Trying to set up new OS installation, MacBook not finishing install

Your hitting a known issue! When Apple designed the 2011 model they used a SATA III (6.0 Gb/s) I/O chip (PCH). But SATA III drives where expensive and not available in large quantity Apple needed so Apple stuck with a SATA II (3.0 Gb/s) drive and only tested the HDD cable to SATA II data rates. Even later when Apple altered the systems firmware to enable SATA III services as they then switched over to SATA III drives the drives where still slow enough not to cause the HD SATA cable to choke up.

But people swapped out the original Apple drives (which were slow 5400 RPM) to faster 7200 RPM drives! And then to SSD’s thats when the HDD cables started to mess up! In addition the placement of the cable also tended it to wear and if the new cable is not properly installed the replacement cable can be damaged too!

• Your Hard Drive Cable Is A Ticking Time Bomb

So you need to replace the cable, the newer 2012 cable is the better one! MacBook Pro 15" Unibody (Mid 2012) Hard Drive Cable And here’s there guide to put it in MacBook Pro 15" Unibody Late 2011 Hard Drive/IR Sensor Cable Replacement

So you’ll want to put a strip of electricians tape on the upper case where the cable crosses over, and you want to use an old BIC pen ink straw to help you form the needed arcs in the cable where the cable needs to bend around a corner.