iMac Late 2009 won't recognize external SSD at boot

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SSD

An SSD, or Solid State Drive, is a type of storage device that uses NAND-based flash memory to store data.

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JOHN CHEN @johnchen96320

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Posted: Jan 5, 2019

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iMac Late 2009 won't recognize external SSD at boot

Hello,

I’m upgrading my iMac Late 2009 from a 2 TB HDD to a 1TB Crucial MX500 SSD using the kit.

The 1 TB SSD when connected externally is recognized when I’m running High Sierra. When booting, the external SSD is not seen at all during in the Restore mode/Disk Utility screens. The USB 2.0 adapter seems OK and is seen at boot when another 1 TB HDD is connected at boot.

I’m able to install and boot High Sierra from that. Want to do the external check before removing the screen. Is this a known problem with Crucial MX500?

Read online somewhere to try Samsung EVO 850 due to a SATA link negotiation issue.

Would be so nice to save this iMac from the recycle.

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JOHN CHEN @johnchen96320

Rep: 13

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Posted: Jan 5, 2019

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Got the Samsung Pro 850 1TB working just fine. Will be returning the Crucial MX-500 in the kit. Ifixit folks, please take note and you may want to modify your kit!

Also, the metal drive adapter needed drilling out two holes with an 1/8 drill. The iMac original shock-mount stubs look like they use a 6-32 screw thread not the 3mm threads in the holes. The 6-32 threads were just the right size to self-tap.

So both the Crucial and Samsung SSDs were compatible with the kit’s USB 2.0 adapter, but the Crucial was not compatible on boot time with my iMac late 2009.

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