How can I troubleshoot unrecognized SSD drives in Mac Pro ate 2013?

irwinpks wrote:

I also created a USB boot with TransMac with a High Sierra image. While using that, the USB drive is detected, but not able to boot the OS.

I haven't seen anyone report success with TransMac since I've been contributing here for some years now.

I used COMMAND + R right after power up to call up the boot menu, but that doesn't show. Tried using the OPTION key.

Try using Command + Option + R to attempt to access the online Monterey installer. Command + R should access the online installer for the last version of macOS that was installed on this system. However, some Macs will just boot to the oldest installer regardless of the keys used.

Pressing the special startup keys immediately after hearing the startup chime is the most reliable way of accessing the special boot options. Pressing & holding the keys too soon or too late can result in the keys being ignored, or even having the system stall until the keys are released.

What does happen when you try these special startup keys?

What I haven't done yet was use another USB boot loader creator. And earlier my friend mentioned it could've been Catalina or Big Sur that was last seen.

The only reliable method for creating a bootable macOS USB installer is by using the instructions in the following Apple article:

Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support

You will need access to a compatible working Mac that is qualified to run the OS you are creating. Generally you need:

• macOS 12.x -- model from 2015 to mid-2022 (only an option if Monterey was previously installed unless an OEM SSD is installed internally so the system firmware can be updated the first time Monterey is installed)
• macOS 11.x -- model Late-2013 to mid-2021
• macOS 10.15 -- model 2012 to mid-2020
• macOS 10.13 -- model Late-2009 to 2018

You can use the information in the following article to confirm a particular Mac is compatible with a particular version of macOS:

https://eshop.macsales.com/guides/Mac_OS_X_Compatibility

APFS is not the issue. The pivotal version was 10.13 High Seira. if that was ever installed, then he likely has the firmware needed to use a Third-party SSD drives. This firmware is installed on a private store on the processor, not on any drive. so installing that firmware is permanent.

But these are NOT off the shelf, ordinary drives.

The key vendor who has been making drives that are compatible is OWC/Macsales:

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc/mac-pro/2013

no one except the vendor knows whether Timetec claims of working in that MacPro are accurate, so you should really ask Timetec.

you know you will have to change Disk Utility's tiny 'View' menu and show all devices,

then select the DEVICE by its immutable manufacturer-given device-name and

ERASE, right?

if you intend to install High Sierra or later, partition map GIUD and file system APFS should be selected.

that is showing ONLY a drive containing MacOS Base System, the completely stripped-down version of MacOS that powers Recovery and Installer.

The drive on which it is located is typically a Disk Image, loaded onto a RAM drive, created so that ALL real drives are free to be completely repaired or erased. In later versions its size was boosted up to about 2GB form what you are showing, about 1.28 GB.

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A drive that will not reveal its make&Model and a reasonable non-zero size/capacity to Disk Utility is NOT useable for anything. it can not even be repaired or erased. In most cases, it has died. In this case, it may not be the right drive for the job.

irwinpks wrote:

That was the other thought....dead drive. My friend will order an OWC drive tomorrow and we'll go from there.

Not necessarily. The third party SSD is an NVMe based SSD which requires booting into macOS 10.13+. The screenshot of Disk Utility is showing you are booted from an older version of macOS which cannot physically see or communicate with the third party NVMe based SSD. You need to boot from macOS 10.13 to 12.x to be able to have macOS see the third party SSD.

FYI, Disk Utility for macOS 10.13+ has a "View" icon just above the left pane of Disk Utility, but below the toolbar row of icons.

If macOS 12.x Monterey was never previously installed, then you probably cannot install Monterey since the Monterey installer requires a working properly formatted original Apple OEM SSD to be installed internally in order to allow the Monterey installer to update the system firmware. The Monterey installer will still see the third party internal SSD regardless.

I've seen mixed results from people using Timetec SSDs on this forum. Usually when they go for the OWC SSD their problems go away.

what version of MacOS was running on the old drive when it stopped working?