Flashing Folder even when HDD and Cable Working

[Wedzmer]

I have read all the threads regarding the flashing folder with question mark here on the forum but I can't seem to find the right solution for this.

I was just browsing the internet 2 days ago then my macbook pro died on me. When I turned it on, 5$3 flashing folder appeared. I went online finding that it may be because of my HDD or my HDD Cable. My first suspect was the latter. Then I took out my brothers macbook and opened it up, i transferred my HDD on his and it won't start up. It only shows this cirlce icon with a bark on the middle. My guess was it maybe because I was running on High Sierra while he's still on maverick. Then I placed his HDD on my Macbook just in case, and voila it turned on. So my initial guess that it's the HDD cable was wrong. So I thought my HDD was dead, now I had a spare HDD from my acer laptop, so I formatted it and hoped to replace it on my mac since they both got the same models. Problem is, disk utility (command r) during boot up won't detect it. The same thing was with my old HDD, the hard disks won't detected by my mac. So i pull it out, installed it via SATA cables on my PC to check if Disk Manager will be able to detect either of the two... and again, both HDDs are detected and reflected to be healthy partitions.

My problem is:

1. It's not the HDD cable since my brother's macbook hdd turns on when I put it on my macbook.
2. It can't be my HDD since my desktop PC detects it to be healthy.
3. My acer hdd which was formatted previously still won't get detected by my macbook for clean installation.

Up until now, I still get that flashing folder with question mark. I'm on a dead end here...


Please help...


Regards,

 

[IWT]

A warm welcome to Mac-Forums. Thank you for posting here.

Others with more experience may help you more than I; but to get started, I would make the following comments:

It's not the HDD cable since my brother's macbook hdd turns on when I put it on my macbook.

. I agree

It can't be my HDD since my desktop PC detects it to be healthy.

. I beg to differ. I think it is your HDD.

My acer hdd which was formatted previously still won't get detected by my macbook for clean installation.

Not all HDDs are suitable for use in a Mac.

I agree that there might be more problems than just your HDD, but my view is that the HDD is the main issue.

Happy to be proven wrong and, as I said, other colleagues here may suggest alternative approaches.

Ian

 

[Wedzmer]

Hi Ian! Thanks for the welcome!


Just a two questions with what you just said:

1. If not all HDDs are suitable for Mac, can you recommend one?

2. With what you said regarding there might be more problems other than the HDD, do you have anything else in mind other than it?


-Wedz-

 

[ferrarr]

If you erased the "acer" hdd, how would your MBP "command+R" see the drive if there is nothing on it? Command+R brings you into the drives recovery partition, and since no OS has been installed on the drive yet, there is nothing for the drive to do. See this Apple Support Document, https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314, pay closed attention to the last section.

Depending on the model year of both MBP, there may be an easy fix.

 

[pigoo3]

...now I had a spare HDD from my acer laptop, so I formatted it and hoped to replace it on my mac since they both got the same models. Problem is, disk utility (command r) during boot up won't detect it.

- How did you format it...and what format did you format it with?
- Like Ferrarr mentioned...can't do "command-r" on a hard drive (Acer HD) that's never had the macOS installed on it & doesn't have a Recovery partition to access.
- Regarding the 2nd Macbook and the Mavericks vs. High Sierra question. Don't have specs on either computer to be able to say exactly what OS versions each is capable of running.

With the info given so far...agree with what IWT said...original HD in the MacBook Pro is bad...replace it.

- Nick

 

[pm-r]

Regardless of whether the drive gets passed off as "good" or not, if the Mac gives the "flashing folder with question mark" thing, then that drive volume just doesn't have a valid or bootable OS X system installed it can use. And installed on a good working useable volume as well.




- Patrick
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[Wedzmer]

Hello guys! Thanks for your responses!

If you erased the "acer" hdd, how would your MBP "command+R" see the drive if there is nothing on it? Command+R brings you into the drives recovery partition, and since no OS has been installed on the drive yet, there is nothing for the drive to do.

I see... but considering if I buy a new HDD, doesn't that new one also have no OS installed? Yet when cmd+r it still gets detected in the disk utility? I'm quite confused here.

Depending on the model year of both MBP, there may be an easy fix.

I am using a Macbook Pro Laptop Mid 2012 model.

- How did you format it...and what format did you format it with?
......

With the info given so far...agree with what IWT said...original HD in the MacBook Pro is bad...replace it.

- Nick

I only formatted it to NTFS... lol
What format should I use so that it get's detected?

 

[pigoo3]

I only formatted it to NTFS...lol
What format should I use so that it get's detected?

Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Like this:



- Nick

 

[MacInWin]

OK, a quick explanation. To install an OS to a drive, you either have to have a bootable drive (external or usb thumb drive) from which to install or you have to have what is known as the Recovery Partition on the drive from which to install. Brand new drives don't have the recovery partition, so the only thing left is something external. Internet installation is possible for newer machines, and I think yours should qualify. Here is Apple's directions on that:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904

What is happening with you is that you have NO operating system at all on the drive, none. So there is no Recovery Partition and no way to boot the machine except using the Internet Recovery process described in the second Apple documentation above. Or, if you have a working Mac, you could create a bootable external thumb drive and boot from there to do the installation, as described in the first article above. But you won't be able to see the Acer drive until the Mac is booted from somewhere. Take note in the second article about the Option-CMD-R recovery and the Shift-Option-CMD-R recovery modes. You will need to use at least one of those options.

 

[Wedzmer]

Guys, this is the latest update but just to refresh things up, the history of this post:

My mac experienced the flashing question mark folder when booting up to which

1. I assumed wither the hdd or the hdd cable
-i used my brothers hdd and replaced it on my mac and it works. Most likely my hdd is the problem.

2. I took my mac hdd and place it on a SATA Disk Enclosure and removed the hdd of my brother inside my mac awhile ago.
-the result, my hdd still works and i can access my macbook using my old hdd via the disk enclosure.

My question is:

1. If it's my hdd, how come it works via disk enclosure?
2. If it's my hdd cable, how come my brother's hdd when i put it on my mac works?
3. When i put back my hdd on my mac, the flashing folder happens and cmd+r will not detect my hdd.

PS:
I partitioned my hdd before I installed high sierra which everything was working for the last 2 months. I did so in order for me to better locate my doc files and video files.

 

[ferrarr]

Since you have an external enclosure, put the acer drive in that, and connect it to your brothers Mac. Then using Disk Utility, format it as pigoo3 shows above (post #8). This will make it accessible in your MBP, if the cable is not the problem. You may want to get another SATA cable, just for confirmation, and a safe mind, so that this issue won’t pop up again. And, if the original drive still works, you will have an extra drive “just in case”.

 

[Wedzmer]

I did that and it works! I erased and restored from the original hdd to the acer hdd. And i boot from my disk enclosure using my acer hdd and it's working now.

I'm really confused why my brother's hdd is working when i plug it inside my mbp whereas my hdd and even my acer hdd won't work directly and needs an enclosure just to boot up. ?

 

[ferrarr]

So, right now you can only run from an external enclosure, or your brothers hdd, internally? Neither the original, or the acer, will not work as an internal drive in your MBP? That is definitely a strange result. How old are all the drives? The older one(s) may be failing and that is why they are behaving that way. Make sure you keep your important data backed up frequently.

 

[Wedzmer]

Yah... my mac hdd (original) is about 3 years so i can't really blame it to be failing. But the acer hdd is a little more than 2 months old which I actually cloned through CCC from my old hdd. I can use my MBP via external enclosures with both my HDDs. Both won't work when I place it inside my unit. But for some veeeery very strange reason, my brother's hdd which is now running on el capitan works on my MBP both external and internal installations.

Did any of you encountered this problem?

 

[pm-r]

I can use my MBP via external enclosures with both my HDDs. Both won't work when I place it inside my unit. But for some veeeery very strange reason, my brother's hdd which is now running on el capitan works on my MBP both external and internal installations.

Can you hear or feel any vibration from your non-booting drive when you poer up?

It almost sounds like it's not getting any power from a poor connection or whatever when placed in your Mac. Or poor SATA cable as suggested.

But to be quite honest, I'm not sure that I'm understanding all your situations accurately as to what's actually happening or not with what.




- Patrick
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[Wedzmer]

Can you hear or feel any vibration from your non-booting drive when you poer up?
======

Yes, but only when I'm using it with my enclosure. But with direct installation within the mbp, i don't feel like anything of such.

 

[pm-r]

Yes, but only when I'm using it with my enclosure. But with direct installation within the mbp, i don't feel like anything of such.

And it works in the external enclosure: check
And it doesn't work in the Mac: check

So I'd say either the connecting cable or its connection or the power source inside the Mac is goofy or not working.

Maybe try checking at ifixit.com for a way to check if they have a suggestion.

I would suspect a power supply to the drive, whatever it is, considering you said:

I was just browsing the internet 2 days ago then my macbook pro died on me.

And any poor connection I would think would have been fixed during your drive swaps back and forth. And it seems odd that a cable would suddenly go south while it was working normally.





- Patrick
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