Problems installing OSX on SSD
I've tried four different SSDs over the last few months, on two separate Macs, and have been unsuccessful in getting OS X installed on any of them. The first was an OCW, the second and third were ADATA, and I'm now trying a Kingston HyperX Fury. I also tried two different SATA cables. I'm now trying to format the SSD externally using a USB to SATA adapter so that I can still use my computer with a working internal HD while I try to solve this problem.
In Disk Utility, I've had the same errors on all of them. Here's the basic process I've gone through in an attempt to format the drives for
I have the drive connected with an external drive adapter through USB, and am using my Macbook Pro with Yosemite in normal mode, booted on a regular working hard drive. (If necessary, I can boot it internally again if it might help.)
1) Inside Disk Utility, I click the SSD in the sidebar, and then the Erase button within the Erase tab with the Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format selected.
Completes format without any errors:
2015-08-24 22:20:15 -0700: Preparing to erase : “Untitled”
2015-08-24 22:20:15 -0700: Partition Scheme: GUID Partition Table
2015-08-24 22:20:15 -0700: 1 volume will be created
2015-08-24 22:20:15 -0700: Name : “Untitled”
2015-08-24 22:20:15 -0700: Size : 240.06 GB
2015-08-24 22:20:15 -0700: File system : Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
2015-08-24 22:20:15 -0700: Unmounting disk
2015-08-24 22:20:16 -0700: Creating the partition map
2015-08-24 22:20:16 -0700: Waiting for the disks to reappear
2015-08-24 22:20:16 -0700: Formatting disk7s2 as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with name Untitled
2015-08-24 22:20:28 -0700: Initialized /dev/rdisk7s2 as a 223 GB case-insensitive HFS Plus volume with a 24576k journal
2015-08-24 22:20:28 -0700: Mounting disk
2015-08-24 22:20:28 -0700: Erase complete.
2015-08-24 22:20:28 -0700:
2) To test the disk, I click the First Aid tab and then the Verify Disk button. Again, everything looks fine:
2015-08-24 22:23:36 -0700: Verifying partition map for “WD ON SHFS External Media”
2015-08-24 22:23:36 -0700: Starting verification tool:
2015-08-24 22:23:36 -0700: Checking prerequisites
2015-08-24 22:23:36 -0700: Checking the partition list
2015-08-24 22:23:37 -0700: Checking for an EFI system partition
2015-08-24 22:23:37 -0700: Checking the EFI system partition’s size
2015-08-24 22:23:37 -0700: Checking the EFI system partition’s file system
2015-08-24 22:23:37 -0700: Checking the EFI system partition’s folder content
2015-08-24 22:23:37 -0700: Checking all HFS data partition loader spaces
2015-08-24 22:23:37 -0700: Checking booter partitions
2015-08-24 22:23:37 -0700: Checking Core Storage Physical Volume partitions
2015-08-24 22:23:37 -0700: The partition map appears to be OK
2015-08-24 22:23:37 -0700:
3) To test the partition that was created on Erase, I click the Untitled partition in the sidebar, click the First Aid tab, and then the Verify Disk button. Now the errors begin:
Verifying volume “Untitled”
2015-08-24 22:25:13 -0700: Starting verification tool:
2015-08-24 22:25:13 -0700: Verifying file system.
2015-08-24 22:25:13 -0700: Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
2015-08-24 22:25:13 -0700: Checking extents overflow file.
2015-08-24 22:25:13 -0700: The volume Untitled could not be verified completely.
2015-08-24 22:25:13 -0700: File system check exit code is 8.
2015-08-24 22:25:13 -0700: Error: This disk needs to be repaired. Click Repair Disk.
2015-08-24 22:25:13 -0700:
2015-08-24 22:25:13 -0700: Disk Utility stopped verifying “Untitled”: This disk needs to be repaired. Click Repair Disk.
4) I click the Repair Disk button, and the repair fails.
2015-08-24 22:25:45 -0700: Verify and Repair volume “Untitled”
2015-08-24 22:25:45 -0700: Starting repair tool:
2015-08-24 22:25:45 -0700: Repairing file system.
2015-08-24 22:25:45 -0700: Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
2015-08-24 22:25:46 -0700: Invalid B-tree node size
2015-08-24 22:25:46 -0700: The volume could not be verified completely.
2015-08-24 22:25:46 -0700: File system check exit code is 8.
2015-08-24 22:25:46 -0700: Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required.
2015-08-24 22:25:46 -0700: Error: Disk Utility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files.
2015-08-24 22:25:46 -0700:
2015-08-24 22:25:46 -0700: Disk Utility stopped repairing “Untitled”: Disk Utility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files.
To give some more context, I first attempted to format all of these drives on my Macbook Pro. After that I tried each on my iMac and received the same errors. It seems very odd that none of these would work on either computer. I'm hoping that the Macbook Pro didn't destroy them somehow (if that's possible) which might have prevented them from working on the iMac. Maybe it formatted them in a strange way which is preventing them to work and to be properly reformatted on either computer?
The drives still show up in Finder and in Disk Utility, and I'm able to drag and drop files onto them. But the problems with Verify and Repair are preventing me from actually installing OS X on to them. I've tried Lion and Yosemite, and get "Installation Failed" errors with both.
I'll be standing by ready to try any suggestions. I've already tried everything that I can think of, and all the suggestions on other threads/forums, and I'm just not sure what to do.
Help is much appreciated.
Solution 1:
Have you wrote about the installation methods that you did on all drives? Have you using USB flash drive with recovery included inside as your installation drive?