JetDrive installation with missing Recovery partition: Clone internal SSD to external SSD

You are most likely suffering from a bad SATA cable. This is a very common issue with any MBP so far, and often presents itself when someone decides to swap out their drive.

You can check this by plugging in both the SSD and an external boot medium and then booting up with option key pressed. If you can see the external medium after some time but not the SSD, your SATA cable is most likely broken.

This is the thin black cable going to your motherboard from the SATA plug. It's pretty cheap to buy and can be installed really easy. It is screwed down to the chassis so you will have to unscrew it before you can replace it.

Addition to my post: TRIM has nothing to do with this. Neither does Yosemite :) TRIM is a garbage collection technology (or: a ATA command to initiate GC on a specific part). Modern SSD's work fine with or without it. The difference is that TRIM can be used by the operating system to direct some specific garbage collection. This is separate from the SSD controller's own garbage collection scheme. You do not need TRIM, you should not install a "TRIM Enabler" as they work (since Yosemite) by disabling kext signatures and blindly modifying some code and/or a plist for a kernel extension. Some newer enablers use local kext signing as an immediate solution. You will however not have any noticeable performance difference, but you will have a system that's been messed with. The only thing you have to make sure is that you don't have your SSD completely filled 99% of the time as this limits the SSD's ability to maintain itself properly in some cases.

If you still have the Recovery partition, you can transfer the partition manually.

The example given below was generated using two sparse disk images and Yosemite (OS X 10.10.5). You may have to jump though hoops that I did not have too. Some of these hoops are:

• El Capitan and later users may need to disable System Integrity Protection (SIP).
• To enter some of the commands, you may need to boot from a USB device (flash drive, HDD or SSD) or use Internet Recovery.
• Add or remove the command prefix sudo.
• Use the cd command to navigate to the proper directory (folder).
• Precede a command or file with the proper path.
• Make the proper adjustments if the sector size is not 512 bytes.
• Deal with addition complexities, if employing Core Storage.

Below is the procedure for copying a Recovery partition from /dev/disk1 to /dev/disk2. This procedure requires the use of a third party command called gdisk. More information about this command can be found at the site "GPT fdisk Tutorial".

The initial contents of /dev/disk1 and /dev/disk2 are given below.

Steelhead:recover davidanderson$ sudo gpt -r show /dev/disk1
Password:
      start       size  index  contents
          0          1         PMBR
          1          1         Pri GPT header
          2         32         Pri GPT table
         34          6         
         40     409600      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
     409640  197892752      2  GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
  198302392    1697608      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
  200000000          7         
  200000007         32         Sec GPT table
  200000039          1         Sec GPT header
Steelhead:recover davidanderson$ sudo gpt -r show /dev/disk2
      start       size  index  contents
          0          1         PMBR
          1          1         Pri GPT header
          2         32         Pri GPT table
         34          6         
         40     409600      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
     409640   99328216      2  GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
   99737856     262151         
  100000007         32         Sec GPT table
  100000039          1         Sec GPT header

1. Image the entire source partition. This partition is very small and normally is not mounted. Simply copy the partition to a file.

   Steelhead:recover davidanderson$ sudo dd if=/dev/disk1s3 of=recovery.binary bs=40960
   21220+1 records in
   21220+1 records out
   869175296 bytes transferred in 44.563133 secs (19504358 bytes/sec)
   Steelhead:recover davidanderson$ ls -l
   total 1697608
   -rw-r--r--  1 root  staff  869175296 Jul 20 11:53 recovery.binary
   

2. Make room of for the new Recovery partition.

   Steelhead:recover davidanderson$ diskutil resizevolume /dev/disk2s2 limits
   For device disk2s2 MacintoshHD:
           Current size:  50.9 GB (50856046592 Bytes)
           Minimum size:  5.5 GB (5524418560 Bytes)
           Maximum size:  50.9 GB (50856046592 Bytes)
   Steelhead:recover davidanderson$ diskutil resizevolume /dev/disk2s2 45G
   Started partitioning on disk2s2 MacintoshHD
   Verifying the disk
   Verifying file system
   Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume
   Checking extents overflow file
   Checking catalog file
   Checking multi-linked files
   Checking catalog hierarchy
   Checking extended attributes file
   Checking volume bitmap
   Checking volume information
   The volume MacintoshHD appears to be OK
   File system check exit code is 0
   Resizing
   Finished partitioning on disk2s2 MacintoshHD
   /dev/disk2
      #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
      0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *51.2 GB    disk2
      1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk2s1
      2:                  Apple_HFS MacintoshHD             45.0 GB    disk2s2
   

3. Create the new Recovery partition on /dev/disk2. The new partition has to be exactly the same size as the existing Recover partition.

   Steelhead:recover davidanderson$ sudo gdisk /dev/disk2
   Password:
   GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.1
   
   Warning: Devices opened with shared lock will not have their
   partition table automatically reloaded!
   Partition table scan:
     MBR: protective
     BSD: not present
     APM: not present
     GPT: present
   
   Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.
   
   Command (? for help): n
   Partition number (3-128, default 3): 
   First sector (34-100000006, default = 88300264) or {+-}size{KMGTP}: 
   Last sector (88300264-100000006, default = 100000006) or {+-}size{KMGTP}: +1697608
   Current type is 'Apple HFS/HFS+'
   Hex code or GUID (L to show codes, Enter = AF00): AB00
   Changed type of partition to 'Recovery HD'
   
   Command (? for help): x
   
   Expert command (? for help): a
   Partition number (1-3): 3
   Known attributes are:
   0: system partition
   1: hide from EFI
   2: legacy BIOS bootable
   60: read-only
   62: hidden
   63: do not automount
   
   Attribute value is 0000000000000000. Set fields are:
     No fields set
   
   Toggle which attribute field (0-63, 64 or <Enter> to exit): 49
   Have enabled the 'Undefined bit #49' attribute.
   Attribute value is 0002000000000000. Set fields are:
   49 (Undefined bit #49)
   
   Toggle which attribute field (0-63, 64 or <Enter> to exit): 
   
   Expert command (? for help): w
   
   Final checks complete. About to write GPT data. THIS WILL OVERWRITE EXISTING
   PARTITIONS!!
   
   Do you want to proceed? (Y/N): y
   OK; writing new GUID partition table (GPT) to /dev/disk2.
   Warning: Devices opened with shared lock will not have their
   partition table automatically reloaded!
   Warning: The kernel may continue to use old or deleted partitions.
   You should reboot or remove the drive.
   The operation has completed successfully.
   Steelhead:recover davidanderson$ sudo gpt -r show /dev/disk2
         start       size  index  contents
             0          1         PMBR
             1          1         Pri GPT header
             2         32         Pri GPT table
            34          6         
            40     409600      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
        409640   87890624      2  GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
      88300264    1697608      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
      89997872   10002135         
     100000007         32         Sec GPT table
     100000039          1         Sec GPT header
   

4. Eject and reattach /dev/disk2. If you can not do this, then restart the Mac.

   Steelhead:recover davidanderson$ diskutil eject /dev/disk2
   Disk /dev/disk2 ejected
   

5. Copy the saved image to the new Recovery partition. Since this is an exact copy, use the hfs.util command to generate a new UUID key for the HFS file system.

   When using El Capitan (OS X 10.11), the full path to the hfs.util command is System/Library/Filesystems/hfs.fs/Contents/Resources/hfs.util.

   Steelhead:recover davidanderson$ sudo dd if=recovery.binary of=/dev/disk2s3 bs=40960
   Password:
   21220+1 records in
   21220+1 records out
   869175296 bytes transferred in 52.127608 secs (16673992 bytes/sec)
   Steelhead:recover davidanderson$ /System/Library/Filesystems/hfs.fs/hfs.util -k disk2s3; echo
   78A8438E-2299-3AF0-AD9E-3AC225B0554A
   Steelhead:recover davidanderson$ /System/Library/Filesystems/hfs.fs/hfs.util -s disk2s3
   Steelhead:recover davidanderson$ /System/Library/Filesystems/hfs.fs/hfs.util -k disk2s3; echo
   0F4F5893-D9E1-3512-9B2B-2AEA0DE9FDE3
   

6. Eject and reattach /dev/disk2. If you can not do this, then restart the Mac.

   Steelhead:recover davidanderson$ diskutil eject /dev/disk2
   Disk /dev/disk2 ejected
   

7. Attempt to recover any leftover free space.

   Below a is first attempt. The diskutil resizevolume /dev/disk2s2 R command fails.

   Note also that diskutil resizevolume /dev/disk2s2 limits command reports the wrong maximum size.

   Steelhead:recover davidanderson$ diskutil resizevolume /dev/disk2s2 R
   Started partitioning on disk2s2 MacintoshHD
   Verifying the disk
   Verifying file system
   Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume
   Checking extents overflow file
   Checking catalog file
   Checking multi-linked files
   Checking catalog hierarchy
   Checking extended attributes file
   Checking volume bitmap
   Checking volume information
   The volume MacintoshHD appears to be OK
   File system check exit code is 0
   Resizing
   Error: -69742: The requested size change for the target disk or a related disk is too small;
   please try a different disk or partition, or make a larger change
   Steelhead:recover davidanderson$ diskutil resizevolume /dev/disk2s2 limits
   For device disk2s2 MacintoshHD:
           Current size:  45.0 GB (44999999488 Bytes)
           Minimum size:  5.5 GB (5524459520 Bytes)
           Maximum size:  45.0 GB (44999999488 Bytes)
   

   Try again, but this time compute how large partition /dev/disk2s2 should be.

   Steelhead:recover davidanderson$ sudo gpt -r show /dev/disk2
   Password:
         start       size  index  contents
             0          1         PMBR
             1          1         Pri GPT header
             2         32         Pri GPT table
            34          6         
            40     409600      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
        409640   87890624      2  GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
      88300264    1697608      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
      89997872   10002135         
     100000007         32         Sec GPT table
     100000039          1         Sec GPT header
   Steelhead:recover davidanderson$ expr 10002135 \* 512 / 100000000 + 450 
   501
   Steelhead:recover davidanderson$ diskutil resizevolume /dev/disk2s2 50.1G
   Started partitioning on disk2s2 MacintoshHD
   Verifying the disk
   Verifying file system
   Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume
   Checking extents overflow file
   Checking catalog file
   Checking multi-linked files
   Checking catalog hierarchy
   Checking extended attributes file
   Checking volume bitmap
   Checking volume information
   The volume MacintoshHD appears to be OK
   File system check exit code is 0
   Resizing
   Waiting for the disks to reappear
   Finished partitioning on disk2s2 MacintoshHD
   /dev/disk2
      #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
      0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *51.2 GB    disk2
      1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk2s1
      2:                  Apple_HFS MacintoshHD             50.1 GB    disk2s2
      3:                 Apple_Boot recovery                869.2 MB   disk2s3
   Steelhead:recover davidanderson$ sudo gpt -r show /dev/disk2
   Password:
         start       size  index  contents
             0          1         PMBR
             1          1         Pri GPT header
             2         32         Pri GPT table
            34          6         
            40     409600      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
        409640   97851560      2  GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
      98261200    1697608      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
      99958808      41199         
     100000007         32         Sec GPT table
     100000039          1         Sec GPT header
   

   This attempt succeeded. In practice, you never recover all the free space. Note that the new Recovery partition /dev/disk2s3 was relocated automatically.