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wewizuhi

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 7, 2016
2
1
Hi, I hope this is a good place to post this, if not please move somewhere better! :)

  • My MBA is broken. (I think the data is ok!)
  • I want to get the data from the SSD.
  • I have the correct SATA and USB adaptors to connect the SSD to my computer.
  • The drive was encrypted with FileVault.
  • I think I lost the big long recovery key... maybe not a problem though.
FileVault = The data is tied to my user account login, so, I need to boot up this drive and then log in and copy the data off it.

But I don't have another MBA lying around, I imagine it would even have to be the same one because on the SSD there are drivers for my model of MBA, not simply all generic mac drivers, correct? (Maybe I'm wrong)


So, I want to boot up my drive in a virtual machine, it's the only way I can think of to get my data back.
It's on El Capitan.

Any advice on how I can do this?
I really appreciate any help, thanks :)
 

Weaselboy

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 23, 2005
34,212
15,783
California
But I don't have another MBA lying around, I imagine it would even have to be the same one because on the SSD there are drivers for my model of MBA, not simply all generic mac drivers, correct? (Maybe I'm wrong)

You don't need any drivers. If you can physically attach the old SSD to a working Mac, it will work. You don't need to boot to the drive though. Just mount it in Disk Utility and enter the login password to "unlock" the disk then you should be able to access the data.
 
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wewizuhi

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 7, 2016
2
1
You don't need any drivers. If you can physically attach the old SSD to a working Mac, it will work. You don't need to boot to the drive though. Just mount it in Disk Utility and enter the login password to "unlock" the disk then you should be able to access the data.
That is good news! Thank you.
Although, I don't have another mac/can't borrow one.
So, I guess I will have to set up a VM anyhow! (Unless anyone has any other suggestions?)
Which means I will be limited to USB 2.0 speeds, but thankfully the ssd is only 128gb so it won't take so long.
I just plugged the ssd in via usb and I can see the partitions so thankfully the water damage did not hurt the ssd.
Thanks again.
 
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