Do I need to replace my SSD?

[leopold_]

I have a mid-2012 Macbook Air that has been suffering from a range of issues over the past few months. It freezes and shuts down randomly. It also sometimes shows the flashing question-mark folder upon startup. It also often runs extremely slow even when first turned on (it should be fast as it has 8gb of ram). I have been trying to figure out what the problem is, and I think it may be the SSD for the following reasons:

• I tried erasing the internal SSD from disk utility and installing and running MacOS on an external hard drive. Everything works perfectly on the computer while running MacOS from the external drive (it was on for 24+ hours without shutting down/freezing and without slowness issues).
• While I was using MacOS from the external drive (it had been on for a few hours), the following message suddenly popped up in the top right corner:
  It seemed strange to me that the internal SSD would "eject" randomly while I was using the computer.
• Many of the times I've tried to run the Apple Hardware Tests (by holding down D during startup) the computer randomly shuts down before I'm able to complete the test. Sometimes it even shuts down before I am able to begin the test (while inputting the WI-Fi network details).

I tried opening up the back of the computer and removing the SSD, cleaning the area with compressed air, and then reinserting the SSD, however the problems/issues persist. Do you think I need to replace the SSD? Maybe the issue is the SATA cable that connects to the SSD? Do you think I should replace that?

Note: I also posted on Apple's forum.

 

[harryb2448]

G'day and welcome to the forums.

Sounds like the SSD is failing. Have you booted into the external drive, and run Disk Utility in Repair Disk or Disk First Aid mode, depending what operating system you are using? You have not told us this. Also how much free space is available on the SSD? Crucial recommends at least 10% free space for the drive to work anywhere near efficiently.

 

[leopold_]

G'day and welcome to the forums.

Sounds like the SSD is failing. Have you booted into the external drive, and run Disk Utility in Repair Disk or Disk First Aid mode, depending what operating system you are using? You have not told us this. Also how much free space is available on the SSD? Crucial recommends at least 10% free space for the drive to work anywhere near efficiently.

Thanks harryb!

I am running 10.11.6 OS X El Capitan from the external drive. When I run First Aid on the "Internal Physical Disk" the operation is successful, however after all of the checks, it does mention: "Problems were found with the partition map which might prevent booting." I don't know if that's an issue or not.

The SSD is currently wiped (I erased everything before running MacOS from the external drive), however before it was wiped, more than half of the drive was free (60+ GB). Also, as I said, when I try to run Apple Hardware Test (with the external drive disconnected and the internal "Macintosh HD" SSD wiped) the computer still crashes within a few minutes. I assume this is because the AHT files are stored on the Recovery HD which is just another partition of the internal SSD (which seems to be having the problems).

 

[harryb2448]

If the MBA is a mid 2012 model, it will be not run Diagnostics, which became available on Late 2013 models. Your MBA is either a mode l5.1 or 5.2. Go into the red link below and scroll down until you find the model number and click on the blue reference number. It will download Apple Hardware Test to your Downloads Floder. Drag it to the Desktop, pop in a USB thumb drive formatted Mac OS X Extended (Journaled). Drag the image to the thumb drive icon, it will burn onto the drive and be bootable.

Reboot and immediately hold down 'C' and run Apple Hardware Test in full mode. Good luck.


https://github.com/upekkha/AppleHardwareTest

 

[leopold_]

After many attempts, I was able to run Apple Hardware Test. It didn't find any issues. I could be wrong about this, but I don't think Apple Hardware Test does any testing of the SSD anyway, so it wouldn't detect an issue.

Anyway, does replacing the SSD seem like a fair bet for my problem? Could the issue alternatively be the SATA cable that connects to the SSD?

 

[ferrarr]

Yes, it could be either, the cable or the SSD, or, it may even be both.

 

[Audit13]

Being a mid-2012 Air, it would have a blade-type ssd which connects directly to a socket on the motherboard: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Air+13-Inch+Mid+2012+Logic+Board+Replacement/10957

A replacement drive is very expensiven for a mid-2012 Air.

If the unit is a mid-2012 13" Macbook Pro, there is a sata hard drive cable for a 2.5" drive. The sata hard drive cables can fail.

I recommend taking the unit to an apple store for diagnosis. Based on posts in other forums, the apple stores are replacing the sata cable for free on the 2012 13" Macbook.

If the apple won't replace the cable, there are cheap replacements on Amazon which is where I got a cable for a 2009 15", 2010 13" MBP, and 2011 13".

 

[leopold_]

Thanks for the responses Ferrarr and Audit!

Ferrarr, since the cable is much cheaper I'll try that first. Do you know where I could buy a cable for the mid-2012 MacBook Air? Is this the correct item?

If the unit is a mid-2012 13" Macbook Pro, there is a sata hard drive cable for a 2.5" drive. The sata hard drive cables can fail.

Audit, the computer is a mid-2012 13" MacBook Air (not Pro). I assume it also has a sata cable?

I bought the computer used about a year ago and I think the previous owner already changed some of the hardware (including the SSD). Considering this, do you think Apple would still be willing to work on it for free? I've looked a bit on Amazon but haven't had much luck, do you know if the cables are the same on other version of the MacBook Air (could I buy one of those)?

 

[Audit13]

If it's a mid-2012 air, there would not be a sata cable so don't ordering anything yet.

The mid-2012 13" Pro will have a slot on the right-handed side for loading a DVD.

 

[ferrarr]

Sorry, I missed the fact that you have a MacBook Air, and not a Pro. So no cable in the Air. You also mentioned you opened the back of the MBA, and removed the SSD, cleaned the area and put it back together. Do you remember if there was a cable, or only the connector you disconnected the SSD blade drive from?

I use ifixit.com, to learn all about the Macs I own, and any mac I may be interested in purchasing, here is the link for their repair guides for MacBook Air models, https://www.ifixit.com/Device/MacBook_Air

 

[leopold_]

Thanks for the replies!

Audit, since there's no SATA cable, do you think I should try replacing the SSD to solve the issues?

Ferrarr, I believe there was only a connector, I couldn't clearly see any cable, although I don't know what it would look like. So I should probably replace the SSD?

 

[pm-r]

Audit, since there's no SATA cable, do you think I should try replacing the SSD to solve the issues?

Do you have an external with a bootable or cloned backup you could try booting from and running for a while.

That should bypass the internal drive and give you some idea of the problem if your internal drive is goofy or not.




- Patrick
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[Audit13]

A replacement ssd for a mid-2012 air would be very expensive as it is proprietary.

 

[chscag]

A replacement ssd for a mid-2012 air would be very expensive as it is proprietary.

Mac Sales (OWC) here in the US carries a complete stock of various sizes for that model and they are not expensive.

You can see what Mac Sales has by going here.

 

[harryb2448]

Matter of opinion that 'expenisve' bit. For mine I think a240/250GB Flash drive for less than $175 is reasonable.

 

[Audit13]

I'm Canada so I would have to add about 27% to account for exchange on the drive itself and shipping pushes the price up even more for me.

Before spending money on a replacement drive, I would take it to the Apple Store and have them test the unit.

 

[leopold_]

Thanks for the replies!

Do you have an external with a bootable or cloned backup you could try booting from and running for a while.

That should bypass the internal drive and give you some idea of the problem if your internal drive is goofy or not.

pm-r, when I boot and run MacOS from an external drive the computer works perfectly. This points to the SSD needing to be replaced, right?

Yes, I'm in the US, so $91.99 for 120gb would work for my purposes!

 

[pm-r]

Thanks for the replies!

pm-r, when I boot and run MacOS from an external drive the computer works perfectly. This points to the SSD needing to be replaced, right?

Yes, I'm in the US, so $91.99 for 120gb would work for my purposes!

I'd sure agree with that diagnosis — the internal drive is goofy, but not completely kaput dead‚ at least not yet.

Some guides and other info here:
http://www.everymac.com/systems/app...-2012-how-to-replace-upgrade-ssd-storage.html





- Patrick
======

 

[leopold_]

I'd sure agree with that diagnosis — the internal drive is goofy, but not completely kaput dead‚ at least not yet.

Some guides and other info here:
http://www.everymac.com/systems/app...-2012-how-to-replace-upgrade-ssd-storage.html

Thanks pm-r!

Ok, makes sense. I'll probably try replacing the SSD... What about the connection from the SSD to the logic board, or the bus on the logic board itself? Could one of those potentially also cause a problem like this?

 

[pm-r]

What about the connection from the SSD to the logic board, or the bus on the logic board itself? Could one of those potentially also cause a problem like this?

I think Audit13 already mentioned something about that, but there doesn't seem to be any potentially bad ribbon cable involved with your model.

But heck, anything is possible, but more possibly unlikely in your case I would think.





- Patrick
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