Expensive SSD

[vinodh]

My 2013 11" MacBook Air was running low on storage so I decided to clean install El Capitan. The installation went fine but on the restart, it booted up to the USB installer instead of the freshly installed El Capitan on the 128GB SSD. I switched off, unplugged the USB drive and restarted.

It played the usual chime sound but refused to go any further. There was't an Apple logo or any other symbol on the screen. I could see that the backlight was on but that was it. I tried resetting the SMC, PRAM etc but nothing worked. I eventually took it to the nearest iStore and they also tried pressing all the buttons with no luck. They sent it away for a quote for repair which I received today:

They are quoting me just over R12000 for a 128GB SSD replacement. Needless to say, I did not accept the quote and asked them to return the laptop to me so that I could personally throw it in the dustbin.

 

[Necropolis]

That's what you get for owning an Apple laptop

 

[AceSwiftShooter]

They are trying to rip you a new one! buy your own 128Gb for less than R1K and do it yourself.

 

[reactor_sa]

Nice. Lol

 

[ScottulusMaximus]

Needless to say, I did not accept the quote and asked them to return the laptop to me so that I could personally throw it in the dustbin.

I'll take it off your hands

 

[requiem]

That is ****ing crazy.

a 512GB M2 NVME SSD is R7k

what the **** are they smoking.

 

[TJ99]

Damn, those "premiums" and "experiences" really drive up the cost.

 

[vinodh]

They are trying to rip you a new one! buy your own 128Gb for less than R1K and do it yourself.

Not really. It uses a custom SSD. I can't use anything else except for the specific type used in this model or the MacBook Pro retina display. Nothing else fits and no one else makes them. OWC makes SSD's for the previous gen MacBooks which are different from this one. Ebay is one option with dustbin being the other.

 

[callisto]

PM sent

 

[DrJohnZoidberg]

Here, send this back to them:

 

[element1]

^^

 

[skeptic_SA]

Here, send this back to them:

WIN !

 

[Grant]

try booting from the installer again and see what locations / drives are offered as the installation destination.
then within the installer click on "utilities" then "disk utility".
partition the ssd drive as 1 partition (guid) and format as "mac os extended, journaled"

continue with installation process

while it reboots after the installation, hold down the "option" key.
you should then be presented with drives to start up from - select the internal ssd drive

 

[wezzcoetzee]

You tried recovery mode? It will download and install the original software for your MacBook...

 

[McGuywer]

try booting from the installer again and see what locations / drives are offered as the installation destination.
then within the installer click on "utilities" then "disk utility".
partition the ssd drive as 1 partition (guid) and format as "mac os extended, journaled"

continue with installation process

while it reboots after the installation, hold down the "option" key.
you should then be presented with drives to start up from - select the internal ssd drive

Best reply so far.

 

[DrJohnZoidberg]

Best reply so far.

I'd argue that. I thought mine was better

 

[dualmeister]

Apple "Certified" SSD no doubt.

 

[manu55]

My 2013 11" MacBook Air was running low on storage so I decided to clean install El Capitan. The installation went fine but on the restart, it booted up to the USB installer instead of the freshly installed El Capitan on the 128GB SSD. I switched off, unplugged the USB drive and restarted.

It played the usual chime sound but refused to go any further. There was't an Apple logo or any other symbol on the screen. I could see that the backlight was on but that was it. I tried resetting the SMC, PRAM etc but nothing worked. I eventually took it to the nearest iStore and they also tried pressing all the buttons with no luck. They sent it away for a quote for repair which I received today:

They are quoting me just over R12000 for a 128GB SSD replacement. Needless to say, I did not accept the quote and asked them to return the laptop to me so that I could personally throw it in the dustbin.

When you boot up, do you see a file icon with a question mark?

I bought an OCZ 512 GB SSD in November, and the ****er tanked on me. Sent back to takealot and got a Samsung instead.

Try booting into recovery mode; CMD+R, and see if you can boot in the recovery drive. You will need to erase the disk into Mac OS Journaled format. You will then need to do an internet recovery, but this is quite quick on a reasonable connection.

However, if you see the icon with question mark, the drive is most likely not recoverable.

Hopefully you had time machine backups. I lost my engagement photos because i neglected time machine for a week....

 

[vinodh]

No icon is displayed on boot. It does not detect a connected USB drive when holding doen the option key on startup.

It booted to USB only once after I installed El Capitan but refuses to see another drive subsequently.

 

[etienne.cpt]

order the ssd from any computer store for your model mac. go to youtube and check how easy it is to install.
done myn not too longer. cost me R1900