High Sierra Killed My Hard Drive?

Did you try to do First Aid checks while in the Recovery Partition Disk Utility? In the View menu select "Show all Devices" and run the checks on each item. If they pass, then try a normal restart and run the installer again.

I had the same problem, and I called Apple Support. A supervisor explained that although my Macbook Pro was out of warranty, they would pay for any hardware repairs necessary. It turns out that my only problem was a broken HDD cable, which is an extremely common problem among 2012 MacBook Pros like mine. I would recommend checking this out as a possible issue, since it's only $96 (and Apple should cover it anyway, as they did for me).

I know it seems implausible that a software update would trigger a hardware issue (i.e., the broken cable), but I was told that because the new APFS file system involves a structural change to the hard drive—not merely a software update—it is possible that this could have caused the issue.

I hope this helps!

I did attempt to reformat the drive using the instructions for doing so from the recovery drive. This did not work, error stating that the drive could not be accessed.

I did attach the SSD to a PC running windows 10 and was able to delete the APFS partition and reformat the drive to NTFS. In addition, I found that OCZ had posted a firmware update Version 12.3 June 7, 2016 which I applied to the drive. Since then I have re-installed the SSD into my Mac Pro and was able to reformat the drive to the standard Mac OS Extended journaled format.

I will restore my backup to the updated SSD and try the update again. I will post the my results after I re-attempt the update.

Attenpted High Sierra and found same problem: didn’t work then I had no OS. Spent a long time with protocols and testing. Kept noticing an image 02 that wasn’t mounted and no other image.

Well, for me at least, turns out the partition was wiped or unmountd or something. Redid a new partition and BOOM. OS installing. Not sure I will go back to HS. That remains to be seen. But for me, no new HD is good. Lost all data. But it was a new install anyway. So no harm for me.

In short: Try a new partition in Disk Utility.

Good luck all!!!

You might have to erase your drive and do a clean install of High Sierra. However, I highly advise you make a clone backup first. I would not rely on restoring your files from Carbonite. I've seen too many failed restores.

The first release of High Sierra does not support APFS on Fusion or HDD internal drives.

>>When I did, I receive and error message that said “Mac OS Could Not Be Installed On Your Computer. The operation could not be completed. (com.apple.Disk management error 0.) Quit installer to restart your computer and try again.”

I just had this issue with 10.12.6 with an HDD on my 2009 iMac. It did it numerous times. Next I booted from a USB thumb drive (same version), zapped the PRAM, and repaired the hard drive (no problems) and then it installed correctly.

I think it's just a glitch in the modern installer and I'm not sure why, but it started working. I then upgraded to an SSD and went to 10.13 and it went no problems this time.

I have a Late 2013 MBP too. It has an SSD, so should convert to APFS automatically during the install. It is best to try to get the installation to complete, because going back to Sierra would involve reformatting to HFS+ and probably erasing the disk to do so.

If you now have APFS, then when using Disk Utility, go to the View menu and select "Show all Devices". Run the First Aid on each volume.

It does not make sense that a software installation would do physical damage to your HDD. However, your files may or may not be still intact there. I agree with brycesteiner's post below that you need to boot from an external drive to see what the HDD's status is. That could allow you to copy your files out and proceed with the install. The external drive would have to have MacOS installed, so this is a complicated route if you don't already have that available. I've always kept a USB drive with this for such calamities. You might check with the Apple geniuses to see if they have a setup you can use.

I fix MacBook Airs and Pros and have several sitting around in my workshop. I have tested this issue by swapping various SSDs with High Sierra 10.13 installed.

I can confirm that an Air or Pro from 2013 or 2014 will NOT RECOGNIZE an SSD formatted as APFS as a startup drive. Neither will it see an external APFS flash startup drive. Air and Pro model years 2015 or newer have no issue recognizing and starting from APFS-formatted SSD.

If you boot from the Recovery Drive, Disk Utility should be able to see your internal Macintosh HD. If you have backup of your data, I suggest you erase the drive and format as HFS+ Mac OS Extended Journaled.

Now you can install the OS.

If you don't have backup, you'll need an external drive to install an OS then you can boot from the external to recover your data from your internal drive.

Hey dude,

I somewhat had the same problem. My dad was just using the Macbook Pro (13", Late 2011 model), shut it down properly, and when we came back home after a few hours, we suddenly have no access to the macOS. Tried using bootcamp (Windows 10) to try and access all the files in High Sierra, but no luck. Drive was not showing.

I think what you have to do now is, to do a clean install of the OS.

Here's what I am doing now. I went into recovery mode (cmd + R before the bell chimes), created a new partition and reinstalled High Sierra there. After which, I now have access to all our user accounts in the previous installation of High Sierra. I unlocked all the folders and copied everything onto an external drive.

Now, my plan will be to redownload High Sierra from the App Store, do a clean install of the OS, and manually restore our files.

My guess is that, since our MBP came with OSX Lion, all the debris from the previous updates of macOS up to High Sierra is causing driver failure and such (I don't really know, I'm not a specialist.)

I hope this helps. 🙂

Can you get into SIngle User?

Command + S

There you should be able to mount and save your critical files to a flash drive or cd/dvd optical.

On your first aid session - did it show ANYTHING repaired? If so you need to continue running it again, same from single user mode using the fsck - until there's nothing done.

In the future, Do a backup at least monthly, if not weekly.

I created a bootable drive for high Sierra, turned on the laptop, held down command, and booted from the high Sierra drive I created. Worked for one laptop and currently trying this method on an iMac.

It's possible that DiskWarrior could recover the drive. You can't download plus it's expensive $120US. You would probably be better off putting the money in a new drive.

They do have a UK distributor. Check on the Buy now page. They will send you a flash drive with DW on the drive. While booted in Recovery drive, you can run DW by entering this commands: /Volumes/DW/go (do not attach drive until you are actually booted into Recovery.

https://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/