Recovering data from a Mac Air SSD card

[Emerald038]

A friend of mine has a broken Mac Air (2013) that he wishes to recover data from. It uses an NVMe SSD card. I'm going off what the following guy did for data recovery on his computer:

The guy says you need a specific (proprietary?) cradle to convert from SSD to USB, but you have to get exactly the right one, otherwise you might wreck the SSD. I'm wondering how true this is? Is it possible to get a generic NVMe SSD to USB adapter and read the SSD card?

Alternatively, if my friend just gets a new Mac - presuming it uses the same format SSD - can he substitute the current SSD for the new one and boot to the OS?

Thanks for your help.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

He's kinda right. For example, OWC sells Mac SSD upgrade kits and they include a transfer enclosure for use with the Apple SSD, but also very strongly state not to try and use that same enclosure with their own SSDs or you will damage them. I quite frankly don't get why that is, but I'd go with it. That enclosure is available on its own, but not cheap.

OWC Envoy Pro - SSD Enclosure for 2013-Current Macs

Portable, bus-powered USB 3.0 enclosure for Apple flash SSDs. Offers speeds up to 500MB/s in an award-winning aluminum design. Includes 1 year warranty.

eshop.macsales.com

Forget swapping out the SSD in a new Mac. They are soldered in place... you can't change them.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

The guy says you need a specific (proprietary?) cradle to convert from SSD to USB, but you have to get exactly the right one, otherwise you might wreck the SSD. I'm wondering how true this is?

Apple Proprietary SSDs: Ultimate Guide to Specs & Upgrades
https://beetstech.com/blog/apple-proprietary-ssd-ultimate-guide-to-specs-and-upgrades

 

[pigoo3]

The guy says you need a specific (proprietary?) cradle to convert from SSD to USB, but you have to get exactly the right one, otherwise you might wreck the SSD. I'm wondering how true this is? Is it possible to get a generic NVMe SSD to USB adapter and read the SSD card?

Check out this article I wrote a while back. It shows (with photos)...an adapter that works with 2013-2017 MacBook Air blade SSD's (with the proprietary Apple pin configuration).

Upgrade 2013-2017 Apple Notebook/Laptop Storage on the Cheap - Mac-Forums Blog

Upgrade 2013-2017 Apple Notebook/Laptop Storage on the Cheap. To keep costs down...sometimes we pass on upgrades (that we later regret). One of these upgrades is internal storage.

www.mac-forums.com

HTH,

Nick

 

[Emerald038]

Thanks for everyone's help. Fortunately, I was able to get hold of a Mac Air from 2015, replace the SSD with the 2013 one and get the OS up and running. I then backed up the old files. Cheers.