Macbook Air 11" 2015 died. Can I put its SSD in a replacement laptop for data recovery?

[waugh70]

I had an incident and the MacBook will no longer power on / damaged beyond repair, but the original 128GB Apple SSD is intact. I need to get the data off the SSD if at all possible. I tried buying an external SSD enclosure to read the data, but even though the pins matched it was not compatible with this type of SSD from Apple.

My question is, if I purchase the exact same model MacBook Air 11" 2015 (Model A1465 (EMC 2924)), and I install my original SSD in the replacement computer of the exact same model, should it boot into MacOS and allow me to retrieve my data from the SSD? Or is there any kind of drive matching to mother board / encryption that will prevent this from working? I did not explicitly enable encryption on the drive.

Thanks for any advice! The laptop contains wedding pictures I don't have anywhere else (I know, I know, a TERRIBLE backup strategy was in place.)

 

[cp1160]

I've done the external SSD route with the similar MacBook Air, so it is possible. You likely have the wrong envclosure even though it is pin compatible.

Check to see if this unit would work for you.

OWC Envoy Pro - SSD Enclosure for 2013-Current Macs

Portable, bus-powered USB 3.0 enclosure for Apple flash SSDs. Offers speeds up to 500MB/s in an award-winning aluminum design. Includes 1 year warranty.

eshop.macsales.com

I use one and it works fine. But your unit is a year different. Hope so. They have a few other units like it, snoop around a bit.

Note: I am not affiliated with them in anyway other than having been a customer more than once.

 

[waugh70]

I've done the external SSD route with the similar MacBook Air, so it is possible. You likely have the wrong envclosure even though it is pin compatible.

Check to see if this unit would work for you.

OWC Envoy Pro - SSD Enclosure for 2013-Current Macs

Portable, bus-powered USB 3.0 enclosure for Apple flash SSDs. Offers speeds up to 500MB/s in an award-winning aluminum design. Includes 1 year warranty.

eshop.macsales.com

I use one and it works fine. But your unit is a year different. Hope so. They have a few other units like it, snoop around a bit.

Note: I am not affiliated with them in anyway other than having been a customer more than once.

Thanks for the recommendation! Unfortunately the SSD in question is one of the Apple NVMe Drives not supported by that enclosure (how to check compatibility https://eshop.macsales.com/Service/...26/788/Envoy-Pro-PCIe-Apple-SSD-Compatibility). That's the one I've already tried. I just want to get the data off the 128GB Apple SSD, and at this point I'm willing to buy an identical replacement computer to install my old SSD into, I just wondered if anyone knows of any reason that method would NOT work for a 2015 11" Macbook air with stock configuration.

 

[uller6]

If you buy the same model air and swap the drives it will work fine.

 

[MBAir2010]

awwww, I'm sorry, i hate seeing when older MacBook are no longer
what happened?
anyways there is a enclosed someone or company has made for every ssd drive, ya just got to find one
OWC has several and could hav done in stock for your exact model.

 

[Jack Neill]

What about this one?

ACASIS USB C 3.0 SSD Enclosure for Narrow Apple Flash SSDs MacBook Air from 2010 to 2011 Portable Storage Enclosure Compatible with M.2 Nvme SSD with Adapter

ACASIS USB C 3.0 SSD Enclosure for Narrow Apple Flash SSDs

www.amazon.com

 

[cp1160]

What about this one?

ACASIS USB C 3.0 SSD Enclosure for Narrow Apple Flash SSDs MacBook Air from 2010 to 2011 Portable Storage Enclosure Compatible with M.2 Nvme SSD with Adapter

ACASIS USB C 3.0 SSD Enclosure for Narrow Apple Flash SSDs

www.amazon.com

That may not work under Windows have to copy files multiple times is odd. Is that typical for using an Apple SSD externally in a case?

 

[glhiii]

It won't work in the OWC external case (I tried), but works in other Macbook pros of the same vintage. It also worked for me in an 11" 2015 MBA.