Problems erasing ssd, and installing new os x

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Level 1

1 points

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

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Answer 1

pedro d

Community Specialist

Sep 4, 2015 11:02 AM in response to AKBznf

Hello there, AKBznf.

It sounds like, at this point, you are just wanting to erase your HardDrive and install Mac OS X. The following Knowledge Base article provides some additional guidance and reference to help you accomplish this:

How to reinstall OS X on your Mac - Apple Support

Erase your drive and install OS X

Generally you don't need to erase your startup disk to reinstall OS X. The OS X Installer is designed to allow you to perform an install in place over the same version or earlier versions of OS X. If you're transferring your Mac to a new owner, you might want to erase your built-in startup disk before reinstalling OS X.

Important: Before you erase and reinstall, back up your important files. If you’re using a MacBook, MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro, make sure the power adapter is connected and plugged in while performing these steps.

You can use these steps to erase the files on your startup disk and install a new copy of OS X:

Before you begin, make sure your Mac is connected to the Internet.

Restart your Mac. Immediately hold down the Command (⌘) and R keys after you hear the startup sound to start up in OS X Recovery.

When the Recovery window appears, select Disk Utility then click Continue.

Select the indented volume name of your startup disk from the left side of the Disk Utility window, then click the Erase tab.

If you want to securely erase the drive, click Security Options. Select an erase method, then click OK.

From the Format pop-up menu, select Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Type a name for your disk, then click Erase.

After the drive is erased, close the Disk Utility window.

If you’re not connected to the Internet, choose a network from the Wi-Fi menu.

Select the option to Reinstall OS X.

Click Continue and follow the onscreen instructions to reinstall OS X.

Additional options

If you want to reinstall the version of OS X that came with your Mac, or if you need to reformat your entire startup disk, hold down Command-Option-R at startup instead. This starts your Mac from Internet Recovery.

If you have more than one partition (like Boot Camp) and you want to erase the entire startup disk, you can use Disk Utility to remove partitions or repartition your drive. Start your Mac from Internet Recovery, then use Disk Utility to repartition your startup disk before you erase it. Make sure you back up any important data from all partitions before repartitioning a drive.

Learn more

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Use the version of OS X that came with your Mac, or a newer, compatible version

Thanks for participating in Apple Support Communities.

Cheers.

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Answer 2

AKBznf Author

Level 1

1 points

Sep 5, 2015 5:01 AM in response to pedro d

Thanks for the reply Pedro D.

You are correct I'm that I want to erase my hard-drive and install osx, but all of the methods in your comment have failed to sufficiently erase the drive. It seems as if the MS-DOS(fat) partition is stuck in limbo, and disk utility fails to overwrite it. Using disk utility in recovery mode I have erased the partitions multiple times, I have even run the fsck script to verify the disk. But there are still 3 folders, and 2 files, amounting to 311MB on my drive. I was thinking about connecting the ssd to my roommates computer and doing a SATA wipe. Or using Parted magic's software to do a wipe using the ssd's internal methods.

I have also tried to do a secure erase using disk utility, by encrypting the drive, and then erasing again so I could get the security options and do a 7-pass overwrite, but I still get an error. Also seeing as how the partition I called Windows(the ms-dos(fat) partition) is still visible when booting and holding the option key, I am guessing something went wrong when removing that partition and it is now inaccessible from the disk utility.

I am starting to thing my only option is to use a third party software like disk warrior, but it's so **** expensive($100)

None of the methods apple have provided in their troubleshooting section has been sufficient so far.

So to rephrase my question, do you know of any non standard methods to completely erase the drive?

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Answer 3

Sep 5, 2015 9:37 AM in response to AKBznf

Instead of erasing the drive, have you tried selecting the media line (not the indented line) and creating one new partition to replace everything that's currently there? If you haven't, try that and when you've selected one partition from the drop-down menu, go down to the options button, click it, and make sure you have GUID Partition Table selected. Then be sure the drive's format is Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

Note that if you need to use Windows too, the Boot Camp installer will take care of creating (and eventually deleting) the Windows partition for you. Don't do that yourself. Also, another Windows alternative is to create a Virtual Machine using VMware Fusion, Parallels, or Virtual Box.

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Answer 4

AKBznf Author

Level 1

1 points

Sep 7, 2015 4:56 PM in response to AKBznf

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!

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