[SOLVED] Can You Use an Existing SSD from a Windows PC and FORMAT it in Mac Utilites BOOT?

[Sugar Kaine Mostly]

I have an Intel SSD 480gb that I would like to install High Sierra on. So I want to put the SSD in my Macbook Pro and boot from USB installer. Will MacOS utility know how to format this SSD correctly, erase all data from a Windows OS? Any solution?

 

[Solandri]

You will only be able to use a SATA SSD if you have a very old MBP that came with a HDD. And even then, some of them use a connector with a proprietary temperature sensor. You'll need to transfer the sensor and connector to the SSD, otherwise the fan will run a full (noisy) speed.

https://everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/index-macbookpro.html

The MBPs which ship with SSDs use proprietary SSDs. The only compatible replacement SSDs are made by OWC.

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc

Assuming these conditions are met, the drive will work just fine. OS X formats drives as HFS+ (as opposed to NTFS for Windows, ext2/3/4 for Linux). Though I believe they've got a newer file format for SSDs. The installer or Disk Utility will handle this for you. Lack of TRIM was a problem on earlier OS X releases (Apple was slow to recognize the usefulness of SSDs), but you should be OK with High Sierra.

 

[Sugar Kaine Mostly]

You will only be able to use a SATA SSD if you have a very old MBP that came with a HDD. And even then, some of them use a connector with a proprietary temperature sensor. You'll need to transfer the sensor and connector to the SSD, otherwise the fan will run a full (noisy) speed.

https://everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/index-macbookpro.html

The MBPs which ship with SSDs use proprietary SSDs. The only compatible replacement SSDs are made by OWC.

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc

Assuming these conditions are met, the drive will work just fine. OS X formats drives as HFS+ (as opposed to NTFS for Windows, ext2/3/4 for Linux). Though I believe they've got a newer file format for SSDs. The installer or Disk Utility will handle this for you. Lack of TRIM was a problem on earlier OS X releases (Apple was slow to recognize the usefulness of SSDs), but you should be OK with High Sierra.

thank you Solandri. My Macbook Pro is a late 2011, and the seller said there was a Samsung SSD in this laptop before. So I assumed an Intel SSD would work fine. I will give it a try. =)

 

[Sugar Kaine Mostly]

So I popped the SSD in the MBP. I’m in disc utilities. Whenever I click on the SSD, it’s divided in two parts, disk0s1 and disk0s2 on Internal. I selected Mac OS Extended (Journaled) When I clicked on erase for either one it says: Erase process has failed...

Details: Unmounting Disk, Couldn’t modify partition map. Operation failed...

 

[Solandri]

Sounds like the installer encountered a partition type or layout that it didn't recognize. Pop the SSD back into a PC. Use a partition manager program like Partition Wizard to erase all partitions on the drive. (Note: you have to make the changes, then click Apply.) Then try it in the Mac again.

https://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html