Powering up and Option Key is not giving me boot/format options...

[moonlightsailor]

Macbook Pro 17" mid 2009
Model A1297
Serial number: W89350XE8YA
OS: 10.11.6

I'm trying to swap out old drives for new SSD's.

I purchased two, 250GB SSD's.

Backed up existing main HD to one of the SSD's.

Swapped out the old HD with the NEW SSD.

Multiple attempts made at trying to power up the laptop with the OPTION key. I get a blank screen with cursor and nothing on the screen to click. It's blank.

I have tried other SSD's and it's doing the same thing.

I tried formatting the SSD before installing it as well. No luck.

I have also reset the PR ram.

I'm not getting anywhere.

Can anyone help?

Thanks!

 

[MacInWin]

Welcome to the forum.

Backed up existing main HD to one of the SSD's.

How was this done? the SSD may not be bootable if the backup didn't include making it so.

And I presume you know to hold down the Option key at power up and keep holding it until options appear.

Just to save some time, here is what you might be better to try:

Reinstall the HD.
Obtain a copy of either Carbon Copy Cloner or Super Duper and use that product to make a clone of the HD to the SSD. (That should make the SSD bootable.)
Install the SSD and boot normally. If the SSD has been properly created, it should boot.

Hope that works for you.

EDIT: Oh, yeah, if you boot from the HD externally with the SSD being blank, you'll need to clone the HD to the SSD anyway, so CCC or SD are still tools you will need.

 

[gsahli]

Backed up existing main HD to one of the SSD's.

Telling us how you "backed up" would be helpful.

 

[ferrarr]

2009 Macs, would not have access to the Recovery partition, after installing a new internal drive. You need either a Bootable USB installer, or bootable external drive with a clone. And, Time Machine would need Mac OS X 10.7.3 or higher to be installed, in order to be able to boot from TM. So with no OS or Recovery partition, no booting to TM.

 

[MacInWin]

All that is true, Bob, but we don't know that the SSD drive is TM, the OP has not said how the "back up" was made. So, until we hear how the new SSDs were created, we have no way to help the OP. Option at boot should show all bootable drives, internal and external, so from the post, it appears that none of the SSDs are bootable. Just hope the OP still has the HD to boot from or this is going to be ugly.

 

[moonlightsailor]

Telling us how you "backed up" would be helpful.

I backed up the main HD to an External SSD via USB and Time Machine. No problems there at all.

I also tried formatting the new SSD via USB with MAC OS Journaled (extended). Then I put that SSD in the main Bay, then tried to boot with option key and I get the blank screen with mouse pointer.

A different thread suggested that I may need an upgraded SATA cable for the newer SSD? Can anyone confirm that?

Sounds like I may not have the right recovery partition on the new SSDs?

Oh, one more thing. When I have the SSD connected via USB externally, using the option key does work and I can select device to boot from. If I select the external SSD, I'm directed down the path to begin reinstall and starts asking me to choose language, etc. Looks like I just need a good internet access and then I can install new OS X.

I can try to clone the HD to the new SSD...but will wait for more feedback.

Thanks for all your input!

 

[MacInWin]

I backed up the main HD to an External SSD via USB and Time Machine. No problems there at all.

Sounds ok, but TM does not make a normally bootable drive. It is possible to boot from a TM drive, but to do that hold CMD+R down at boot and wait for the TM drive to show up as a boot source. Bear in mind that if that is the internal SSD, then you won't be able to install to that drive as that is where you have booted from. So if the SSD with the TM backup is external and you boot from it, then you can use Disk utility to format the internal drive and I think you can then restore from TM to that drive and should end up with the new internal being bootable.

I also tried formatting the new SSD via USB with MAC OS Journaled (extended). Then I put that SSD in the main Bay, then tried to boot with option key and I get the blank screen with mouse pointer.

Yep, formatting does NOT install anything, just formats the drive to be empty, so the drive is blank, leading to the blank screen. So basically what you got is what you should have, i.e., nothing.

A different thread suggested that I may need an upgraded SATA cable for the newer SSD? Can anyone confirm that?

Not at this point. So far you have been able to work with the internals (see, format, etc) so the cable is functioning. It is always possible for the cable to go bad, particularly if you are working with it a lot, but at this point I see no reason to suspect it. You don't need a new one just because of the SSDs, if that was what you meant. The same cable should work with both the old HD and the new SSDs.

Sounds like I may not have the right recovery partition on the new SSDs?

At this point, you have nothing on the new SSDs, since you formatted them, if I understand what you have said. And when you made the TM backups to them, that didn't create any recovery partition, either, so it's not that you don't have the right partition, it's that you have no recovery partition as you have not installed any OS to them.

Oh, one more thing. When I have the SSD connected via USB externally, using the option key does work and I can select device to boot from. If I select the external SSD, I'm directed down the path to begin reinstall and starts asking me to choose language, etc. Looks like I just need a good internet access and then I can install new OS X.

That result implies that there is something on the SSD so that is a good thing, sort of.

I can try to clone the HD to the new SSD...but will wait for more feedback.

Thanks for all your input!

I think what is happening when you use the Option key you are getting to an Internet restore somehow. You can read these for information: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904

Cloning the HD will just clone the TM backup, which is not normally bootable. What I would try is to put the SSD internal, then boot using CMD+R from the external HD with TM on it, run Disk Utility from there to clean erase the internal SSD, then use TM from the External to restore to the Internal SSD. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203981 should help. Good luck with it. Keep the TM backup for a while, it may be handy to have just in case the install doesn't work properly.

 

[chscag]

From what you described above, the SSD is not bootable nor did you render it bootable, which is why it's not booting the machine. When you backup using Time Machine, all you have is a backup, not a bootable clone. You would need to use an application that creates a clone and renders the target external drive bootable. (Carbon Copy Cloner, SuperDuper)

There is a way to boot from a Time Machine backup but as Bob mentioned above, your machine is too old for that.

I can try to clone the HD to the new SSD...but will wait for more feedback.

Make sure you use one of the two apps I mentioned in the first paragraph. Both have fully functional free trials.

 

[ferrarr]

Put the original drive back in.
Re-download your macOS version.
Create bootable USB installer.

or

Connect TM drive, and try option again, https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203981.