MBP 8,1 won't recognize Crucial M500 SSD

So I'm upgrading a Macbook Pro 8,1 with a Crucial M500 960GB. Hooked up the M500 with Apricorn externally and formatted the drive. Installed 10.8. MBP boots fine from M500, and the internal drive is visible. Then switched the drives, with the M500 internally in the main bay and the HDD external. When MBP is started, I get the gray folder with ?. Can't even see the external HDD or anything else, even holding option key. Just internet restore.

Checked Apple forums and texted Crucial tech support. Both said it was the HD cable. So I just went to the Apple store and they replaced it with a new cable. No difference. Same behavior. It must be the cable, but other people are using this SSD with MBP 8,1 and it works, so I am puzzled.

Any suggestions?

I'm using the 480GB M500 with no problems.

Given that you've replaced the HD cable and it still doesn't work I'd have the vendor replace your SSD and see if a new one works.

Have you reinstalled the original HD internally and tried to boot? Must admit, it sounded like a failed cable, they are touchy. Didn't the Apple Store test it after replacing the cable, as that was the reason for taking your MBP to them?

Does the Crucial SSD appear in Disk Utility when booted from the original hard drive? Maybe it needs formatting Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

Thanks for all the quick replies. This is a great forum.

The machine is running now on the external SSD which is working fine. The original HDD is in the main bay and I can see all files, so the new cable is working fine. Both appear in Disk Utility.

So I just rebooted from the internal HDD. Both disks show up in Disk Utility. Everything looks good this way.

Maybe it is an SSD failure and I should get it replaced, but it works fine externally. I still suspect the cable, perhaps that it cannot handle the SATA 3 properly. I don't know. But the SSD is working.

I'm sorry. I left out a couple of details. The SSD is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled), and the Apple Store will not test with another manufacturer's hardware.

ferrarr said:

Put the SSD in the MBP and the original HD in the external enclosure and boot from the original. See if you can see the SSD that way.

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The MBP will not boot. I'm holding the option key when booting and I see the option for internet recovery (no other drives).

How did you transfer your OS to the SSD also if you are seeing internet recovery it either can't read the recovery portion of the drive or it does not exist.

I hooked up the SSD externally (usb) and partitioned it and installed 10.8 from an installer on the HDD. There doesn't appear to be any recovery portion of the drive.

No, well I rebooted and there is a recovery portion on both the HDD and the SSD.

This is booting from the HDD, of course. When booting from the SSD (internally) I see nothing.

ferrarr said:

I'm wondering if the size (960gb) has anything to do with it? Were hd sizes that big in early 2011?

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Well, I was thinking that 960GB may need more power than the MBP 8,1 can give, and so maybe I'll have to try a smaller one. I've read of people getting the 960GB to work with 2011 and 2012 MBPs, but not specifically the 8,1. The SSDs were much smaller back then.

Yes, used GUID. I contacted Crucial tech support but they refused to help since I bought it from OWC. Contacted OWC tech support and they had no new ideas, so they are replacing the SSD with another of the same model. I'll try it and let you know.

Thanks.

That doesn't say much for Crucial tech support. It is their drive, right? Why would they refuse to give support?

In retrospect, I should have bought OWC. I had read the Crucial reviews and they were great, and the OWC site lists OWC SSDs only up to 480GB, so I opted for the Crucial. So now I'll try another Crucial, and if it doesn't work I'll refund it and try a different one. Something must work with the MMP 8,1. And I will definitely check into the trim support.

dpb123 said:

.. the OWC site lists OWC SSDs only up to 480GB..

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This is for 3GB models and I don't know if your model is 3 GB or 6 GB SATA, but...
OWC Mercury Electra 3G Solid State Drive (SSD) Solutions - High Performance, Reliability, and Endurance

The symptoms sound like the ones I was having until I realized I wasn't putting the cable on fully.

Check the connections at both ends of the drive cable if you haven't already. I had similar behavior recently when I installed an SSD in my MacBook Pro. I thought the cable was bad. I even went so far as to order a new cable. Turns out that the cable had worked loose from the logic board a bit. It looked tight and even worked intermittently.