Mac Pro (Late 2013) Won't Boot but Appears in Disk Utility

Question

Mac Pro 2013

The 2013 revamp of the desktop Mac series known as the Mac Pro.

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Justin @justjustin

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crwdns2931729:0crwdne2931729:0: Nhl 10, 2018

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Mac Pro (Late 2013) Won't Boot but Appears in Disk Utility

I bought a Mac Pro (late 2013) [macpro6,1] from a friend and installed a new flash SSD. To help cut to the chase with formatting, I used a bootable USB to load Mac OSX Mojave and can confirm through terminal info that the new ssd, named “NewSSD” has an APPL_HFS partition type, Journaled HFS+, OS can be installed, and the device is internal.

I can select NewSSD as the startup disk and have tried to boot to it, but can’t for the life of me get it to function and start the operating system.

I have tried reinstalling a few times and the same thing occurs.

HOWEVER, I tried using 2 other bootable USB drives and then the internal disk does not appear in disk utility in recovery, so for some reason it seems to only be recognizing the disk when I have my original boot drive plugged into the USB.

So to recap, I can see the NewSSD in disk utility in recovery, I’ve run first aid on the drive no problem, but then it doesn’t boot the operating system.

Any thoughts? @danj ?

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@mayer Dr. House of Macs might be able to help here...

crwdns2934271:0Nhl 10, 2018crwdnd2934271:0 [deleted] crwdne2934271:0

Who's SSD did you use and its size?

crwdns2934271:0Nhl 11, 2018crwdnd2934271:0 Dan crwdne2934271:0

I am using a Samsung Evo 970 with an adapter, I got this drive and adapter because others with the same model have had success getting the drive installed and running. I can see the drive after I boot holding option+command+R. I erased the drive and formatted the drive with Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with GUID. I then tried to install Mac OS X Mojave and with 1 minute remaining the computer resets and then restarts to the question mark file. I shut down and started again with c+o+r and it now shows 6.71 GB used but still can't get it to startup to the disk or operating system @danj

crwdns2934271:0Nhl 12, 2018crwdnd2934271:0 Justin crwdne2934271:0

Might be something to do with the formatting of the SSD. I always do it Journaled and not HFS before installing OS because for some reason I get a flashing folder icon after installing the MAC OS high Sierra or newer.

crwdns2934271:0Nhl 12, 2018crwdnd2934271:0 Ben crwdne2934271:0

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I am using a Samsung Evo 970 with an adapter, I got this drive and adapter because others with the same model have had success getting the drive installed and running. I can see the drive after I boot holding option+command+R. I erased the drive and formatted the drive with Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with GUID. I then tried to install Mac OS X Mojave and with 1 minute remaining the computer resets and then restarts to the question mark file. I shut down and started again with c+o+r and it now shows 6.71 GB used but still can't get it to startup to the disk or operating system @danj — Justin
Might be something to do with the formatting of the SSD. I always do it Journaled and not HFS before installing OS because for some reason I get a flashing folder icon after installing the MAC OS high Sierra or newer. — Ben

score 2 · Answer 1 · 2018-10-13T04:19:23-07:00

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Dan @danj

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Self employed contract worker

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crwdns2931729:0crwdne2931729:0: Nhl 13, 2018

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Sorry, the Mac Pro’s require a real Apple blade SSD* for their boot drive. While I know some people have managed to use these adapters and a M.2 drive in the MacBook Pro’s I have yet to see it work in a Mac Pro.

Frankly, I have seen more problems using this setup. Last month alone I had to replace two back to real Apple SSD’s. To salvage things I used an external M.2 case. For my own Mac Pro I wanted to push the storage I went with a RAID case using M.2 SSD’s OWC Express 4M2.

OWC also offers a workable SSD as well! Thats what I have in mine. OWC Aura SSD for Mac Pro

Take the time to read this: The Ultimate Guide to Apple’s Proprietary SSDs it should help explain things. BeetsTech is also a great source for the needed SSD.

Hopefully you can get your money back

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Thanks Dan! I was hopeful because it's a great drive but doesn't make sense if it can only be mounted external. I haven't had much luck with OWC either, they're sending me a replacement today. I now suspect the efi firmware but will probably table this project for a bit or just bring it to someone to fix and call it a day haha. Thanks again.

crwdns2934271:0Nhl 17, 2018crwdnd2934271:0 Justin crwdne2934271:0

@justjustin - I'm confused?? You stated you got a Samsung EVO 970 SSD why would OWC send you a replacement? Did they sell you the Samsung EVO drive?

crwdns2934271:0Nhl 17, 2018crwdnd2934271:0 Dan crwdne2934271:0

No, sorry for the confusion. I bought one of their enclosures for the original hard drive to keep trouble shooting and it didn't work. I have not yet tried the Aura SSD, I was trying to figure out a more affordable solution but doesn't currently seem to be an option.

crwdns2934271:0Nhl 17, 2018crwdnd2934271:0 Justin crwdne2934271:0

So you used one of the Envoy cases then but those are designed for the Apple SSD's not the Samsung EVO 970 SSD. Unless you got the OWC Express 4M2

If you where trying to re-use the Mac Pro 2013 SSD you'll need the Envoy Pro case that comes with the Aura SSD for the Mac Pro it's different than the MacBook Pro case.

crwdns2934271:0Nhl 17, 2018crwdnd2934271:0 Dan crwdne2934271:0

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Mac Pro 2013

Mac Pro (Late 2013) Won't Boot but Appears in Disk Utility

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