'Macintosh HD' missing in internet recovery mode disk utility

[timlocobro]

Hi,
My Macbook Pro (2012 i think, it came with Lion OS) crashed last night. I've accessed the internet recovery mode (command option r) and entered the Disk Utility. Only "disk0" and a sub-item "Mac OS X Base System are present in the left panel. When i type "diskutil cs list" into terminal it says "No CoreStorage logical volume groups found".

When I attempt to Reinstall Mac OS X (lion), the "select the disk where you want to install Mac OS X" is empty.

I suspect the internal hard drive is damaged or perhaps unmounted i.e missing... I am considering buying a replacement hard drive (preinstalled with El Capitan) from Ebay and installing it myself, hopefully it will be recognised and problem solved!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Audit13]

It could be a defective sata hard drive cable rather than a bad hard drive.

I have used third party replacement cables from Amazon that worked perfectly.

 

[casperes1996]

Yeah, this sounds like the cable not the drive. If memory serves, they also tended to break on that model.

 

[Fishrrman]

Is the 2012 MPB the NON-retina model?

If so, as mentioned above, the internal ribbon cable "gets flaky".
When it does, the communication between the drive and the motherboard is broken or gets intermittent.
This makes it "look like" to the user that the drive is bad. But in reality, it's just the cable. Replace the cable, and things are back to normal.

This is a simple job and anyone can do it.
Go to ifixit.com to see what's involved.
You'll need a Phillips #00 driver for the screws on the back.

I see you mentioned in your OP about replacing the drive...
If the MBP still has the original platter-based HDD inside, you might consider replacing it with an SSD. The MPB will "feel like a new computer" after you do this!
Just about any SSD will do, you'll need a TORX T-6 driver to undo the "bosses" on the side of the drive and move them over to the new drive.

Get an external 2.5" USB3 enclosure or a USB3/SATA adapter/dongle, and you can continue to use the old drive after you take it out.

BTW, you don't have to pay to have the OS pre-installed.
If you buy a new SSD and an adapter/dongle like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-2-5-...478&sr=1-2-spell&keywords=sabremt+usb3+to+ssd

... you can "prepare and test" the new drive YOURSELF before you put it into the MBP.

Just use Disk Utility to erase the new SSD to Mac OS Extended with journaling enabled, GUID partition format.

You can download the El Cap installer or perhaps the "Low" Sierra installer from Apple, and then install a copy on the SSD while connected to the MBP.

Then, set it up and migrate your data over.

When it's all "prepped and ready to go", THEN you open up the MBP and "do the drive swap".
That way, if anything goes wrong, YOU STILL HAVE A BOOTABLE MBP.
Makes it MUCH easier to find and correct the problems and get back on track!

 

[timlocobro]

thanks so much guys. This is a massive help! I'll let you know how it goes soon