi!
So my problem began when finder froze up and i had to do a force shutdown. After rebooting i was faced with a flashing questionmark. I booted into internet recovery and did an erase (i didn't have any files i was afraid of losing, so i didn't do a backup). After that i tried to install os x using the internet recovery utility, and after downloading for 2 hours, watching the timer slowly decrease, and at the very end it canceled and gave me a message along the lines of "can't download additional components to install osx".
After doing a new erase to remove the files which were now on the ssd, i got an error message when trying to verify the disk, and when i tried "repair disk" it told me to "Repair failed, backup as many files as possible".
After reading alot of forum threads with people in the same situation as me, i came to terms with the fact that the drive was probably shot. So i went ahead and bought a new one. I switched harddrives, booted up into internet recovery, and partitioned the drive into 2 partitions. Now here is where i think the new issue arose. For my studies at university i need windows, so i formated one of the 2 equally sized partitions to MS-DOS(fat), and the other to Mac OS Extended (journaled), as i was planning on using bootcamp to install windows on one partition.
I then tried to do the os x install over the internet, but was met with the same error at the end of the installation. "cant download additional components to install os x".
So i figured the internet option was useless in my situation and i went ahead and made a bootable usb installer. This didn't work either.
At this point i formatted the drive, and removed the MS-DOS (fat) partition, and opted for a single Mac os x extended partition, did the erase and format, but there are still 2 files on the drive, amounting to 311.7 MB, which i just can't seem to erase. Also, when booting up and holding the option key i am met with to possible drives: 1. the usb installer 2. the drive i called windows which i thought i erased.
I was hoping anyone know how i would go about completely erasing the ssd, and restoring it to "factory" setting. My thoughts on why the usb install didn't work would be that something has gone wrong involving the MS-DOS(fat) partition.
Thoughts anyone?
MacBook Pro
Posted on Sep 3, 2015 2:33 AM
Time for an update guys!
I'm pretty sure the problem has been a faulty hard-drive wire.
How i finally solved my problem:
1. i connected the ssd to my macbook using a usb to SATA cable.
2. booted up into internet recovery
3. created a partition in disk utility (Mac Os Extended(Journaled) Partition Map Scheme : GUID Partition Table
4. selected install os x
5. this time the download wasn't interrupted at the end by the "can't download additional components" message
5. Went through install wizard
6. done.
Note: i used this method on the original 125 GB macbook ssd, the one i thought was bricked, without any issues. Also the brand new ssd i bought didn't work internally either, so i guess this makes it pretty clear that there's a faulty hdd cable.
Only too bad i didn't try this before buying a new 250GB ssd. Oh well, i guess its never bad having an extra hard drive should something like this ever happen again.
Hope this will help anyone in the future!
Posted on Sep 7, 2015 4:56 PM
