Sata SSD not recognized

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Level 1

10 points

Sata SSD not recognized

Hello all,

I want to speed up my late 2009 iMac with replacing the optical drive with a 120Gb Sata SSD. I followed the installation guides which are plenty available. The installation works fine without any issue. I could connect the SSD drive (a SanDisk Ultra II 120Gb) using a caddy tray. I started the Mac by holding the option key in order to start the OS X from a USB disk. When using Disk Utility the new SSD is not recognized at all. It does't show up. When starting the OS X normal the SSD does"t show up either,

Since the installation is fairly easy I do not understand where to go from here. What could I have missed? Any ideas?

Thanks

Posted on Nov 3, 2015 2:22 PM

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Answer 1

jfs-dev Author

Level 1

10 points

Nov 7, 2015 5:04 PM in response to jfs-dev

Alright,

just in case somebody is facing the same problem here are my findings so far. First of all I forget to activate the SSD by connecting it via USB. I was not aware that SSDs have to get activated. Anyway, when I put the SSD back into the Mac the SSD was seen by the Disk Utility App. But when I was trying to start with creation of the Fusion Drive via Terminal the SSD was not seen again. I have no idea what the problem is. It might be the caddy case or the internal SATA connection in the Mac.

However, finally I just connected the SSD on the HDD SATA connection without removing the HDD in order to avoid the nasty temperature sensor issue. I just don't want to mess to much around. And voilà, the SSD was recognized when I started the iMac by bootable USB drive. I installed ElCapitain without any issues. What can I say. The iMac runs like new again. That machine was slow like grandma and is running like a pro no. I am happy even without having the Fusion Drive. Maybe the next time...

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Answer 2

Jun 13, 2017 5:01 PM in response to jfs-dev

I am about to try this myself, exact same setup... I am curious if you ever managed to get it set up as a fusion drive?.

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