MBA SSD Exchange

[Humanbytes]

Hi there folks!

I keep it short and sweet, following scenario: The boss poured a glass of wine over his MBA Rev. D only a few months old. Logic Board and Battery dead as well as the Top Case, repairs would cost more than a new one so we ordered it. Should arrive tomorrow.

Now the question is..i pulled out the old 256 GB SSD from the dead MBA with OSX and all the data on it which is undamaged. Can i just replace the new one with it and boot it up? So far i was not able to find a working adapter to get into it over USB or something like that. I am not even sure what kind of interface it is besides something SATAish. Or maybe i am just stupid. Attached is a picture of the SSD.

Can anybody help out here?! Thx a lot!

 

[rebby]

It's worth a try. Unless he shorted out the SSD it should work just fine.

 

[Xgm541]

How do you know the data is undamaged if you werent able to get an adapter to look at the data?

I dont know if this is at all possible, but if the SSD is shorted out already, then it is perhaps possible for it to short out the new one's motherboard too?

If not, and if it works fine, then there should be no problem putting it in. And sell me the new one's ssd for $100

 

[Humanbytes]

How do you know the data is undamaged if you werent able to get an adapter to look at the data?

I dont know if this is at all possible, but if the SSD is shorted out already, then it is perhaps possible for it to short out the new one's motherboard too?

If not, and if it works fine, then there should be no problem putting it in. And sell me the new one's ssd for $100

I know it is undamaged because the poor guy kept working on the MBA for two days straight after he spilled all the wine over it. He never turns his Laptop off, only closes the lid and moves on. Amazingly he did not even turn it off after the wine incident. He just wiped it off as good as possible and kept working and so did the MBA.

It was only when the guys at the Apple Store tried to reboot it and a shorted out part in the battery or logic board prevented a reboot. Some sort of self test i assume for security reasons. I guess it would be ablaze with fire already if he had not mentioned it to me that three keys are no longer working including the - key which caused him trouble with certain email addresses and URLs. I forced him to a checkup and there it went down forever.

Anyways i did the swap today and it worked without a flaw. The new MBA booted just like the old one with all the data on it. So if you have similar troubles this seems to be a way. Only those Torx Screws are some bitches. You have to be reeeeeally gentle and precise when opening the MBA or you ruin them in seconds. Whole thing took like 5 minutes.

The only question left now is there any possible way to plug this thing into another machine?? Even the dudes at the Apple store told me they have no other way than to plug it into another MBA. Pretty stupid from Apple if you ask me since you need a magician or a second MBA if you have no backups.

So if anybody has an idea how to interface with it, preferably over SATA let me know! I hope there will be some sort of Adapter or PCI/PCIe Card soon. I want to abuse this beauty!

And no i am not selling it, my friends are already circling me like a bunch of vultures over a corpse..get off me!

 

[KPOM]

Google mSATA to SATA adapter and a number of items pop up, including some as low as $15. I have no idea if they work. If so, then you should be able to connect it to a SATA to USB adapter to access it on the Air, or an eSATA port on a Windows PC.

 

[Humanbytes]

Google mSATA to SATA adapter and a number of items pop up, including some as low as $15. I have no idea if they work. If so, then you should be able to connect it to a SATA to USB adapter to access it on the Air, or an eSATA port on a Windows PC.

I have a MicroSATA to SATA Adapter and the MicroSATA end is still way to big. As well as the tons of other adapters i own. The typical SATA "Hooks" are missing as well on the SSD. mSATA on the other hand looks like a hint. I found this:

http://gigabytedaily.blogspot.com/2011/05/benefits-of-choosing-msata-route-to_68.html

Since the Apple SSD looks like a simple SLC/MLC memory module this could be a way to go, time to dig deeper.

Attached are some comparison pictures. SSD to MicroSATA which still looks gigantic next to the SSD.

 

[KPOM]

Yes, mSATA apparently stands for "mini-SATA" which is actually smaller than the "micro SATA" standard for 1.8" drives. Odd, since micro is usually smaller than mini. Anyway, perhaps Other World Computing has some cables? They sell replacement drives.

Update: About halfway down the first page, OWC says they will "soon" offer an adapter for the old drive.

http://arstechnica.com/apple/review...acbook-air-ssd-with-owcs-aura-pro-express.ars

 

[Cheffy Dave]

How do you know the data is undamaged if you werent able to get an adapter to look at the data?

I dont know if this is at all possible, but if the SSD is shorted out already, then it is perhaps possible for it to short out the new one's motherboard too?

If not, and if it works fine, then there should be no problem putting it in. And sell me the new one's ssd for $100

I do not believe there ARE adapters

 

[Mode-III fan]

Hi there folks!

I keep it short and sweet, following scenario: The boss poured a glass of wine over his MBA Rev. D only a few months old. Logic Board and Battery dead as well as the Top Case, repairs would cost more than a new one so we ordered it. Should arrive tomorrow.

Now the question is..i pulled out the old 256 GB SSD from the dead MBA with OSX and all the data on it which is undamaged. Can i just replace the new one with it and boot it up? So far i was not able to find a working adapter to get into it over USB or something like that. I am not even sure what kind of interface it is besides something SATAish. Or maybe i am just stupid. Attached is a picture of the SSD.

Can anybody help out here?! Thx a lot!

Off topic, sorry. But what brand of cigarette is that??

 

[nutella69]

Off topic, sorry. But what brand of cigarette is that??

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parisienne_(cigarette)

 

[alq]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parisienne_(cigarette)

Even more off topic - I love those cigs - as far as I know only available in Switzerland (also a Softpack version) and Austria. They were also available in some Duty Free shops (of course) in Switzerland and in Slovenia.
These are the only cigarettes that don't give me a headache (despite the fact that smoking is unhealthy, causes cancer and might kill you....)
Just my 2 cents about my favorite brand ;-)