SSD drive partition showing as FFFF on the MacBook Pro 2010

boothard drivepartitionssd

About three years ago I replaced my original hard disk on my 2010 MacBook Pro with SSD drive to make the system run faster. It did work fine until now.

Regrettably I'm in this position now as my system kept booting and when it turned on eventually it always started with a pop-up that report needs to be sent to Apple. It happened number of times and eventually it stopped booting altogether.

I took the SSD hard disk out and started investigation and looking for answers in online forums. Sadly in my case the partition drive is/was my main macOS drive and has lots of family pictures and data. Unfortunately I haven't got any back-up of all family pictures and data since I replaced it with original drive.

My SSD main partition drive is showing as 'FFFFFFFF-FFFF-FFFF-FFFF-FFFFFFFFFFFF'. I’ve put the old original hard disk back and booted my macbook from it and connected SSD via USB and the main partition now showing as ' FFFFFFFF-FFFF-FFFF-FFFF-FFFFFFFFFFFF'.

As I've been looking for a solution on how to fix and come across number of posts and I've read Klanomath’s solution posts resolving this issue.

When you advise to run add gpt command there is usually a long string after that in your solutions, e.g.

sudo gpt add -i 2 -b 409640 -s 820115416 -t 7C3457EF-0000-11AA-AA11-0033…

How do you determine that?

I’ve posted some pictures below. Can you advise me the exact command string I’ll need to run?

screenshot Terminal
screenshot Desktop

EDIT 1
Please see below as suggested

daniel-baswals-MacBook-Pro:~ danielbaswal$ sudo dd if=/dev/disk2s2 count=3 2>/dev/null | hexdump -Cv
Password:
daniel-baswals-MacBook-Pro:~ danielbaswal$ 
daniel-baswals-MacBook-Pro:~ danielbaswal$ diskutil list
/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *250.1 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD            224.5 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
   4:       Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP                24.7 GB    disk0s4
/dev/disk1
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *480.1 GB   disk1
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk1s1
   2: FFFFFFFF-FFFF-FFFF-FFFF-FFFFFFFFFFFF               400.1 GB   disk1s2
   3:       Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCP                  79.8 GB    disk1s3
daniel-baswals-MacBook-Pro:~ danielbaswal$ sudo dd if=/dev/disk2s2 count=3 2>/dev/null | hexdump -Cv

daniel-baswals-MacBook-Pro:~ danielbaswal$ sudo dd if=/dev/disk1s2 count=3 2>/dev/null | hexdump -Cv
00000000  dd c8 ca e0 a8 4b c9 69  01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |.....K.i........|
00000010  15 9a 0b 00 00 00 00 00  01 00 00 80 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000020  4e 58 53 42 00 10 00 00  fb 9d d2 05 00 00 00 00  |NXSB............|
00000030  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000040  02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  f0 21 62 59 6d 20 4a ab  |.........!bYm J.|
00000050  b6 20 b8 c0 67 77 01 1a  38 5d 13 00 00 00 00 00  |. ..gw..8]......|
00000060  16 9a 0b 00 00 00 00 00  18 01 00 00 2c 6c 00 00  |............,l..|
00000070  44 d4 05 00 00 00 00 00  de 44 05 00 00 00 00 00  |D........D......|
00000080  5b 00 00 00 8a 64 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |[....d..........|
00000090  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  e8 65 01 00 00 00 00 00  |.........e......|
000000a0  ed d3 0b 00 00 00 00 00  01 04 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000000b0  00 00 00 00 64 00 00 00  03 04 00 00 00 00 00 00  |....d...........|
000000c0  df 65 01 00 00 00 00 00  e1 65 01 00 00 00 00 00  |.e.......e......|
000000d0  a9 08 02 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000000e0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000000f0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000100  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000110  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000120  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000130  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000140  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000150  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000160  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000170  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000180  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000190  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000001a0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000001b0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000001c0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000001d0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000001e0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000001f0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000200  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000210  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000220  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000230  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000240  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000250  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000260  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000270  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000280  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000290  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000002a0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000002b0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000002c0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000002d0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000002e0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000002f0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000300  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000310  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000320  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000330  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000340  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000350  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000360  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000370  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000380  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000390  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000003a0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000003b0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000003c0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000003d0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  b2 ef 58 04 00 00 00 00  |..........X.....|
000003e0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000003f0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000400  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000410  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000420  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000430  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000440  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000450  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000460  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000470  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000480  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000490  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000004a0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000004b0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000004c0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000004d0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000004e0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000004f0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  33 5d 22 05 00 00 00 00  |........3]".....|
00000500  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000510  6d 2a 18 04 00 00 00 00  01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |m*..............|
00000520  01 00 04 00 08 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000530  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000540  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000550  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000560  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000570  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000580  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000590  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000005a0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000005b0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000005c0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000005d0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000005e0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000005f0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000600
daniel-baswals-MacBook-Pro:~ danielbaswal$

EDIT 2 –

Many thanks David. As suggested I've run commands in gdisk and the result is as below –

sudo gdisk /dev/disk1
Password:
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.4

Warning: Devices opened with shared lock will not have their
partition table automatically reloaded!
Partition table scan:
  MBR: hybrid
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: present

Found valid GPT with hybrid MBR; using GPT.

Command (? for help): t
Partition number (1-3): 2
Current type is 'Unknown'
Hex code or GUID (L to show codes, Enter = AF00): AF0A
Changed type of partition to 'Apple APFS'

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/disk1.
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.

diskutil list
/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *250.1 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD            224.5 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
   4:       Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP                24.7 GB    disk0s4
/dev/disk1
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *480.1 GB   disk1
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk1s1
   2: 7C3457EF-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC               400.1 GB   disk1s2
   3:       Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCP                  79.8 GB    disk1s3

so the partition is not appearing as ffffff-ffff-ffff anymore but I still cant see contents as I think I need Sierra or higher version. I'll now replace original drive with this SSD and hopefully it'll boot. fingers crossed. I'll report back. screenshot below from Disk Utililty

enter image description here
EDIT 3

Unfortunately the SSD didn't boot. I tried to install High Sierra on old drive which has Yosemite but that didn't work either. Therefore I've now ordered a new SSD which I'll use first to install High Sierra so I can access files on the old SSD. After that I intend to use it as a Time Machine back up for future. I'll report back progress.

EDIT 4
Many thanks for your help. So I tried my SSD on friends MAC desktop and since he has a later version of MacOS I was able to see my files, what a relief. However If I try to access the same drive from my own laptop I can't as I think there are some hardware issues with my MacBook Pro. Think I'll open a new thread to get help on hardware fix.

Best Answer

If you are able to repair you drive, then you will need to be running at least Sierra in order to mount the macOS partition on the SSD via USB.

Below are two possible solutions.

Using a Third Party Tool

Since you already have the SSD connected as disk2 in a USB port, a simple solution would be to download and use gdisk.

The current gdisk installer is named gdisk-1.0.4.pkg. I will assume this will download to your Downloads folder. Before opening this file to install gdisk, you may need to remove the quarantine by executing the command given below.

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine ~/Downloads/gdisk-1.0.4.pkg

Once gdisk is installed you would need to enter the following command.

gdisk /dev/disk2

The gdisk command is interactive. What you need to enter into gdisk is given below. This input is only valid if you use version 1.0.4 or a newer version of gdisk.

t
2
AF0A
w
y

Below is an example of what you should see.

GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.4

Warning: Devices opened with shared lock will not have their
partition table automatically reloaded!
Partition table scan:
  MBR: hybrid
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: present

Found valid GPT with hybrid MBR; using GPT.

Command (? for help): t
Partition number (1-3): 2
Current type is 'Unknown'
Hex code or GUID (L to show codes, Enter = AF00): AF0A
Changed type of partition to 'Apple APFS'

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.

Without Using Any Third Party Tools

An answer Klanomath might have posted would include entering the commands given below.

diskutil unmountdisk disk2
gpt remove -i 2 /dev/disk2
fdisk -e /dev/disk2
e 2
0
q
y
diskutil unmountdisk disk2
gpt add -i 2 -b 409640 -s 781512664 -t 7C3457EF-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC /dev/disk2 
fdisk -e /dev/disk2
e 2
FF
n
409640
781512664
q
y

Basically you are performing the following steps.

  1. Removing the macOS partition from the GUID partition table (GPT).
  2. Removing the macOS partition from the Master Boot Record (MBR) partition table.
  3. Adding the macOS partition back into the GUID partition table (GPT) using the correct partition type.
  4. Adding the macOS partition back into the Master Boot Record (MBR) partition table. (This is an undo of step 2.)

Final Note

Your APFS partition is about 50 MB larger than the APFS container. While this will not present a problem, I mention this fact for other readers who may be more observant.