2016 15-inch MBP with Touch Bar with dead SSD - what to do?

[jk73]

As detailed in other threads a month ago, my MBP got stuck in a kernel panic loop, which turned out to be caused by a dying internal SSD. I was able to boot from an external and save all of my data — thanks, Carbon Copy Cloner! — but now the internal SSD won’t mount at all. The MBP won’t even boot into Recovery Mode; only Internet Recovery Mode, in which the internal SSD remains unmounted.

I was planning to upgrade this year anyway — hopefully the new 16-inches will be announced by fall — but what do I do with the old MBP? Does it have any value or are SSDs in those not replaceable? If it does have value, how do I make sure the buyer or a recycling center can’t pull my data off the dead SSD?

Thanks for all feedback.

 

[glenthompson]

The SSD on that model is soldered onto the logic board. You have to replace the logic board to fix the problem. It's unlikely that anyone would be able to retrieve any data from the SSD. Was FileVault turned on for the SSD?

I would see how much it would cost to replace the logic board and compare that cost to current selling price of that model to see if it's worth repairing. If not, sell it with a bootable external SSD as is.

 

[jk73]

Thanks. I was not using FileVault, hence my concern of possible data recovery.

 

[Fishrrman]

If the entire motherboard needs to be replaced to get the MBP working again...
... then it's probably not worth it. Unless you can find one really, really cheap.

Either sell it for parts, or put it in the closet.

Hmmm... you said you were able to access the SSD by booting from another Mac?
Did you use target disk mode to mount it, and then CCC?
If that works, seems to me you could erase the internal drive as well?

If you CAN get it erased using disk utility (be sure to go to the view menu and choose "show all devices"), could an OS be re-installed onto it?

 

[jk73]

If the entire motherboard needs to be replaced to get the MBP working again...
... then it's probably not worth it. Unless you can find one really, really cheap.

Either sell it for parts, or put it in the closet.

Hmmm... you said you were able to access the SSD by booting from another Mac?
Did you use target disk mode to mount it, and then CCC?
If that works, seems to me you could erase the internal drive as well?

If you CAN get it erased using disk utility (be sure to go to the view menu and choose "show all devices"), could an OS be re-installed onto it?

It was a weird situation and I still don’t exactly understand how or why I was able to access my data.

As mentioned, my 2016 MBP ended up in a kernel panic loop. It wouldn’t boot into safe mode and the internal SSD wouldn’t mount in Target Disk Mode, but it would boot into both Recovery Mode and Internet Recovery Mode. However, trying to save my data by creating disk images using Disk Utility only worked for one relatively small folder (Documents). Anything bigger would consistently return an error.

Then I read about creating a bootable external, so I installed Big Sur on a 2 TB LaCie HD and booted from that. Bingo! The internal SSD mounted, I was able to see all of my data, and I used CCC to copy the entire drive. I was able to save everything except about eight corrupted photos and a few other non-essential files totaling maybe 5 MB out of about 450 GB (!) in data.

As much as I’m thrilled I was able to save my data, it seems weird that I was able to see and access it by booting from an external. My MBP obviously was password-protected (but not FileVault-enabled), but booting from the external bypassed that. That doesn’t seem very secure at all.

Anyway, after saving my data, I let the old MBP sit for over a week, as I had fallen behind on work and needed to catch up. Then, the very next time I tried to boot the MBP via the external — hoping to erase the internal and reinstall Big Sur — the internal SSD failed to mount. While Disk Utility sees it, it reports the disk as being non-writeable and 100% full. Additionally, Big Sur was updated in the meantime, and I’m getting a “Your Mac needs a critical update and can’t be used until it’s installed” message (which apparently relates to the Touch Bar firmware being out of sync), but trying to install that fails, presumably because the internal SSD is dead or at least unmounted.

That brings us to the present, where I now have a bricked MBP. What to do? I don’t want to sell or recycle it if someone might possibly be able to recover the data, including financial records, business files, etc., etc.

 

[Fishrrman]

"While Disk Utility sees it, it reports the disk as being non-writeable and 100% full. Additionally, Big Sur was updated in the meantime, and I’m getting a “Your Mac needs a critical update and can’t be used until it’s installed” message (which apparently relates to the Touch Bar firmware being out of sync), but trying to install that fails, presumably because the internal SSD is dead"

The "critical update" may not be able to be installed because the internal drive is "full". (not "dead", but "full" to the point nothing more can be written to it).

When you boot from the external drive (BTW, this proves the computer is bootable and runnable), will disk utility ERASE the internal drive?

You already got all your stuff off of it, so if it will erase, erase it.
Maybe then you can start over.

IMPORTANT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT
When you launch disk utility, does it have a "view" menu?
If it DOES, then you MUST select "show all devices" to be able to erase the ENTIRE drive.
The topmost line "on the left" shows you the physical drive.

Do you have a brick n mortar Apple Store anywhere nearby?
If so, I'd make an appt at the genius bar and let them have a look at it.

 

[jk73]

The "critical update" may not be able to be installed because the internal drive is "full". (not "dead", but "full" to the point nothing more can be written to it).

When you boot from the external drive (BTW, this proves the computer is bootable and runnable), will disk utility ERASE the internal drive?

You already got all your stuff off of it, so if it will erase, erase it.
Maybe then you can start over.

IMPORTANT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT
When you launch disk utility, does it have a "view" menu?
If it DOES, then you MUST select "show all devices" to be able to erase the ENTIRE drive.
The topmost line "on the left" shows you the physical drive.

Do you have a brick n mortar Apple Store anywhere nearby?
If so, I'd make an appt at the genius bar and let them have a look at it.

The internal had about 10 GB of free space when I ran CCC and copied the drive, so it’s definitely not full unless the most recent attempt to boot it somehow chewed up all of the remaining space with a massive cache or something.

I booted from the external a day or two ago to do exactly as you suggested — to try to use Disk Utility to erase the HD — but trying to erase yields an immediate “can’t write to the last block” error.

I do have an Apple Store nearby. I might try to go in next week. Thanks.