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2013 A1466 Air died, how to read the SSD?

M

maokh

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 9, 2007
260
18
Seattle, WA
I bought an A1466 Air in Spring of 2013. Unfortunately, without it functioning, I do not have the actual hardware revision -- simply just what was printed on bottom of the case. (FYI, the machine just flat out died, no charge light, no liquid damage, etc).

I am looking for an adapter for the SSD drive (preferably USB). I have been searching forums and on Amazon, and there is a lot of mixed information on what will actually work. Amazon reviews for most adapters mention that they do not work with the newer SSD drives.

Is anyone aware of something that will actually work? This thing died while I was out on extended vacation and I do not have a current time machine backup.

Alternatively as a last resort, my wife does have an Air from 2014 (we bought it just before the USB-C models hit the market). Any idea if the computer would freak out if the drive suddenly changed machines? I might be able to complete a time machine backup that way. However, i would like to avoid opening it if possible.

image.png image.png
 
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If you don't want to spend the $100, it would be worthwhile I think to get the Pentalobe and Torx and put it in your wife's 2014. There was no difference between those years (and the 2015 only improved the speed) so it should boot providing they're on the same OS. I can't see any damage being caused to her machine by attempting this.

I once installed a pulled 2013 SSD into a brand new one (at the time, also a 2013) and it booted flawlessly.
 
Bought in "Spring 2013" would imply a Mid-2012 model.
The flash storage from that 2012 model will NOT work in a 2014 MBAir. The cards look similar, but the interface is completely different.
2012 uses SATA, and the 2014 uses PCIe
 
maokh said:
I bought an A1466 Air in Spring of 2013. Unfortunately, without it functioning, I do not have the actual hardware revision -- simply just what was printed on bottom of the case. (FYI, the machine just flat out died, no charge light, no liquid damage, etc).

I am looking for an adapter for the SSD drive (preferably USB). I have been searching forums and on Amazon, and there is a lot of mixed information on what will actually work. Amazon reviews for most adapters mention that they do not work with the newer SSD drives.

Is anyone aware of something that will actually work? This thing died while I was out on extended vacation and I do not have a current time machine backup.

Alternatively as a last resort, my wife does have an Air from 2014 (we bought it just before the USB-C models hit the market). Any idea if the computer would freak out if the drive suddenly changed machines? I might be able to complete a time machine backup that way. However, i would like to avoid opening it if possible.

View attachment 621674 View attachment 621675
Click to expand...
Post your serial. It's printed on the bottom.
 
Your adapter from OWC appears to be correct for the PCIe drive card in your picture.
Your drive card appears to be dead.
If the serial number that you posted is for your dead MBAir, that is an Early 2014 model, so would be identical (or very close to the same) to your wife's MBAir. The drive card would swap into that, if you want to try it.
I don't think that it will work there, either. The external enclosure should work if the drive card is good.
 
DeltaMac said:
Your adapter from OWC appears to be correct for the PCIe drive card in your picture.
Your drive card appears to be dead.
If the serial number that you posted is for your dead MBAir, that is an Early 2014 model, so would be identical (or very close to the same) to your wife's MBAir. The drive card would swap into that, if you want to try it.
I don't think that it will work there, either. The external enclosure should work if the drive card is good.
Click to expand...

To be more specific: It doesn't fit, that's why I haven't had any luck. Take a look at the picture -- you'll notice the OWC socket requires less pins on the shorter card edge.

Any ideas on what I should get instead?
 
If you review the video on OWC site, which shows you how to install the SSD card in the enclosure, you can clearly see that the enclosure connector accepts the pins on the card like YOU have, which is a PCIe interface.
The case that you received from OWC is clearly for the older (SATA) generation of SSD cards.

OWC tech support is pretty responsive, in my experience.
Give them a call and tell them that you received the wrong case. They should be able to swap that out to you pretty quickly.
 
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