Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT

> Learn more

> Add to your calendar 

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

User profile for user: A07570
A07570 Author
User level: Level 1
59 points

New SSD - clean USB Install 10.11.5 fails

I have a late 2012 Mac mini servier I use as a desktop. It had more storage than I needed so I swapped out the boot drive with an OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD in the lower bay, I left a second 1TB 'data' disc in the upper bay. The swap went without a hitch. I then rebuilt the USB 3.0 Stick I used to originally do a clean install on the previous disk, with the latest version of El Capitan, I followed the instructions in this link: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372


I disconnected everything from the mini except power, network, displayport monitor, and USB drive built above. I then boot to the USB drive, select the disk utility and Erase the SSD - Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and name it MacIntosh HD. Then I continue with the install choosing the MacIntosh HD as the Startup disk.


All goes seemingly well for about 5 minutes, then stops at “About a second remaining”, it sits here for about 5 minutes and then goes to “About 0 seconds remaining”, it sits here for another few minutes and then reports “An error occurred while preparing the installation. Try running this application again.”


I have been through this about half a dozen times, after a few times I downloaded the El Capitan Install file again and recreated the USB install drive. I let this run overnight and the outcome is the same, there is still activity in the log, but same result. I’ve also run the health check on the SSD after erasing it and it gets a healthy report.


Before the error the last entry in the log is “Got error in writing to /Volumes/MacIntosh HD/OS X Install Data/minstallconfig.xml


If I go back into the Disk Utility after the error the MacIntosh HD volume is no longer mounted. I’ve read that if OS X sees an SSD and a Standard Drive it may try to create a Hybrid Drive, but that you can skip that process and just have an SSD Startup disk. I also see an entry in the log that the second drive “failed volume-check” because “This disk is used for Time Machine backups.” (I do have a backup on that disk of another computer).


Anyway, looking for help. I’ll copy the log to the next post, I may also call Macsales support but wanted to start here. Thanks ...


Edit: Sorry about the font, copied from Notes

Mac mini, OS X El Capitan (10.11.5), 2012 i7 16GB

Posted on Jun 15, 2016 11:09 AM

Reply
7 replies
User profile for user: A07570
A07570 Author
User level: Level 1
59 points

Jun 16, 2016 10:10 AM in response to A07570

Well, having no replies I called Macsales support. Rather than troubleshoot the clean install he wanted to do a recovery install to verify the SSD was good, I agreed. Due to my slow (6Mbps) internet connection it took hours, last night it finished and then had updates for security and several apps. I then copied the previously downloaded Install OS X El Capitan (10.11.5) over and upgraded. So the SSD is working, and rather fast as expected.


I'm still a bit disappointed I couldn't do a clean install, but can't see how I can test a different USB stick without destroying the Startup disc and having to wait hours to reinstall over the wire. It seems the Install file for Mavericks is not kept when the recovery install is completed? I know my El Capitan download was good because I was able to upgrade from Mavericks, and I used the USB stick to do a clean install of El Capitan earlier in the year, any suggestions for making a reliable USB 3 Stick or testing it?

Reply
User profile for user: A07570
A07570 Author
User level: Level 1
59 points

Jun 16, 2016 6:06 PM in response to Eric Root

Thanks for for the suggestion, I think I may have used that in the past, is there an expectation that it is more reliable than the Apple command line method?


I wouldn't mind using it if I knew it would work with my disk, so I'd still want a way to test it without destroying the disk it would take many hours to redo should it fail.

Reply
User profile for user: A07570
A07570 Author
User level: Level 1
59 points

Jun 16, 2016 6:20 PM in response to Eric Root

So I just got to thinking, shouldnt I be able to do a clean El Capitan install on top of an existing El Cap install. If I skip the erase step, wouldn't it just copy the files on top of the existing files? Wouldn't that let me know that the stick was working? It should only take a half an hour or so, if it worked I could do it over with the erase step and get my clean install.

Reply
User profile for user: A07570
A07570 Author
User level: Level 1
59 points

Jun 17, 2016 4:26 AM in response to Eric Root

I tried the utility, it works very well, but seems no different than the command line. I was able to do an El Cap install to another USB stick using either method. I also tested installing on top of El Capitan running on the SSD, that is still the only thing that fails. Fortunatly the disk still works after, so it's a good test as I hoped it would be. I'll try Macsales again to see if they know any more about the Mercury extreme and clean installs.

Reply

New SSD - clean USB Install 10.11.5 fails

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.
Learn more Sign up