Hard Drive not showing up in Disc Utility

Hello All,

My Mac (late 2009 13 inch Macbook Pro 2.26ghz) was not booting and I was getting a Circle with a line crossing through it instead of the apple logo after powering up. I assumed the hard drive was bad and replaced it. I went to partition the new drive and it wasnt showing up in disc utility, all I could see was the OS X install disc.

Went to Mac store and they told me the drive I replaced it with was also a dud. Got another drive and same problem can't see it in disc utility. Bought an external enclosure and I can see both drives I bought as well as the original can been seen in disc utility when plugged they are plugged in the external enclosure. Currently, reformatting the new drive through the external usb connection and then planning on installing it in the Macbook to see what happens.

Any ideas why disk utility can see the drives when installed inside the Macbook? bad sata cable possible??

Thanks
I

Can't see new hard drive in Disk Utility after install

Hello All,

My Mac (late 2009 13 inch Macbook Pro 2.26ghz) was not booting and I was getting a Circle with a line crossing through it instead of the apple logo after powering up. I assumed the hard drive was bad and replaced it. I went to partition the new drive and it wasnt showing up in disc utility, all I could see was the OS X install disc.

Went to Mac store and they told me the drive I replaced it with was also a dud. Got another drive and same problem can't see it in disc utility. Bought an external enclosure and I can see both drives I bought as well as the original can been seen in disc utility when plugged they are plugged in the external enclosure. Currently, reformatting the new drive through the external usb connection and then planning on installing it in the Macbook to see what happens.

Any ideas why disk utility can see the drives when installed inside the Macbook? bad sata cable possible??

Thanks
I

Boot from the OS X install disc, go to Utilities > Disk Utility and see if the drive appears there. Format OS Extended (Journalled) and partition if necessary. And the bad cable sure sounds that may be the problem. Often it is with Macbooks due to limited room and heat.

And do not double post. Administrators frown upon this. Most forum users simply hit the 'Get New' button and up the thread will come regardless of where you posted it.

@iflor1`

You not only double posted, but also posted in the wrong forum. What does this have to do with "Rumors and Reports"?

Read forum descriptions before posting and read forum Sticky notices at the top of each forum. Thanks.

@chscag - Posted in the wrong spot, first time on the site. When I realized it was in the wrong forum tried to delete it but couldnt figure out how.

@harryb2448 - even when booting from the OS disc when the drive is in the machine it will not appear in disk utility. I was able to successfully partition the disk and install OS X on the drive when I had it plugged in externally through the USB. Original Drive which I initially thought was corrupt also can be seen through the external connection, which makes me doubtful that putting the newly formatted drive back in the machine will make any difference. I believe at this point that it must be a cable or a connection

I think you are probably right since both drives can be seen in the enclosure but not in the computer. When you put the drive back in make sure it is well connected. If it still is not working time to get the Mac checked out.

Is the sata cable something that a novice could replace? If so, does anyone have any recommendations on where that cable can be purchased.

@chscag - Posted in the wrong spot, first time on the site. When I realized it was in the wrong forum tried to delete it but couldnt figure out how.

Click to expand...

You can't delete a post. If you need something moved, ask a Staff member to do it for you.

As for your problem..... It's likely a bad cable from the SATA connector on the logic board to the hard drive. The cable can usually be purchased on eBay or from: iFixit: The free repair manual or Mac Repair - Mac Parts and Service for Apple Macbook, iPhone, iPad

Ordered a new hard drive cable from ifixit and replaced the existing cable. The macbook now recognizes the internally connected hard drive.

Read on a few other websites that faulty hard drive cable is a known problem in the mid/2009 mid/2009 unibody macbook pros.

Thanks for the help!

OK. Glad to hear you're back up and running. Have fun and visit often.