Macbook Pro 2009 Upgrading to SSD issue

Question

Level 1

18 points

Macbook Pro 2009 Upgrading to SSD issue

I've got an older MacBook Pro 2009 13" which although works is painfully slow so I decided to max to memory and upgrade to a SSD, but I'm having some issues. This is what I have done so far;

Backed up to Airport Time Capsule
Upgraded memory only, restarted to make sure it was accepted, all good
Replaced the hard drive for the SSD, re-started using command+R and also command+option+R which had no effect, presumably because it's older hardware that doesn't support this
Connected the old MacBook to my newer MacBook via Firewire port and successfully mounted it in Disk Utility, formatted the SSD and restored the backup onto it, took forever and left it overnight, but 1st thing in the morning it had a restore successful message.
Started the 2009 MacBook and got the Apple logo followed by the No Entry sign :-(, against tried command+R and Command+option+R but these did nothing.
Connected back up to other MacBook pro via Firewire port, could see drive in Disk Utility so ran 1st aid on it, it found quite a few issues but when it came to fixing them said unable to fix and was returning to original mounted state, it then came up with an error saying unable to complete and un-mounted the drive.
Tried to connect again via Firewire but now my working MacBook pro cannot even find the drive in Disk Utility so is now completely useless

Any ideas how to get around this, why can't I do an internet restore, why did the restore from backup not work, why did the 1st aid not only not work but made it even worse so that I can't even find the disk.

Open to suggestions please, otherwise that was a complete waste of money on a SSD that I cannot use and wasn't cheap. Additional info, this is a OWC 250GB Electra 3G 2.5" SATA 300 SSD purchased from Mac Upgrades in the UK and is compatible with this model of MacBook Pro

MacBook Pro, MacBook Pro 13" 2009

Posted on Oct 15, 2018 3:06 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

Burnside5 Author

Level 1

18 points

Oct 15, 2018 3:14 PM in response to Burnside5

I've had a breakthrough. Using Disk Utility in Recovery mode I managed to erase and re-format the SSD, it took a few attempts but got there. I then created an El Capitan Flash install drive on a SD card, used that to install the OS onto the 2009 MBP SSD which worked a treat. Now restoring from Time Machine backup.

Thanks for your help on this, it's slow progress but looks like I am there. Will definitely use a caddy next time!

Reply

Answer 2

dwb

Level 7

32,962 points

Oct 15, 2018 3:14 PM in response to Burnside5

First, your 2009 MBP is too old for Internet Recovery and to get a Recovery Partition you have to install the operating system. You may be able to get your other Mac to see the drive if you turn off both machines and do and How to reset the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac - Apple Support reset on both before trying target mode again. Assuming this does work, your next step should be to download the appropriate OS for the 2009 MBP on the other Mac and, erase the SSD, and then install the Mac OS. Then after booting into the OS for the first time on the 2009 MBP use Setup Assistant to copy your TM backup data.

Your other possibility is to put the old drive into a dock or USB enclosure and boot the 2009 MBP with it. Then, if it has a recovery partition, you could clone the old drive onto the SSD. If it doesn't, as described above, download the OS, erase the SSD and run Setup Assistant after it has installed.

Reply

Answer 3

Burnside5 Author

Level 1

18 points

Oct 15, 2018 11:15 AM in response to dwb

Hi dwb, thanks for the reply.

Ok, so I have reset the SMC on both MBPs. Downloaded the OS and tried to reconnect the SSD again via FireWire. The volume is still greyed out and I cannot mount it, but it does know it is there and correctly shows the capacity, etc. I changed the view to show all and can see the physical disk. However all operations fail, Erase and first aid both fail and when I try to eject it tells me unable to eject as it is in use.

I have ordered a USB caddy to try that but I’m expecting that to give me the same issue. It just refuses to do anything on the SSD, it also shows it as being full with no available storage.

Running out of ideas

Reply

Answer 4

dwb

Level 7

32,962 points

Oct 15, 2018 3:14 PM in response to Burnside5

Since you've bought the enclosure, just to take one other possibility out of the equation, I suggest that you put the original HD in the computer and then the SSD in the caddy. See what happens. For some reason (we suspect the SSD produces a stronger electrical field than a hard drive) some who upgrade to an SSD in older Macs find that they also need to replace the drive ribbon. If the computer boots with the hard drive and then the SSD is seen and formatted okay in the enclosure you can proceed with the rest. Boot from the external. Still good? Put it back into the computer and cross your fingers. This method (put SSD into dock, install OS, migrate data and apps and then put SSD into the computer) became my goto method several years ago. I did dozens of these upgrades when I was working for a reseller.

Reply

Answer 5

Burnside5 Author

Level 1

18 points

Oct 15, 2018 11:39 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Yes I’m aware that El Capitan is the highest version of OS X, I haven’t tried to install a higher version. I tried to restore from time machine but that failed to boot up. I then ran 1st aid which appeared to be working but failed to correct the issues. Since then I cannot mount the volume, run first aid or even erase it. No idea why it is so difficult to upgrade to a SSD

Reply

Answer 6

Burnside5 Author

Level 1

18 points

Oct 15, 2018 11:43 AM in response to dwb

What I don’t understand is why it mounted the 1st time, let me format it and restore from Time Machine, but now I cannot do anything with it, it’s as though running 1st Aid which attempted to repair has actually killed it

Reply

Answer 7

Oct 20, 2018 7:07 AM in response to Burnside5

I was having the same issue with my 2009 MacBook Pro, and a Samsung 860 EVO. I was unable to clone my HD to the SSD, and didn't have any luck running a restore directly to the SSD when it was installed in my laptop. What I did, which seemed to work was keep my old Harddrive connected in the laptop, connect the SSD to my MacBook Pro via USB dock. I then booted up in recovery mode, with the ethernet cable plugged in, selected Re-Install Mac OS, and chose the SSD as the target drive for the installation. Next, swapped out the old HD with the SSD, and booted up, the OS X installed itself onto the SSD and restarted. The computer booted off of the newly installed SSD to the initial set up page. I plugged in my Time Machine, and am currently restoring my latest backup to the SSD.

Hopefully this works.

Reply

Answer 8

Oct 15, 2018 11:32 AM in response to Burnside5

The 2009 MacBook pro is limited to 10.11 ElCapitan as the last MacOS it can install. If you try to install newer, Installer is not likely to cooperate.

Reply

Macbook Pro 2009 Upgrading to SSD issue

Similar questions