Sandisk Extreme 480GB SSD on Macbook Pro 15 inch mid 2012

Should I do this while it is connected to the external adaptor through the thunderbolt?  The computer doesn’t recognize it when it is plugged into the SATA cable.

I realize that you’re saying you cannot get the system to see the drive to boot off of, so the reason I’m asking you to make a USB Lion boot drive is to get disk utility open when the SSD is installed into the computer.

IF you get to disk utility from booting off the Lion USB thumbdrive, and the SSD still isn’t showing up at all within disk utility from there, then something is wrong. 

  1. Create Lion boot usb thumb drive

  2. Turn off computer

  3. Install SSD into computer

  4. Boot off of Lion usb thumb drive

  5. Open up disk utility from the top menu after booting from Lion usb thumb drive

  6. format SSD / create guid partition table on SSD

  7. Install Lion onto SSD

  8. Success?

Ah I see.  I’ll let you know within the next 2 hours whether it is a success or not.  If it doesn’t recognize it with this method any other ideas?  Its odd, last night I was still tinkering around trying to figure it out and i plugged it in the computer and my original in the adaptor and started the computer up holding option.  I went into disk utility and lo and behold it showed up there.  However, it wasn’t letting me erase it.  I backed out of disk utility and went to the install os and when I did that, it didn’t find the drive anymore so when I went back to disk utlity to see if it was still there, it was gone.

Thanks again bud for all the help it’s been really useful especially because the guys at the apple store don’t care to even give me guidance because its a third party hardware. 

Sorry to report that that did not work.  I can boot off the usb but in disk utility, the SSD isn’t recognized.  Any other ideas because I am fresh out of them :\

Ooh, OK, here’s one thing to try. I read that some people had to do this to resolve random SSD install issues. Assuming you still have an OS installed on the SSD, try resetting the NVRAM with the SSD installed into the computer. 

  1. Shut down your Mac.
  2. Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command (⌘), Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
  3. Turn on the computer.
  4. Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys before the gray screen appears.
  5. Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
  6. Release the keys.

After this I think I’m out of ideas.

So heres an update.  I tried what you said about the command option p and r.  I started up the computer holding the option button with the SSD atttached to the SATA cable and it popped up in disk utility so I did an erase with the GUID Partition and then tried to download Lion through the network install and went to bed.  When I woke up the download had failed saying something like additional components were not downloaded and now when I restart it the SSD isn’t showing up?  Any other ideas?  Thanks again for all your help.

Well, it seems like the PRAM/NVRAM reset had some success. If the Lion install failed, it still won’t see the drive as a boot disk though, so that doesn’t surprise me.

As I mentioned before, I would create the USB stick (have at least a 8gb usb thumb drive and make it an Lion/osx drive) and use it to install Lion onto the installed SSD from the directions in the other post. Installing it this way instead of a network install will make sure it’s installed properly–and it will also install much, much faster.

Edit: I’m sorry, I missed a step with the USB install method. I think through the Apple method, you only get the option of the network install. It would be much better to make a complete install drive with this (free) app:

http://blog.gete.net/lion-diskmaker-us/

This is what I used after I downloaded Mountain Lion on my old drive to easily install my new SSD. However, since Lion came with your Mac and didn’t come with any OS discs(only a recovery partition on your stock HDD), you have to go through some weird ■■■■ to try and get it off. There are some instructions on how to do it though.

Honestly, I would use this as an excuse to purchase & download Mountain Lion and make a easy, legitimate USB boot/install drive with the App mentioned above. This is what I did, and I had 0 issues with installation, and it only took 20 minutes or so to get it set up.

I’m just curious–how did you first install Lion onto your new SSD on that first day?

It was kind of a fluke.  I travel a lot for work and I was putting the computer back together and stuck the ssd in the computer and just tried to start it up with Option and it worked and by that time it was too late to start it up with the usb so I tried the network install and, like you said, took hoursss lol (Hilton doesn’t have the best internet connection).  I am going to keep trying it this way and if not I am going to write new egg a strongly worded letter as they don’t do refunds on this item.

See my edited reply above.

I know it would ■■■■ to put in another $20, but Mountain Lion is much better than Lion, and getting the install app to easily make a USB install key will save you a lot of hassle from network installs on **bleep**ty net connections.

When I first got it I just it did with the network install.  The second time I did it with the USB method.  I’m just repeating steps to see if I made a mistake.  Unfortunately it hasn’t worked.  I do have mountain lion already so I will try that again.

If you still cannot get it to work, there may just be a firmware issue with the SSD and your relatively new MacBook Pro. 

Firmware incompatibility issues are not that uncommon with SSDs, even with brands like the Crucial M4. If you still can’t get it to install, I would wait for the latest firmware to come out before pursuing warranty replacements, since you have 3 years and NewEgg won’t take it back.

So I ordered the same model from Amazon and it’s sort of giving me the same problems with starting up with the white screen and the flashing folder with the question mark through it but the only difference (good difference) is that when I go into disk utility while beginning the computer holding option, is that it always recognizes the hard drive and I just have to set it as the start up disk.  I am going to return the original one to Amazon today.  But why it occassionally doesn’t select the hard drive to start up is still not clear.  It could just be the firmware as you say.

It could also be the connector inside the MacBook that you’re plugging in - Use some canned air to blow out the connector on both ends, and make sure it’s snuggly fit to the SSD.

Which model MacBook are you using? ( Apple menu -> About this mac -> More Info -> System Report -> It’s the Model Identifier that I want )

I’ve got a 4 year old MacBook with the 120GB SSD in the HD bay and another 500GB HD in the DVD bay, and I never had any of these problems with it not being recognized EXCEPT when I tried to put it in the DVD bay. It would only work reliably in the HD bay.

Oh, and one more thing, that whole PRAM reset? It’s a thing of the past. What you want to do is reset the SMC controller. And it’s easy to do - Below is the method for a MacBook with a removable battery - If you’ve got a later model unibody MacBook Pro that has the battery built in,  here’s Apple’s article that describes how to do it for each model:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964

SMC Reset on MacBook with removable battery:

Turn off

Unplug the MacBook from power

Remove the battery

Hold the power button for 5 actual seconds

put the battery back in

Plug into power

turn on

Actually, PRAM stores startup disk selection among other things. Not a thing of the past–still relevant on Intel-based Macs.

Hey thanks for the replies in advance.  I’ve been traveling back and forth for work so I haven’t had time to check this out.  My macbook is a mid 2012 15 inch nonretina display.  The 2.6 GHZ with 8 gb of Ram and the 750gb HD.  Here is the info you requested.  

Model Identifier:MacBookPro9,1

Hope it helps and can jog your memory so that I can finally resolve this issue.

And i forgot to mention it is connected to the HD Cable.  I still have my dvd player installed.

I am also having the same issue. I removed the drive and tried it on another macbook pro using the internal SATA and it booted. I am still troubleshooting . =\

Fixed the issue on a temporary solution .   But first let me give the backstory to it. 

I was using my mac(mac 1) when it froze. I procceded to reboot and do a pram and smc reset. after this I received a light gray screen with a dark grey folder with a question mark. ( this usually happenes when the drive is not avaliable. ) I then pulled the drive (SANDISK SSD PLUS )out (mac 1) and install it on my other mac2 (mac2), and saw that it booted correctly . I then used the drive from mac2 and installed it on mac1 and it booted correctly. At first i thought maybe that the SATA cable inside the mac1 was damage ( as I have already replaced it once ) .      Well in the end the Temp solution was to pull SATA CABLE from MAC2 and Install it on mac1 . then i installed the SSD back to the MAC1 and it works fine. tomorrow I will contact apple and sandisk to what may be the issue .  

Hi,

I also have an issue with an SSD disc that works, but doesn’t work. 

In my case when I shut down the MacBook and turn it on with the power button, I get the document with question mark and the MacBook won’t start. 

When I turn on the MacBook with the power button and do a PRAM reset, it boots perfectly fine and the SSD works like a charm. 

Restart is no problem, it boots up normally…but…when I shut down and power up again the document with question mark is back. Then, When i reset PRAM again, it boots, and so on…

So:

  • SSD is working fine

  • did all checks with disc utility and already formatted with GUID table and reinstalled with no different result

  • SATA cable seems fine, after PRAM reset everything is working fine 

  • tried PRAM reset, but this only works that specific boot up. Next time I shut down I need to reset PRAM again to be able to boot into OSX. 

  • of course I also checked startup disk

  • even tried repartitioning with same partition size to force a new EFI or master boot record

nothing helps permanently…

I really feel I am missing something obvious, but read so many forum posts and tried every suggestion without prrmanent result. 

Who will give me the freeing advice on how to make my MacBook understand it has to boot from the SSD?!

thanks for any help!

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