Problem installing crucial mx300 ssd in mac pro 2009

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11 points

Problem installing crucial mx300 ssd in mac pro 2009

Hi all,

I bought the crucial mx300 500gb ssd & an icy dock sled/tray from Crucial so I could have a 2nd drive to use in my mac pro with el capitan (as much of my music software is no longer supported/updateable on my original mac hard drive which uses snow leopard 10.6.8).

Wanted to be able to select which drive to boot into at start up.

Did my research & did the following:
Formatted the ssd correctly via sata to usb cable.

Installed snow leopard 10.6.8 onto ssd & checked it was all working ok.

Then installed el capitan onto ssd & again checked to make sure all ok. It worked fine...tested my system by holding alt key at start up & got the choice to boot into either mac hd or the ssd (still connected via usb to sata cable). I booted into both without any problem.

I then installed the ssd with the icy dock sled tray.

But when I powered up only the mac hd is recognised...newly installed ssd is not in the drive tree.

When I held down alt key at 2nd bootup I didn't even get the white apple opening up screen, just a black unresponsive screen.

Tried refitting the sled tray with the ssd in it but still not recognised.

I am now suspecting that the sled tray housing has not actually made the physical connection to the mac's connector in the bay I am using.

Can anyone give me any help or advice please? Or has anyone else had similar problems? I am thinking of buying a different sled tray such as the OWC .

Obviously I need to get the new ssd housed in the mac as just using it via usb to sata cable is not really sensible.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I'm pretty frustrated & reckon my process was ok.

Thanks in advance

Andy

VIN,Mac Pro (Early 2009), Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Aug 6, 2017 8:07 AM

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Answer 1

xt63 Author

Level 1

11 points

Aug 7, 2017 5:48 AM in response to xt63

Issue resolved....it was the ssd not being fully connected in the sled tray doh! I had to open it up and manually push the drive onto the 22pin connector, not just rely on this connecting properly when sliding the top of the sled tray back (as it should really do).

So thanks for the help...now can anyone help with my Duet2 soundcard not working on el capitan ssd but does still on my mac drive with snow leopard 10.6.8

Thanks again

Andy

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Answer 2

Aug 6, 2017 10:22 AM in response to xt63

This replacement sled from OWC replaces the standard sled and has worked for me:

OWC Mount Pro: 2.5" Drive Sled for Apple Mac Pro 2009, 2010 & 2012

B&H Photo Video

https://dvshop.ca/drives/ssddrivemounts.html

The Icy dock has TWO places where it can fail to line up properly. One is in the connector to drive (that you can easily inspect).

The other is the dock to SATA harness inside the Mac. It SHOULD work, but is subject to mis-alignment both side-to-side and up-and-down. If you move the drive out of the adjacent bay, you may be able to slide the empty dock into the Mac and shine a bright light in to check the alignment and proper seating.

You can also seat the bare drive (no sled at all) in the FIRST bay, and put a small block of wood (or other non-conductive material) under it (on top of the front fan) to hold it up.

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Answer 3

xt63 Author

Level 1

11 points

Aug 6, 2017 10:47 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Hi Grant & thanks for replying,

yes that OWC blue sled is the one I was originally intending to buy..I'm thinking now I'm gonna buy it & try the install again.

Re: 2 places icy dock can fail to line up:

The 1st you mention, I presume you mean I can see if the ssd sits inside the sled correctly?..it seemed to go in ok & felt sturdy without any movement or rattling around. Pretty hard though to examine if the ssd pins have connected properly to the icy dock pins connector once I've put the ssd in the tray & slid the top closed.

The 2nd you mention is maybe the problem re the icy dock to SATA pins connection actually connecting. Should there be a "click" when I push the bay back in? It went in ok. Don't wanna move out the adjacent 1st bay as that's where the mac hd is & absolutely can't risk making more problems for myself. The other adjacent bay (the 3rd one) has never been used or opened...maybe I should try putting the sled/ssd there? Would this create a problem?

I don't fancy seating bare drive with block of wood 🙂

Thank you for your reply

Andy

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Answer 4

Aug 6, 2017 11:10 AM in response to xt63

The Mac uses the names of the drives, not their drive bay number, to locate the boot drive. You should be able to shuffle the drives in the bays with complete impunity.

There is no click when you get a SATA drive seated in its connector. But one connector is supposed to slip inside the other, and if you can get line of sight to it, you should be able to see whether it is doing that. If you get it crooked, it looks different -- the pair of connectors, when NOT mated, are bigger than a properly seated pair.

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Answer 5

xt63 Author

Level 1

11 points

Aug 6, 2017 11:10 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thanks again

"The Mac uses the names of the drives, not their drive bay number, to locate the boot drive. You should be able to shuffle the drives in the bays with complete impunity".

So I will try to house it in my empty 3rd bay & hope it works.

"There is no click when you get a SATA drive seated in tis connector. But one connector is supposed to slip inside the other, and if you can get line of sight to it, you should be able to see whether it is doing that. If you get it crooked, it looks different -- the pair of connectors, when NOT mated, are bigger than a properly seated pair".

I will remove the whole assembly & re-site the ssd into the sled & see if it requires a 'push' to make the connectors join up...it didn't look skewed or misalligned & I think it was mated properly.

I am kinda thinking that I should've just got the OWC sled as it is just a simple bare chasis & not a housed unit like the Icy dock is...but I will try the above & hope to fix this dilemma.

Grateful for your time & assistance

Best

Andy

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