27 2012 Imac SSD not detected

[johnrobert]

Took out old spinner hard drive replaced with Samsung SSD not detected. The SSD was taken out of a non working similar year with magnets 21 imac going into a 27. Shows graphic of folder on screen, no HD
There was a little 2 wire cable I think heat sensor put old HD back without heat sensor it works.
Should SSD work without doing anything I tested SSD in my MAC with usb

 

[timeshifter]

I've had similar issues upgrading Macs in the past with it recognizing an SSD. I think the fix for me was to be sure the drive was clean. On a Windows PC I'd run it through DiskPart and do a clean.

 

[Markverhyden]

The temp sensor is not a requirement for a drive to work. It's used to control the fans. If you put it in, powered up and are just seeing a blinking folder that means it's not seeing a bootable volume. It will not show anything else.

What was the OS version on the old drive? That model came with 10.8 and newest OS it can run is 10.15. Around that time frame, 2012, Apple implemented a virtual OS recovery install taking to Apple's servers. Power on holding the Option key and it should show what bootable options exist. If that's not there then you will have to install from external media - USB stick. Another reason you need to know what the last OS version has to do with driver. Generally speaking, unlike Wintels, firmware /BIOS updates occur within the OS installation. If it had 10.8 and you tried 10.15 install it will almost certainly fail because it'll be missing those update(s).

If you tried booting to Command+R and it doesn't then Recovery doesn't exist in firmware. When you install a OS via USB stick it will create that partition on the drive.

As @timeshifter said you want to start with a naked drive. DiskPart does an awesome job of that.

Mac OS boot options cheat sheet. - https://kapeli.com/cheat_sheets/Mac_Startup_Keys.docset/Contents/Resources/Documents/index

 

[timeshifter]

I didn't realize you were expecting it to just boot normally off of the "new" drive. Often times Macs can do this. I was working on the assumption that you were trying to install an operating system.

You could try booting a Windows 10 install and see if the drive is recognized. I think you can install Windows on that machine but may need extra drivers, but it would work as a test.

I question whether the drive from your non-working system that you put in is any good. Maybe connect the drive to another computer and verify it's OK.

 

[johnrobert]

I can boot to apple severs ready to install Yosemite. after putting in my Apple ID I get. plist parsing error
it might be because clock is out of date, no terminal in disk utility to change time.
I know Apple Id is correct as I changed it

 

[timeshifter]

Installing an OS from Apple server's is a cluster-bleep when you're dealing with really old operating systems. I'd recommend figuring out what the latest macOS you can run on that system is then download and make an installer on a different Mac, then boot from that installer to do your setup.

 

[Markverhyden]

I can boot to apple severs ready to install Yosemite. after putting in my Apple ID I get. plist parsing error
it might be because clock is out of date, no terminal in disk utility to change time.
I know Apple Id is correct as I changed it

Never use your personal Apple ID restore a Apple computer that is not your personal machine. If you can boot to Recovery Mode, Command + R, you will have a option to get to CLI to change the date to address expired cert issues. If you need a image file let me know. I'm pretty certain I have some.

 

[britechguy]

Never use your personal Apple ID restore a Apple computer that is not your personal machine.

Amen! And never use anything but the owner of that machine's Apple ID when doing so. [The analogous advice applies to modern Windows, too.]

 

[overburnz]

did the iMac 27" had a Fusion Drive? if so have you removed the flash storage from behind the logic board? in regards to the new SSD if you enter recovery options, do you see the SSD? can you format and reinstall macOS? try booting with cmd + opt + r so it boots up to the latest version of macOS available for that iMac (with should be Catalina)

 

[johnrobert]

Does Apple have a restore tool for the old hard drive I know it has time Mc
in the event I have to do it manually after copying data can i copy over Mac mail folders to get address books etc
I know I can copy applications but better to do new installation.

I thought it would be easy swapping SSD from old iMac to working old one, like windows 10
I have done it with old Macbooks

 

[timeshifter]

Put the original drive back in the iMac. Make a Time Machine backup to an external drive. Install the SSD and load an operating system. Upon boot use Migration Assistant to bring in everything from the old drive.

 

[johnrobert]

The problem is original Mac does not work, so I removed HD, I know there is a ton of **** on it, will not be easy to setup.
I was hoping HD would work in a similar model.

I think making Macs so difficult for the all but the pros is by design, been farting around with this all day.
I guess could load it usb target to get some info, maybe not

Big thanks for all the help

 

[overburnz]

Does Apple have a restore tool for the old hard drive I know it has time Mc
in the event I have to do it manually after copying data can i copy over Mac mail folders to get address books etc
I know I can copy applications but better to do new installation.

I thought it would be easy swapping SSD from old iMac to working old one, like windows 10
I have done it with old Macbooks

If the HD is working, again assuming it is not a Fusion Drive, after installing macOS in the SSD just put the HD in a external case, plug it to the usb Port on the iMac and one of the steps in setting up macOS will ask if you have data to copy from, just select another mac or TM option and it will load what is on the HD

 

[overburnz]

Put the original drive back in the iMac. Make a Time Machine backup to an external drive. Install the SSD and load an operating system. Upon boot use Migration Assistant to bring in everything from the old drive.

No need for that, if not a Fusion Drive just follow the steps above

 

[johnrobert]

Chugging along 7 hours to go that's from SSD to Fusion drive.
Guy at Apple store told me it could not be imported from HD
You have to navigate to Utilities, Migration assistant on old HD not like having 2 Macs side by side.

Mac was advertised as an SSD soon as I saw 1 TB I knew it was not a proper SSD you would need to second mortgage your home for that upgrade with Apple.
are these fusion drives any good?
Why not Fusion drive will they not mount USB? I guess firmware in Mac

Its 2018 21.5 $250 cad thats like 170 usd. paid cash no tax. Not like I was not going to buy it after driving 50 miles.
I aborted giving them one of my old iMacs
They had many 2013 models $100 looked like new, put in SSD you have decent Mac, but not so easy.
They were going to buy refurnished from Apple $1800

 

[Markverhyden]

Apple's Fusion drives are the same as those in the Wintel which advertised NVMe for "cache". In essence they are a bastardized hybrid RAID. The faster you get away from them the better.

 

[johnrobert]

A client gave me a 2018 15 inch MBP. I was amazed by the quality the screen clarity blew me away, sound quality amazing, light, slim, great design, never gets hot, makes no noise, a joy to hold, battery last 10 hours or more web browsing on a 7 year old laptop. I despise the the O/S I will never gets used to it.
Its too Fisher Price. Apple insults us with prices and lack of repair.
Why can't somebody make a laptop like this for Windows, the design is so generic cant be blamed for copying, surprised the Chinese have not copied it probably have.
I have a 2022 Acer its a piece of **** compared to this, Have to press hard on some keys to work it has not had much use. its all plastic
I know you can get much better laptops Levono, Dell etc, can't compare to newer MBP's bearing in mind they cost 3 or 4 times more.
Anyway, that's my 2 cents worth as we are on this Apple post.

 

[timeshifter]

I was amazed by the quality the screen clarity blew me away, sound quality amazing, light, slim, great design, never gets hot, makes no noise, a joy to hold, battery last 10 hours or more web browsing on a 7 year old laptop.

Why can't somebody make a laptop like this for Windows

Because if they did* people would make comments like this:

Apple insults us with prices

* Lenovo and Dell and others make systems as nice. But you won't find them for $699 at Best Buy.

 

[overburnz]

Apple is a premium Brand with premium prices, the repairability nowadays is complicated has everything is onboard, but you can’t compare a 2000$ MacBook to a 500$ windows computer…..

@johnrobert Fusion Drive cannot be connected via usb drive because you need both disks connected in order for the data to be accessible

 

[Markverhyden]

Because if they did* people would make comments like this:


* Lenovo and Dell and others make systems as nice. But you won't find them for $699 at Best Buy.

Actually if you take the time to spec out a Wintel machine from a major OEM that's comparable to any model Apple computer the price differential isn't great. What people tend to do use the lowest price Wintel computer to compare. That's like comparing a Chevy Malibu to a Mercedes E450. Classic marketing tactic. Don't sell what your competitors sell.