You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Erased main HDD off device and now no hard drive can be found.

I was clearing my early 2015 MacBook Pro 13" Retina, planning to sell it afterwards. In disk utility I erased two drives. One was titled Macintosh HD and the other was Macintosh HD - DATA. I erased BOTH of these drives.


Upon restarting my computer, an image with a folder and a question-mark appeared. I then restarted in recovery mode and was prompted with the option to open disc utility or download a version of Mac OS Maverick via the internet. When I attempted to download Maverick, there was no hard drive/disk available to install the OS on. I went back into disk utility to find no available hard drive ( other than the Mac OS base system drive).


I then went to my other Mac (2018 4 thunderbolt version) and copied the OS Catalina Installer onto a flash drive hoping that I would be prompted to install OS Catalina in the broken MacBook. However, the flash drive could not be read.


I then erased the data on the flash drive and configured it to APFS so that it could be read by my Mac and I was able to install OS Maverick via the internet to that drive.

Now the problem remains. I want to recover access to the integrated 256gb SSD and boot my computer normally through the SSD and not the flash drive.


Currently, the Mac is running OS Maverick of a 128gb flash drive.


I do not care about data recovery as there was no data to recover to begin with.


I went as far as to unscrew the back-shell and removed the SSD and reinsert it.


Any tips would be appreciated!


Thank you!

Posted on Feb 16, 2020 10:43 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Feb 16, 2020 10:50 AM

From your Internet Recovery>Disk Utility>View>Show All Devices> your parent drive.

You need to erase/format the parent drive.


This would be drive level not container/volume level.




How to reinstall macOS from macOS Recovery: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904


Similar questions

13 replies

Feb 16, 2020 5:26 PM in response to dmxray

Try an SMC reset and a PRAM reset (hold the PRAM reset for at least three chimes so it activates several times).


Does this laptop contain the original Apple SSD or a third party SSD?


If it contains the original Apple SSD and it does not show up after the resets, then your SSD has died.


If you are using a third party SSD, then you may need to be booting with at least macOS 10.13+. Your screenshot of Disk Utility shows you are using macOS 10.12 or earlier.

Feb 16, 2020 7:18 PM in response to dmxray

You did not answer my very important question. Regardless, either the original Apple SSD has failed or you are using a third party internal SSD. If you are using a third party SSD, then installing a later version of macOS may not work because it requires a system firmware update to be installed which requires an original Apple SSD to be installed internally. You should be able to reinstall the last working version of macOS to the laptop.


Assuming a third party SSD is installed in this laptop, then depending on what has already been done you can try booting into Recovery Mode (Command + R) to reinstall the last OS which was installed on this laptop (in theory anyway). Since Catalina wasn't installed on this laptop, then I don't think you will be able to install Catalina with a third party SSD installed, but you can try by booting into Internet Recovery Mode (Command + Option + R). Make sure to use @leroydouglas' post as a guide on how to erase the SSD if it is seen in Recovery Mode/Internet Recovery Mode.


I would suggest creating a macOS 10.13 High Sierra USB installer using these instructions since it should work even with a third party SSD installed.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372


This is as much help that can be provided without knowing the exact details.


Original Apple SSD installed or is it a third party SSD?


When you provide error messages we need to know which version of the macOS installer you are using.


Exact details are very important since we cannot see what is happening.

Feb 16, 2020 7:33 PM in response to dmxray

Your drive may not be showing because it is an nVME drives, for which support did not appear until 10.13 and you were running 10.15.


Mavericks on the flash drive is too old to see nVME drives as drives.


Got a good Internet connection? Use Recovery to get more recent tools:


How to reinstall macOS from macOS Recovery - Apple Support


EDIT: HWTech's most recent post was not visible when I started composing. I did not intend to contradict anything they said.

Feb 17, 2020 8:54 AM in response to dmxray

As @Grant Bennet-Alder mentions you have a standard M.2 NVMe SSD.


What OS was on this system before it was erased? You should be able to reinstall any macOS between macOS 10.13 to the OS which was installed previously (in theory). While booting into Recovery Mode using Command + R should boot the installer for the last OS installed on this laptop it does not always do so.


If this happens you can try booting the Catalina installer with Internet Recovery Mode using Command + Option + R. If Catalina was not previously installed, then this option may not work since the installer will want to install the latest system firmware update which may require an original Apple PCIe SSD to be installed. Unfortunately the information/details about the rules/requirements are not completely known since it seems to vary between different systems.


As a last resort you can create a bootable macOS USB installer using these instructions:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372


macOS 10.13 High Sierra is likely a safe bet to choose since this is the oldest version of macOS that would work with a third party NVMe SSD. You can try Mojave or Catalina, but if you get the "firmware" error message, then it means either the SSD is not properly erased or the installer requires an original Apple PCIe SSD to be installed internally (and properly erased) so the new system firmware can be installed. After which you should be able to install that version of macOS to the third party SSD.


FYI, Apple has made life very difficult and complicated for anyone using a third party PCIe SSD in an Apple product especially when upgrading to a new version of macOS. Apple makes several slightly different versions of their proprietary PCIe SSDs so you must make sure to use the proper one made for your exact model laptop if you decide to temporarily use an Apple SSD to update this laptop.

Erased main HDD off device and now no hard drive can be found.

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.