Samsung SSD 850 PRO doesn't work on my 10.6.8 mackbook pro

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Samsung SSD 850 PRO doesn't work on my 10.6.8 mackbook pro

Hello,

I have a macbook pro 2011 running on 10.6.8.

In order to improve performance on my MB I bought a samsung SSD 850 PRO 512 GB. I made a bootable USB flash drive with the latest OS X 10.11 El capitan. I connected the SSD to the sata adapter within the MB in the place of the old HD. I connected the USB drive to the mac. then, restarted the MB while holding the option key. Then, it appears only the icon of the installer drive (not of the SSD) and after pressing on the USB drive icon it appears a grey screen with a prohibition sign (see the link http://spider-mac.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Trim-stop.png). what does it means?

I've read and read on the web but i haven't found any solution yet.

Thanks for the help

Giulio

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Oct 22, 2015 11:35 AM

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Answer 1

Eric Root

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684,069 points

Oct 23, 2015 8:43 AM in response to giuliocatt

It appears your bootable USB flash drive isn't bootable. You will need to erase and redo the drive.

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Answer 2

giuliocatt Author

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Oct 24, 2015 6:39 AM in response to Eric Root

Hi Eric, thanks for the answer. I formatted the USB flash drive. I installed OS X using El Capitan USB software and I'm sure the installation has gone fine. I guess the real problem is that I don't see any icon of the SSD drive when I switch on my MB.

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Answer 3

Eric Root

Level 10

684,069 points

Oct 24, 2015 8:29 AM in response to giuliocatt

You are welcome. Clarification question - can you boot off the USB drive you made? If it has a working OS on it, can you see the SSD in Disk Utility?

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Answer 4

giuliocatt Author

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Oct 24, 2015 10:10 AM in response to Eric Root

I'm not sure to have understood well...I haven't tried to boot off the USB drive because I don't want to take the risk to install ElCapitan on my MB with the old HD mounted. Then, I can't access to the disk utility with the SSD mounted. Hope to have answer to your question.

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Answer 5

Eric Root

Level 10

684,069 points

Oct 25, 2015 8:03 AM in response to giuliocatt

Try booting off the USB drive. The installer gives you choice of which drive to install on and won't proceed past that point until you click continue. This will prevent the installer from selecting your old hard drive automatically. Hopefully, you will see the SSD as an option.

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Answer 6

Oct 26, 2015 3:42 PM in response to giuliocatt

Hi Giulio,

the newer SSD has to be in HFS + format and with GUID table, to avoid issues in the next steps.

Same thing for the USB key, then you can install El Capitan on the USB key (8 GB at least).

When you're ready to proceed you've to select the USB drive and start the setup; when the OS ask you which drive you want to use simply pickup the SSD drive, and the installation will proceed on this drive, no care of the others disk connected.

Hope to be helpful, best regards

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Answer 7

giuliocatt Author

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Oct 26, 2015 3:56 PM in response to marcosb86

Hi dears,

really gratefull for your interest. Today I took to see my MB to a friend that is certainly more experienced than me with macbook. the problem was easier than I expected, that is that the USB didn't work correctly. Now I can enjoy an as-new and faster MB.

Thanks you all

Giulio

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