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Mid 2012 model, A1278 / 2.5 GHz i5 or 2.9 GHz i7 processor.

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New SSD boot problems

I have a mid 2012 MacBook Pro 13" After the HD crash I bought a new 500 GB SSD.

I put it in an external caddy, attached it via USB to computer and cloned the hard disk by recovering from the old disk using disk recovery.

SSD will boot while in the caddy but not when installed into the laptop. It is possible to access the files on the SSD while in the laptop but if I boot from the HDD in a caddy or from a USB Boot thumb drive I cannot see the SSD in the set startup disk menu.

When I insert the old hard disk in the computer it boots normally.

This would appear to rule out hard disk cable problems (I replaced the hard disk ribbon cable last year).

Any ideas as to what is wrong?

SSD is a crucial MX300. Thank you.

Answered! View the answer I have this problem too

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So the ssd wont boot at all when its in the MB but it boots from the caddy. And did you try the original drive?

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Hi Cameron, Yes, did try original disk internally and it does boot successfully.

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That hard drive cable is probably your problem again. Apple is even replacing it for free on this model. I put pads on either side of it where it comes over the top and onto the optical drive. The bottom of the case tends to contact it there and damage it.

Also, did you format the drive for Mac. Needs to be GUID. It will boot externally from a Master Boot Block format but not internally.

Block Image

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Hi Mayer, Thanks for the quick reply.

Disk is formatted for Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as per info and Disk Utility shows Disk to have GUID Partition Map.

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Due to the repair partition not getting installed with a clone I recommend this:

Format the drive from an external source.

Then drag and drop the system you want onto the new drive.

Then while still booted from the external, run the installation.

(This prevents the external drive from getting confused)

When it reboots after the installation you then run Migration Assistant to move your old data.

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Not sure that I am using the correct terminology here. I formatted the hard drive having booted up from an osx 10.6 usb key and formatted the disk using disk utility. I then performed a restore from the original hard disk also using disk utility.

Does this change the above advice? Thanks for your help.

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what system did you restore to?

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Restored to 10.12.3 from original hard disk.

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You may need to redo your drive (reformat it & re-install the OS) as many cloning apps mess up the newer versions of OS-X/MacOS. I don't recommend using 3rd party cloning apps any longer. If you need to clone then use the one within Apples Disk Utility.

Its best to use the built-in migration assistant function in the OS installer or run it afterwards from the Utility folder in the application folder. Here's a bit more on it: Move your content to a new Mac

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Hi,

Had this problem on my MacBook Pro 13’ 2012 unibody. I had to change the internal SATA cable, I think the issue is not that the cables are faulty but they have some incompatibility issues with newer hard drives, especially solid state drives. I also run a data doubler with an SSD and needed to change the optical SATA cable connecting this drive because again I was met with the dreaded question mark on boot.

Thanks, iloveCocolade

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The first versions of this series cables only supported SATA II (3.0 Gb/s) drives so its often a case the cable needs to be replaced with the newer version. Sadly, there are people selling the older version still so one needs to be careful.

The other issue is the ribbon cables are fragile! It doesn't take much to damage them. A common issue is where people need to fold the cable they over crease the cable so the thin foil wires inside get fatigued while it might still work with a HDD often times it won't support the higher throughput of the SSD.

So its important not to fold but arc the cable around the corners and I also place a strip of electricians tape on the uppercase where the cable crosses over to protect i from the rough surface of the case..

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