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Macbook Air a1304 Hard Drive adapter

velocityg4

velocityg4

macrumors 604
Original poster
Dec 19, 2004
7,329
4,717
Georgia
I am trying verify if data recovery is possible on a customers Macbook Air a1304 hard drive. Since Apple decided to use that 1.8" drive I am trying to find an adapter that will work in a desktop SATA or IDE that isn't some ridiculous price. The Air had water spilled on it so it will not turn on nor do I have another air to test it in.

From what I can find the Air uses a 1.8" ZIF drive. Would this ZIF CE 1.8 Microdrive to 3.5 40pin adapter work. Perhaps this Toshiba 1.8 ZIF to 2.5 IDE (I have an external enclosure that works with the 2.5 IDE). I also found this external USB enclosure. There is even this uber cheap adapter for 1.8 zif to 2.5 IDE.

So will any or all of these work with the Macbook Air a1304's internal hard drive?
 
velocityg4

velocityg4

macrumors 604
Original poster
Dec 19, 2004
7,329
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Georgia
After some more investigation.

The Macbook Air Model A1304 does not use the more common ZIF-40 connector which provides ATA-100 connections and resulting 120GB limit. Instead it uses the ZIF-24 connector which provides a faster SATA connection and does not have the 120GB cap.

The only adapter I could find that appears to be compatible is this ZIF to SATA adapter. If it works I'll let those interested know. If it does not work I will at least make sure the connector is the same. As I have no way of knowing whether or not the drive is faulty.

Note: The original Macbook Air A1237 uses the common ZIF-40 connector.
 
J

jupiteroot

macrumors newbie
Jul 6, 2010
3
0
verification

how did you verify that the adapter you referenced on amazon will take a 24 pin zif cable? I'm reading elsewhere that adapters for this interface simply don't exist which doesn't make sense :(
I'm in the same bind as you...
 
velocityg4

velocityg4

macrumors 604
Original poster
Dec 19, 2004
7,329
4,717
Georgia
jupiteroot said:
how did you verify that the adapter you referenced on amazon will take a 24 pin zif cable? I'm reading elsewhere that adapters for this interface simply don't exist which doesn't make sense :(
I'm in the same bind as you...
Click to expand...

At this point it is the best guess I can make. Given that it is SATA and the ZIF-24 is SATA. Though I am starting to think it will not work. I'll know when it arrives. I could always use a ZIF-40 adapter at some point. If that is what it turns out to be.

Anyways I managed to verify the power button of the Air's top case was faulty and shorted the correct pins on the motherboard to fire it up. The computer booted and is currently backing up the hard drive and awaiting a replacement top case.
 
velocityg4

velocityg4

macrumors 604
Original poster
Dec 19, 2004
7,329
4,717
Georgia
jupiteroot said:
this one is listed as being specifically for the samsung HS12UHE

http://cgi.ebay.com/1-8-usb-externa...C_Drives_Storage_Internal&hash=item3a5e671af9

after many fruitless ebay searches i located this by searching "SATA LIF"
Click to expand...

That must be the correct one. If you count the number of pins on the back of LIF connector you will see there are 24. Since I already managed to get the Air running I have already backed up the data. So do not need one of these anymore. I'll keep this referenced though if I ever happen to need to perform data recovery on another Rev B/C Air. I'll also mention if the one I ordered is for the 40 or 24 pin connector. Though from further research I think it is 40 pin.
 
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