Samsung 850 EVO Solid State Drive not working with MacBook Pro - Solution?

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Level 1

5 points

Samsung 850 EVO Solid State Drive not working with MacBook Pro - Solution?

I recently purchased a Samsung 850 EVO 500 GB Solid State Drive for my dad's Mid 2012 MacBook Pro. The computer was functioning correctly, but was just very slow. I took out the old drive and installed the SSD. I took it to an Apple store so they could install the OS. A guy at the Genius Bar met with me and first tried to install the OS through an Ethernet cable. It failed to install due to some general error. He then tried to install it from a drive. That also failed. He said he wasn't familiar with the type of error he was seeing. But he said it was a "bad" error. He mentioned that he could see the SSD so my SATA cable was working. He then concluded that the drive must be defective. I explained how that's almost impossible as they have a defective rate of close to zero. He said, "Well they are mass produced" and explained how they could install a hard drive themselves for some far too expensive price. A little annoying.

Anyway, I took the SSD back to my house and threw it into my desktop PC. It works just fine. So what do I do? Why am I not able to get the SSD to install? From what I read, the Samsung 850 EVO should be compatible with a 2012 MacBook Pro. Is there anything I can do to install it at home? Is there anything I can tell the people at the Mac store to help them along?

iPhone 4

Posted on May 30, 2016 12:28 AM

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Answer 1

Leopardus

Level 4

1,303 points

Jun 3, 2016 2:33 PM in response to imjtblanton

The drive is most probably formatted for use with Windows computers. First step would be to format it correctly for Macs.

That is Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with a GUID partition map.

OS X will only be installed on a correctly formatted drive.

HTH

Leo

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Answer 2

alex7375

Level 3

705 points

May 30, 2016 2:38 AM in response to imjtblanton

I just did an upgrade on my Macbook Pro mid-2012 13-inch non-retina with a Samsung Evo 850 SSD. It works fine.

See my video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qDvPJV11Yk

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Answer 3

imjtblanton Author

Level 1

5 points

May 30, 2016 3:10 AM in response to Leopardus

How exactly do I format the SSD so that it's compatible with a Mac? You said, "That is Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with a GUID partition map." I'm not sure what you mean by that. How do I reformat an SSD?

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Answer 4

Leopardus

Level 4

1,303 points

Jun 3, 2016 2:33 PM in response to imjtblanton

Open the Disk Utility application on your Mac.

When in Disk Utility, select in the sidebar the Samsung SSD. Just make very sure that you select that only, and not your HD as it would be catastrophic to your system.

Thereafter select the Erase Tab in the top bar.

A frame will open for you to name it, and to select the format type and partition map (scheme).

HTH

Leo

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Answer 5

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,841 points

May 30, 2016 8:31 AM in response to imjtblanton

He mentioned that he could see the SSD so my SATA cable was working.

That was a false inference. It's very likely that the SATA cable is damaged.

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Answer 6

May 30, 2016 9:20 AM in response to imjtblanton

To separate the complexities of:

a) running inside your MacBook

b) Installing, updating, and running from an SSD drive

Move the SSD into an External Enclosure. Install Mac OS X on it there. Perform all appropriate updates. Run that way for a while.

Once you are satisfied it is working properly there (other than being a little slow) move it to the Internal bay inside your Mac. Any problems encountered are likely due to Internal Vs. External, and the most likely problem is the SATA cable.

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Answer 7

alex7375

Level 3

705 points

May 30, 2016 12:50 PM in response to imjtblanton

Use "Carbon Copy Cloner" app to make a clone of your original boot drive.

Download here and run as trial:

http://bombich.com/

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Answer 8

imjtblanton Author

Level 1

5 points

May 31, 2016 12:43 PM in response to imjtblanton

Thank you guys for the help. I have a SATA to USB cable. I plugged in the SSD via the USB cable and it did not show up. I tried it with a second SSD I have and that also did not show up. Why is this happening? Is there any other way I can see the SSD on my computer to make these changes? The SSDs and the cable are brand new, so I'm fairly certain they're working.

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Answer 9

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,329 points

May 31, 2016 12:49 PM in response to imjtblanton

Can you test them by connecting to another Mac?

Ciao.

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Answer 10

imjtblanton Author

Level 1

5 points

May 31, 2016 12:57 PM in response to OGELTHORPE

I plugged the SSD into two other Mac laptops via the SATA to USB cable and neither SSD showed on on either computer. I know the USB ports work. Flash drives and other stuff show up just fine. I guess it's possible the cable doesn't work. Could it be anything else?

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Answer 11

May 31, 2016 12:57 PM in response to imjtblanton

It will not just show up, if by "show up" you mean "appear on the desktop".

You need to open Disk Utility and look for it inside Disk Utility.

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Answer 12

imjtblanton Author

Level 1

5 points

May 31, 2016 1:28 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

I accessed Disk Utility by typing "Disk Utility" in spotlight search which opened up the program. In the Disk Utility program I don't see the SSD.

Under "Internal" I see "WDC WD5000BPVX-00JC3T0 Media" under which is "Macintosh HD". That's it. Under "Disk Images" I see "Apple UDIF read-only compressed (bzip2) Media" under which is "Firefox". That's all I see.

Also tried it with a second computer. Neither SSDs show up under Disk Utility.

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Answer 13

May 31, 2016 1:35 PM in response to imjtblanton

Then I expect your USB-to-SATA device is not working properly. Did you hook up the power as well?

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Answer 14

imjtblanton Author

Level 1

5 points

May 31, 2016 1:50 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

What do you mean by "hook up the power"? I plugged the SATA end into the SSD and the USB end into my computer. I didn't know there was anything else to be done.

My cable is the StarTech USB 3.0 to 2.5" SATA III. I checked the Amazon reviews and several said the cable does not have enough current to power some SSDs. How do I ensure that my cable will work with my SSD?

*Edit: I looked at the cable. The power and SATA connections are part of the same cable.

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Answer 15

Csound1

Level 9

60,063 points

May 31, 2016 1:54 PM in response to imjtblanton

There are only 2 ways to format an SSD, for Windows or for Macs, yours appears to be the wrong one (especially as it worked for you in a PC)

Change the format to MacOS Extended (Journaled)

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