TROUBLE INSTALLING HIGH SIERRA. Unmounted

[mrk123]

Mac 2011 pro. 13 inch. 16gb.

Just bought new Solid state drive. Trying to install high Sierra but not sure if I have taken some wrong turns or pressed some wrong buttons. Now disk seems corrupt. I can’t even erase it and start fresh.
I have no idea what’s going on. I’m not a tech wizard. I just want to get my max running so I can get on with the work I know how to do. Been at this for 4 hours. Bit if a joke now.

Can anyone advise. See pic. It’s not mounted. I keep getting errors when I try first aid or erase.

Would be great to start from fresh. I got to install earlier on but it froze on 1 hour and 6 min left.

Someone has mentioned I may need to repair the cable Which connects drive to Mac, but can’t see it giving me these issues?

I am reading about something that a new SSD would need formatting? Im
Absolutely going down a rabbit hole here and all the info and practice so far is starting to get muddled up.

Can anyone help. Feel like throwing this max against a wall!

 

[DeltaMac]

Try to erase the new SSD:
Click on the "View" icon (just above the drive list - left corner), and change to Show All Devices.
Now, select the top item in the drive list (which should show the drive model number, or something like that).
Now, you will be able to select the Erase icon. Check that Format is Mac OS Extended (Journaled), and that "Scheme" is GUID Partition Map. You can name your drive whatever you like, and click the Erase button to continue with the erase. Should only take a few seconds, and then you can install macOS on your newly-erased drive.
If you get past the erase, without taking an extended time (5 minutes would be longer than you should expect, should take less than 30 seconds

Some people will tell you that you must format as APFS before a High Sierra install, but that is not necessary at that time.
High Sierra will automatically format the drive for APFS during a macOS install.

Yes, the SATA ribbon cable is a common failure point - might not install the system, or might gave random freezes or kernel panics, etc. You have to move that ribbon a bit to replace the drive, and those cables can fail simply due to age, I think. Pretty easy to find, and simple to replace. Many users who upgrade those older macbooks will replace that SATA cable whenever they replace a drive.
Anyway, may or may not help in your situation, but an easy step for troubleshooting when a replacement drive doesn't seem to work properly.

 

[mrk123]

Ok I’ll try your advice now.
I’ve just had 10 tabs open on my phone of suggestions and none of them worked. Admittedly I need that cable maybe but I’d not think it would prevent me from mounting disk or not able to delete erase.
I’ll try this now and report back.

 

[mrk123]

Ok yes. I knew I was too deep in a rabbit hole of folders. I seemed to have come out to the top level now. seems to be deleting. But taking a long time. Currently 3 or 4 mins.
Could that cable be causing this?

It was installing hours ago but I think it froze on 1 hour and 6 min left to go.

 

[mrk123]

Can you link me the cable I need?

 

[mrk123]

Damn.
Just come back with ‘erase process has failed’ message.
First Aid worked tho

 

[DeltaMac]

What brand SSD are you trying to use?
That SATA drive cable has an Apple part number of 922-9771
That might help you, and here's a link to one that I have used before - https://beetstech.com/product/hard-drive-cable-922-9771
You will find that there are a good number of possible source sites to get that cable.

Your format failure might also be a bad cable.

 

[mrk123]

This is my screen.

 

[mrk123]

What brand SSD are you trying to use?
That SATA drive cable has an Apple part number of 922-9771
That might help you, and here's a link to one that I have used before - https://beetstech.com/product/hard-drive-cable-922-9771
You will find that there are a good number of possible source sites to get that cable.

Samsung Evo 870 ssd

 

[mrk123]

Just tried to install. But there’s no disk to install onto when it ask you to select a disk…?

In disk utility it does say new ssd is ‘uninitiallized’

 

[mrk123]

Any ideas on this. Seems like it Shouod work. I don’t want to blow £1200 on a used max pro m1 or whatever.
It’s something simple. I can’t seem to add a disk to install OS onto now.

 

[robotica]

You should try reseating the ssd and try again with the install

 

[mrk123]

You should try reseating the ssd and try again with the install

Resetting* ?

I tried to erase current drive I made but came back with error. This is what I want to do. Get the SSD back to factory like I just pulled out the box. I’ve done something and I don’t know what but something is not working.

 

[robotica]

No, physically unplug the SSD and then plug it back in, (while turned off). Might be a dodgy connection to the drive. Installing/Erasing is a basic function. If you are having these errors it might be hardware…could be an easy fix tho.

 

[DeltaMac]

This is a standard SATA SSD, replacing the original internal hard drive. It plugs in to an SATA ribbon cable.

"dodgy connection"? Well, that's what I have been offering as a suggestion to try a different SATA cable, but the OP has to get one of those to try it. With that kind of errors, it still points to a likely problem with that SATA cable, which are not known to be particularly sturdy.

If the formatting errors out, that means that the format does not complete, so drive will not be ready to accept an install, and won't be visible as a choice in Disk Utility, until you get it to complete the format without an error. Booting to an installer won't see that SSD unless or until it completes formatting without displaying an error.
If changing the SATA cable does not help, then you need to try putting your SSD in an external enclosure, and try to format it through a USB connection. If that works, you could go ahead and install macOS while it is connected through the external USB port. Your 2011 MBPro has USB 2 only, so it will be slow, but should work. Once you have a system installed, you could then try again by installing the drive again internally. It's ready to boot then, and you should be OK.
If the format or install fails through an external USB enclosure, then you might assume that the SSD is faulty.

 

[mrk123]

Thank you all for your time. I will indeed get this new cable ordered today hopefully for next day.

Can I just show you this. I had 5 hours yesterday wasted time getting nowhere. Now after a bit of sleep I’m just going to show you logically what I see.

Below is where I begin.


Then to the select disk
But nothing is there. How do I get a option to select disk here.

Then into disk utility. Clicked on the new SSD.

Then clicked on OS X base system. I dont even know what that is.

What is the step here now to get a option to click for install.

I pressed erased once clicked on SAMSUNG SSD and renamed Mac SSD and it was (journaled) and guide partition and pressed erase but it come back with ‘erase process has failed’. Couod this be the cable? Or something I have done? Any way I can completely start this whole process from fresh?

It’s all still quite slow which is worrying me. Couod that be a dodgy sata cable. ?

 

[Chazzle]

Try formatting the SSD with APFS instead of MacOS Extended (Journaled)

 

[mrk123]

Try formatting the SSD with APFS instead of MacOS Extended (Journaled)

I think someone here said it automatically does that?

I opened it up and disconnected the drive from cable and put it all together again and started again. I was able to ‘erase’ and create new disk (called SSD) and now installing. I hope this works. Currently at ‘34 mins left’

It just seems stuck on 34 mins now.

Im Wondering if a bad sata cable can do this? It’s for me this far. Why would it not let me get further now? Been stuck on ‘34 min remaining’ for 5 mins now.

 

[mrk123]

I’m done.
Nearly there and timed out last min.
Can’t be sata cable can it?

 

[mrk123]

Which one of these? Can get it for tomorrow both on prime.

 

[mrk123]

Trying to compare these with my current cable and they don’t seem to match up

 

[robotica]

Edit/ yeah looks like a dodgy cable

 

[mrk123]

Nope. See pic. It crashed 2 mins beofee was due to finish installing.
Couod this be a cable issue?
I have just bought new sata cable. Arrives tomorrow. Would a dodgy sata cable cause problems like in this pic??

 

[robotica]

Nope. See pic. It crashed 2 mins beofee was due to finish installing.
Couod this be a cable issue?
I have just bought new sata cable. Arrives tomorrow. Would a dodgy sata cable cause problems like in this pic??

Do you have a usb to Sata cable? You could install it externally.

 

[mrk123]

Do you have a usb to Sata cable? You could install it externally.

I don’t have one. I’m hoping to do it internally. As if I keep buying all these peripherals I may as well buy a new mac.
Hoping this new sata cable is the fix.
Would I need another mac to do it with usb to sata. Hoping to just do it online with internal SSD in mac.