MacBook Pro 16 will be broken at any time, make a backup! !

[LynnZh]

A new laptop computer for one month, normally used, shut down normally, can not be turned on the next day, charging no prompt, no response.



The repair tells you that you cannot restore the data, you can only replace the motherboard, the hard drive is on the motherboard! !

Customer service tells you:

No refund! ! !

No change! ! !

Don't give back data! ! !

There is no proof that the data cannot be restored! ! !

And one month of damage is the normal condition of electronic products. Apple has passed quality inspection, standard procedures, and review specifications.



Make a backup! ! !

Make a backup! ! !

Make a backup! ! !



I hope Apple can remind users when selling products

"Please use the Apple computer to make a backup at any time!"

"Apple computers will break at any time and cannot be recovered. These are normal conditions of electronic products."

 

[MrGimper]

Performing a backup is good practice regardless. Everyone should be doing it if you value your data. Any drive can fail and recovery is not guaranteed.

 

[Aboo]

You should blank out your serial number from the Genius Bar work order.

 

[hallux]

The soldered-on storage has been in play since the touchbar MBP came out, this is not a new concern. There IS a port on the board which can be used with a specialized tool/cable to access the storage on a non-working board but Apple chooses not to deal with the responsibility of handling and securing customer data. An AASP might, if they have the tool to do it though.

 

[chrfr]

There IS a port on the board which can be used with a specialized tool/cable to access the storage on a non-working board...

That is not the case with Macs which use the T2 chip. It was only there on the 2016-2017 Touch Bar Macs which only had the T1 chip.

 

[hallux]

That is not the case with Macs which use the T2 chip. It was only there on the 2016-2017 Touch Bar Macs which only had the T1 chip.

Ah.. I haven't been inside one of the T2-equipped systems yet.

 

[magbarn]

You just gotta love soldered ssds!

 

[Fishrrman]

My opinion only, but this sounds like it -might- be a failed t2 firmware upgrade.

Do you have access to another recently-made Mac?
It -might- be possible to revive it using the "Apple Configurator" app.

There are some videos out there that explain how to do this.
Also see this page:

Revive or restore an Intel-based Mac using Apple Configurator 2

In rare circumstances, Apple computers may become unresponsive and the chip’s firmware must be revived.

support.apple.com

Again, just a thought and "no promises" that this is your problem.
But it's something to check out.

 

[maflynn]

The issue with current modern day Macs is that the storage is soldered onto the laptop, and there's no way to retrieve the data if a hardware defect prevents the MBP from running.

Yes, its sound practice to always have a backup, but by the same token stuff happens and its unfortunate that apple chose to move in a direction that results in data loss for their customers. I could be wrong, but at one point, there was a port on the logic board that apple could use to retrieve the data from the storage, but that was removed years ago.

 

[Dhock_Holiday]

So what failed exactly? Was it the logic board or the video card?

 

[magbarn]

My opinion only, but this sounds like it -might- be a failed t2 firmware upgrade.

Do you have access to another recently-made Mac?
It -might- be possible to revive it using the "Apple Configurator" app.

There are some videos out there that explain how to do this.
Also see this page:

Revive or restore an Intel-based Mac using Apple Configurator 2

In rare circumstances, Apple computers may become unresponsive and the chip’s firmware must be revived.

support.apple.com

Again, just a thought and "no promises" that this is your problem.
But it's something to check out.

Just read your link. Ouch! The recovery guarantees wiping your data with it... It might help the OP so they won't have to leave it with Apple. Still annoying though. I've saved a few clients data in the past with removing the HDD from a broken iMac/MacBook and was able to recover their data with an external HDD enclosure. Those days are long gone.

 

[posguy99]

You just gotta love soldered ssds!

I always see this and it's annoying. The SSD's aren't "soldered", they're just memory chips integrated into the logic board.

I actually talked to a cluebie who was convinced that Apple was soldering M.2 cards into slots.
[automerge]1589471508[/automerge]

An AASP might, if they have the tool to do it though.

An AASP will not. Why in the world would they? As has been said elsewhere in the thread, if the data matters, it should be backed up. Most people have to lose it once before they listen.

 

[magbarn]

I always see this and it's annoying. The SSD's aren't "soldered", they're just memory chips integrated into the logic board.

I actually talked to a cluebie who was convinced that Apple was soldering M.2 cards into slots.
[automerge]1589471508[/automerge]

An AASP will not. Why in the world would they? As has been said elsewhere in the thread, if the data matters, it should be backed up. Most people have to lose it once before they listen.

That's arguing semantics. All the components that make a SSD are still there on the logic board. The naked chips are still soldered into the logic board. The DRAM, the controller (likely T2), and the Flash. They're not snapped in. If they were regular M.2 cards soldered in would be better as you could desolder the said card and replace with 3rd party.

 

[Queen6]

Welcome to Apple, where $$$$ count more than the customer...

Same I'm in Shenzhen, no refund, no exchange unless a physical defect that Apple agrees with. My solution is very simple, no sale both commercially & privately. Apple deliberately solders critical components on the Logic Board to force in-house upgrades with egregious pricing and to save manufacturing cost.

Always wise to back up, more so with modern Mac's as you can see Apple doesn't remotely care about your data nor capable of recovering it, rank amateurs...

Q-6

 

[russell_314]

By default documents are stored on iCloud so unless you changed this you don’t need to worry. Apple makes things easy by default

 

[hallux]

Apple doesn't remotely care about your data nor capable of recovering it

Honestly, it's not really Apple's responsibility. If a customer can't properly secure/back up their data why is that Apple's fault?

The data I care most about, photos from trips, is in 4 places - on my MBP, the TM backup of said MBP, a cloud backup and an SD card that is labeled and kept to the side. Is this overkill? Maybe, but I know if I lose one of those storage locations I still have 3 more.

 

[maflynn]

The SSD's aren't "soldered", they're just memory chips integrated into the logic board.

They're not How do you remove them then?

 

[ascender]

I know that we shouldn't rely on iCloud and other cloud storage services to be a backup - that's not how a robust backup plan works - but its made things a lot more foolproof surely?

I think 99% of data on our machines here use iCloud or Dropbox, so while we also have onsite & offsite backups of the machines, if someone's machine dies, all they have to do is sign-in to a new one and everything is there waiting for them. Its been ages since we've actually had to retrieve something from a backup in the event of a system failure.

Retrieving version x of a file because they need to roll back some changes is obviously different, but I'm surprised that in this day and age people are still losing data when something like this happens.

 

[MrGimper]

The problem is people talk like normal 2.5" SSDs and M.2/NVMe SSDs don't ever fail. They do. so it doesn't actually matter if the "disk" in apple devices is soldered or not, if the drive goes, you're screwed and you need to restore.

 

[hallux]

@MrGimper the "issue" with the soldered SSD's is that if it fails outside of warranty you're stuck buying a new laptop, unless you want to pay an outrageous price to fix a machine that is 3+ years old (because, let's face it, it would be silly to buy one of these without the 3-year AppleCare plan).

Of course - the other "issue" is that if another component on the logic board fails while under warranty you also lose your data as the storage is built in.

It's not that people are saying 2.5" SSDs don't fail, it's that the risk of data loss is higher when the SSD is integrated with other components that could fail.

 

[ptfuzi]

That is true, but nowadays is not hard to have icloud or other clouds, even a NAS and have it automatically backed up.
People who make no backups are always vulnerable to data loss

 

[jerryk]

Computers and phones break, get stolen, or dropped. Backup your data.

 

[rosyapple]

Computers and phones break, get stolen, or dropped. Backup your data.

I agree, always back up all your devices. Hard drives are so affordable nowadays, it's not an excuse to have no backup. It costs about 100-130 euros for 1TB external SSD (which I highly recommend) or 30-40 euros for 1TB external mechanical drive (if you have a limited budget) during Black Friday. I prefer not to backup to the cloud but people have different preferences.

I go on a shopping spree on Black Friday, buying cases, tech accessories and new drives. I tend to buy new SSDs once every year or two for extra space or extra backups. I schedule my backup to run daily, plug the drive to a hub and plug the hub to my computer when I'm at home, then forget all about it. On weekends, I check to make sure I have a recent backup (just in case I forget to plug my computer to the hub for a few days). I use the Reminder app to schedule my weekend checkup.

 

[sundialsoft]

I have an Apple timecapsule networked router which we use for automatic backups of two MacBooks. I also have two USB drives on to which I do manual backups of my work & my wife's from time to time. When I go away (used to go away) I take one of the portable drives with me. (Apple don't make their own time capsule any more).

 

[Queen6]

Honestly, it's not really Apple's responsibility. If a customer can't properly secure/back up their data why is that Apple's fault?

The data I care most about, photos from trips, is in 4 places - on my MBP, the TM backup of said MBP, a cloud backup and an SD card that is labeled and kept to the side. Is this overkill? Maybe, but I know if I lose one of those storage locations I still have 3 more.

Apple make it needlessly difficult for the customer solely for it's own need/benefit. It's also problematic for many with data restrictions as the drives are not removable, and why I believe MS is using M.2 SSD's in more of it's hardware so the data can be removed & secured prior to the device being shipped out for repair etc.

SSD fails on the notebook in front of me, just need to replace the drive and restore. Current MBP SSD fails you need to replace the Mac...

Personally I'm backed up regardless of hardware & platform in multiple locations.

Q-6