Unsolved SSD mystery

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lowepeterjohn

Jan 4, 2019
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I have a problem with a SSD that suddenly crashed after being used in my Macbook on field trips for about a year. One day when I was working on a word document the spinning ball appeared on my screen and the computer froze, after waiting for some time I forced restart, but the macbook could no longer find the SSD that seemed to be as dead as a door nail. Fortunately I had a back up disk, so didn't lose any data, and when I got back from my trip I replaced the SSD with another regular (non-SSD)HD, so my trusty Macbook is working again. Funnily enough so is the SSD but - and this is the unsolved mystery - only when I connect it to my Macbook as an external drive, not when I connect it inside the Macbook where it was working before, which is a pity, since it is faster than the replacement drive I am using inside my Macbook now. So here is my question: How come this SSD works perfectly as an external drive on my Macbook, but does not work at all and cannot even be reformatted when I install it inside the Macbook?

I have read SSD drives may be more sensitive to power fluctuations than regular drives, so suspect this is why mine failed on my field trip possibly due to a power surge. Could whatever caused the SSD drive to crash have damaged some internal component of the drive or the Macbook in such a way that it prevents an SSD drive from working inside the Macbook but lets it continue to work normally when connected via USB as an an external drive together with the regular replacement drive inside the Macbook that I have been using now for a couple of weeks with no problem?

Even though it seems to be working fine I am also worried that there may be some problem with the SSD externally, that could kill it at any moment? I would very much like to get it up and running inside my Macbook again instead of continuing with the slower replacement drive or buying a new SSD but am not sure how to advance.

What could the cause of this mystery be?
 
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What is the MacBook's model? What is the SSD drive's brand and model? To summarize what you wrote, the SSD is not visible when installed internally. The SSD is visible and can be booted into externally. A replacement HDD operates normally.

Is the SSD drive indicated as being healthy (S.M.A.R.T. status)?

The logic board seems to be fine because it works with the HDD and external SSD. Although it depends on your answer to the previous question, I am betting that the SSD is also fine. That would narrow the problem down to the SATA controller or the drive connector.
 
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Thanks Lolnole, it is a 13-inch, Mid 2012 Macbook Pro. Following up on your good advice I googled SATA controller and found that others have reported having problems with the SATA controller for this model. But if that or the cable is the problem then how come my replacement HDD works normally but the SSD does not work at all via the same internal connector? And what could I do to fix it?

Given your encouragement, I am thinking that the next step may be for me to try to boot the SSD via the internal CD/DVD connection that I have not done yet, even though I have a drive cage with an additional regular HDD in the internal CD/DVD slot, as it is not easy for me to remove the cage to swap the drive, though what I do know is it is possible to install the OS and boot the computer from a regular HDD in that slot. Do you reckon it would be good to try the SSD in the cage in the CD/DVD slot or just a waste of time?
 
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Why does the HDD work but not the SSD? That is the question. What is the SSD drive's brand and model? I have a one possible theory, but it depends on what type of SSD drive.

You are thinking about doing this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWUKAUlxrkg

That looks to be a viable alternative option. I do validate that the SSD can be used as boot drive from that connection. Also keep in mind, disconnect the battery before dissecting your laptop. The person in the video did not!
 
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Yep that is the question!

It is an "Intel SSD DC S3500 Series DELL" SSD.

Some months ago (about 2 months before the crash I describe above) I did the same modification to the Macbook that is shown in the youtube video link you sent to me, replacing the DVD player with a conventional 500GB replacement disk in a non-OEM caddy that continues to work fine with no problems. At the moment I am using it as the boot drive, also with no problem. What I am considering now is trying to reinstall the SSD in that caddy to see if it works but am hesitating as it is not a piece of cake to do so I want to be fairly confident it makes sense to try doing so before starting to dismantle my laptop again.

Meanwhile I tried to check the SMART status of the drives. What I found out is the Macbook reports the SMART status of the two conventional drives that I have installed inside the laptop. But it does not give a SMART status for either the SSD connected via external USB link or an alternative conventional disk also connected via USB link, so I guess SMART status only seems to apply when a disk is connected inside the computer not via USB?
 
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Right.
SMART does not travel through a USB connection.
 
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The two of you are correct. You will need to install the SSD in another system to retrieve the SMART status.

My hypothesis was that a fault of the SATA power connector was supplying correct voltage to the HDD and not to the SSD. However, the SSD's model you posted seems to disprove this. Of course, we cannot be 100% sure unless we take measurements. I was thinking from this angle because the external enclosure, which the SSD works with, has its own power circuitry. You were thinking from a similar angle in your original post.

The only options I see:

Install the SSD where the optical drive is located. If it is a power issue, it should not affect this location.

Install another SSD in the original location. This will add to the mystery if it works.

If you have expertise in electronics, you can take measurements to see what is going on between the system and the drive. I can provide you with the schematics for your MacBook's logic board.
 
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Thanks Lolnole for your encouraging reply that gives me confidence that it is worthwhile to continue trying to solve this mystery. I did not take into consideration before that the external enclosure has it own power circuitry, or that installing the SSD where the optical drive is located should not be effected by the same power issue. Tomorrow I will try to install the SSD where the optical drive is located as you suggest and report back after doing so.
 
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WHAKO! problem solved... though mystery still persists?

Before removing the conventional disk with the OSX from the CD/DVD bay, I tried again to install the SSD in the main drive bay inside the laptop. The result was: NOTHING (computer could not see the SSD... same as before) )-:

Next, I moved the conventional disk with the OSX to an external drive, then installed the SSD in the CD/DVD bay, booted up the Macbook using the OSX on the conventional disk in the external drive, the computer found the SSD that according to SMART was verified and working perfectly with no problems.

So all I had to do then was to back up the OSX from the conventional disk with Time Machine, then restore it to the SSD, so now the SSD is once again working inside the computer as the main disk for the OSX just as it was before - the only difference being that it is now installed in the caddy in the DVD drive slt instead of in the main internal drive bay.

To finish the job I installed an additional conventional disk in the main internal drive bay (where the SSD was located until it decided for some mysterious reason it could no longer stand living there) and that additional conventional disk is also working just as it should...

... so (for now) after various somersaults I am back where I started with a working computer using the same SSD drive as the main internal drive just in a different slot than before; happy I donçt have to live with a slow conventional drive as the main engine for the computer and/or fork out whatever it costs to buy a replacement SSD.

So THANK YOU VERY MUCH since without your encouragement I would have most certainly chucked in the towel ages ago.

That leaves the mystery?

Given all of the above, is it not possible the cable for the main internal drive that refused to find the SSD may need replacing, even if it has no problem finding a conventional drive and continues to work as it should with a conventional drive; could it be the SSD requires a different type of power supply than a conventional drive or some other peculiar diet (like steak for breakfast) that a conventional disk does not require?

 
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Great job on getting the SSD to work in the optical bay. Yes, the mystery persists. I think at this point the next steps require deeper analysis. In other words, measurements need to taken off the logic board to determine the problem. Based on the SSD model you provided, the power requirements are similar to the HDD. However, it is possible the system thinks the SSD is of the low-power model. Therefore, it is underpowering the drive. Measurements will need to be taken to verify this.

In any case, you have a working laptop that has an extra HDD. Maybe one day down the road you will be able crack the mystery of the SSD.
 
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After getting my Macbook back from the veterinary I was using it happily --- until it slowly but surely started getting grumpy again and began reporting that the conventional 1TB in my internal main hard drive bay was not working properly and could not be verified, even though the computer could see the HD! However I was quite sure there was nothing wrong with that 1TB HD that I had bought not so long ago. So even I could see that the mysterious problem that had caused my SSD to freeze and computert to stop working some weeks ago was most likely a faulty HD cable (thanks to Lolnole for pointing me in the right direction).

Fortunately this did not prevent me from working as I had installed the SSD with the OS in the DVD bay that works very well. So I just ordered a replacement HD cable that I have just installed today and as expected the computer and now both the conventional hard drive and SSD hard drives inside it are working perfectly. So that clears up that mystery!

Unfortunately while installing the new hard drive cable I did manage to break the tiny ZIFF connector that connects the cable to the sleep sensor and LED but that is another story...
 
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