Apple Unable to Recover Data from 2018 MacBook Pro When Logic Board Fails

Megalith

Megalith

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Assuming the user neglected to make backups, data may reportedly be lost forever on Apple’s newest MacBook Pro if the logic board fails. Due to non-removable SSDs in later models, a special data migration tool was used to recover user data in light of failure. Unfortunately, Apple has removed the required connector in the 2018 models.

Multiple sources claim that data cannot be recovered if the logic board has failed on a 2018 MacBook Pro. If the notebook is still functioning, data can be transferred to another Mac by booting the system in Target Disk Mode, and using Migration Assistant, which is the standard process that relies on Thunderbolt 3 ports.
 
So wait, we're faulting a company who makes hardware for a customer who forgets to implement a data protection strategy? You don't make backups, it's now Apple's fault?

I won't defend a lot of Apple's decisions (i9? non-removable/upgradable components? etc.) - but the decision to not include a specific port just for data recovery? I don't fault them for that one.

How is this any different than a phone or tablet? Why should you require the ability to pull out the storage and put it in another chassis? From a security point, this isn't necessarily a bad thing at all. And even from a practical point, swapping drives between computers has never just been a plug-and-play event; if it isn't a hardware issue, it's software activation. The best you often could hope for is to put the old drive in an enclosure and dump from it. How is that any better than a good backup strategy....

Apple provides a usable backup solution in Time Machine, without additional charge. It may not be the best thing about there, but it does work. I'd argue it works a hell of a lot better than hoping you can prying a dead machine open from failure and hoping to recover data from it.

I got nothing against some good Apple bashing. But make sure your bashing something worth while.
 
More and more I'm thankful I made the decision to purchase a late 2015 MBP at a discount than plop good money down on these funky touch bar models.

Bummed that the memory isn't replaceable but at least I can update the SSD. Shame too 'cause they're good machines. But at this rate, my current MBP might be my last.
 
I don't have a problem with Apple - I like their older hardware (still running a 2013 Mac Air) but having storage soldered onto the mainboard is not the smartest thing to do - I can deal with ram being soldered but not storage.

With any PC I can always pull the storage out of a dead PC carcass and retrofit it directly or via a variety of USB external housings into another host machine and get data off. At this point, apps can always be reloaded so that's not an issue but loss of critical files - especially the latest versions or revisions happens even with the best backup strategies in place. I do daily backups but even a difference of a few hours can wreck you when you're in a time crunch.
 
Well I guess it's a good things that Apple logic boards never fail!

But if they did fail -- which is clearly ridiculous -- then that would obviously be a good thing. In fact, it would be a "security feature."

What would the world do without Apple? :rolleyes:
 
STEvil said:
Sounds like more videos for louis rossman
Click to expand...

You're late to the party, he covers that new revelation about the missing "Lifeboat" port connector in this video from just a few days ago:



I was a fan of his in the past, but over time he just eventually turned into 'fingernails on a blackboard' to me in most respects. In this video he does make salient points, however, and Apple is just fucking customers over left and right but the Cult of Mac won't let 'em go. :(

There's always a potential that Apple has created some entirely new way to pull data from a 2018 MBP, we don't know at this moment: the USB-C/Thunderbolt ports could be used for a lot of things, guess we'll find out over time. Apple does love to take standardized hardware and then modify it for their own purposes to make it more proprietary than standard, or perhaps some other solution.

If not, they're going to have some serious pissed off people clamoring for a solution soon enough as more people get their 2018 MBP hardware and realize "Oh shit..."
 
This a grey area for me. On one hand i consider data bearing device i take out of the house to be "losable", either by theft or accident, or even a single drop of rain on an exposed connector i didnt catch.

On the other hand for alot of people, their notebook is their computer, and is plugged in most of the time. So yes in that case i would say this situation is like "Yo my mobo blew up, and i cant desolder my m2 drive".

I personally would not have a device i could not hot swap the data to an identical device. Oh it took a shit, drive down and grab another identical model, or pay for advanced RMA. Seriously when there is a hardware failure, who goes for backups vs hardware swaps?
 
Looks like my 2015 Macbook Pro will be my last as its from the generation right before they started royally fucking up.
 
You have to admit, removing the lifeboat connector was a dick move. More form over function from Apple.
Let's say you have a time machine at your house but are traveling for business. You only need the data from your road trip like the notes you took at a customer site. Better buy a triple dongle now that has a USB 2.0 connector so you can backup all your files on a daily basis while traveling in case your logic board fails.
 
They want us to spend money on the cloud? Idk. I am never buying a Mac again. I'm gonna keep using my 2012 until it croaks. If and when it dies is not a problem for me. Both the SSD and HDD (replaced CD Drive with HDD) inside the Mac are standard and can be plugged into my Desktop.

I also loved the iPhone back when the jailbreak community was flourishing. A jailbroken iPhone could even dual boot into Android.
 
Brian_B said:
So wait, we're faulting a company who makes hardware for a customer who forgets to implement a data protection strategy? You don't make backups, it's now Apple's fault?

I won't defend a lot of Apple's decisions (i9? non-removable/upgradable components? etc.) - but the decision to not include a specific port just for data recovery? I don't fault them for that one.

How is this any different than a phone or tablet? Why should you require the ability to pull out the storage and put it in another chassis? From a security point, this isn't necessarily a bad thing at all. And even from a practical point, swapping drives between computers has never just been a plug-and-play event; if it isn't a hardware issue, it's software activation. The best you often could hope for is to put the old drive in an enclosure and dump from it. How is that any better than a good backup strategy....

Apple provides a usable backup solution in Time Machine, without additional charge. It may not be the best thing about there, but it does work. I'd argue it works a hell of a lot better than hoping you can prying a dead machine open from failure and hoping to recover data from it.

I got nothing against some good Apple bashing. But make sure your bashing something worth while.
Click to expand...
I was once talking to a customer and told her that sometimes you had to think a bit when using a computer. She responded: "I bought my Mac so I would not have to think". Such is the mind-set of Mac users. I place the blame square on Apple for encouraging the perception that Mac's are easy to use and do not require the maintenance of those complicated PC's. It's Apple's fault for not making their computers idiot proof considering the sort of people who buy them...
 
I think it sucks that Apple forces you into a non-upgradeable-soldered-on-the-board-solution. That being said, in this particular case the removal of the connector is not so much an issue because of the inclusion of their T2 chip in the 2018 models. That chip keeps the encryption key for the SSD in its secure enclave and is not accessible from outside the device. Even if it were a standard m.2 drive, it would still be inaccessible.
 
mwroobel said:
I think it sucks that Apple forces you into a non-upgradeable-soldered-on-the-board-solution. That being said, in this particular case the removal of the connector is not so much an issue because of the inclusion of their T2 chip in the 2018 models. That chip keeps the encryption key for the SSD in its secure enclave and is not accessible from outside the device. Even if it were a standard m.2 drive, it would still be inaccessible.
Click to expand...

Any solution that is not completely half assed allows you to backup your key.
 
pgdeaner said:
Any solution that is not completely half assed allows you to backup your key.
Click to expand...
Agreed. But still, here's the relevant text from the Apple Page on the T2 Chip - "Mac computers that have the Apple T2 chip integrate security into both software and hardware to provide encrypted-storage capabilities. Data on the built-in, solid-state drive (SSD) is encrypted using a hardware-accelerated AES engine built into the Apple T2 chip. This encryption is performed with 256-bit keys tied to a unique identifier within the chip.

The advanced encryption technology integrated into the Apple T2 chip provides line-speed encryption, but it also means that if the portion of the chip containing your encryption keys becomes damaged, you might need to restore the content of your drive from a backup. This content includes system files, apps, accounts, preferences, music, photos, movies, and documents.

Always back up your content to a secure external drive or other secure backup location so that you can restore it, if necessary. You should also turn on FileVault for additional security, because without FileVault enabled, your encrypted SSDs automatically mount and decrypt when connected to your Mac."
 
No, I can blame Apple. I actually understand embedded non-replaceable storage on absolute minimum cost tablets and device designed to hit $100 price points. Every extra connector and every extra screw matters to the size and bottom line. BUT in the case of the MacBook Pro or any high end laptop you have what is completely billed as a high end WORK device have non-replaceable or serviceable storage? Are you kidding? For the kind of money involved?

And then to have no plug in service port AND potential automatic encryption options that most users won't even understand and likely wouldn't want on anyway keep data from ever being accessible again?

Come on. For a company wedded to the entire ethos of the "user experience" this is just crazy.

Power jacks, screens, fans and STORAGE. The things that fail on portable devices all the time. They need to be serviceable on expensive devices.

People actually buy MacBooks with non-replaceable SSD drives? Really?
 
Brian_B said:
So wait, we're faulting a company who makes hardware for a customer who forgets to implement a data protection strategy? You don't make backups, it's now Apple's fault?

I won't defend a lot of Apple's decisions (i9? non-removable/upgradable components? etc.) - but the decision to not include a specific port just for data recovery? I don't fault them for that one.

How is this any different than a phone or tablet? Why should you require the ability to pull out the storage and put it in another chassis? From a security point, this isn't necessarily a bad thing at all. And even from a practical point, swapping drives between computers has never just been a plug-and-play event; if it isn't a hardware issue, it's software activation. The best you often could hope for is to put the old drive in an enclosure and dump from it. How is that any better than a good backup strategy....

Apple provides a usable backup solution in Time Machine, without additional charge. It may not be the best thing about there, but it does work. I'd argue it works a hell of a lot better than hoping you can prying a dead machine open from failure and hoping to recover data from it.

I got nothing against some good Apple bashing. But make sure your bashing something worth while.
Click to expand...

The main thing Apple is being faulted for is making storage not removable. It adds nothing to have removable m.2 drives in an overpriced Apple laptop. Soldered on storage is absolutely stupid as it at least doubles the chances of storage loss - now instead of worrying about drive failure you now have to worry about logic board failure.

So unlike Raid 1 where you decrease the chance of data loss by half; Apple has taken the audacious approach of doubling the chances of data loss!
 
Spidey329 said:
Yeah, but it probably saved them $0.30 per unit! Think of the shareholders delight.
Click to expand...

I highly doubt it's the case because now they need all these SKU's with different combination of options. This is just further development of shitty Apple tactics to get user to buy more computer than they need since they cannot upgrade and curb repair and longevity of the product (of yeah, iMac Pro doesn't have a memory door for user upgrade, very Pro). Basically anything breaks if you didn't buy Apple Care, you need a whole new machine. That's precisely where Louis Rossman built his business. With a decent PC that costs a lot less people could just get a new one few years down the road instead of using old Mac but they keep using since they invested so much into it. It boggles my mind that so many folks are so platform centered that they really are in total denial of their problems.
 
Removable m.2 connectors add negligible thickness to a device. Stop fucking around Apple. This is completely a design flaw. How many flaws are you going to keep pumping out Apple before you take accountability?
 
Advil said:
No, I can blame Apple. I actually understand embedded non-replaceable storage on absolute minimum cost tablets and device designed to hit $100 price points. Every extra connector and every extra screw matters to the size and bottom line. BUT in the case of the MacBook Pro or any high end laptop you have what is completely billed as a high end WORK device have non-replaceable or serviceable storage? Are you kidding? For the kind of money involved?
Click to expand...

Agreed.

I see ABSOLUTELY NO EXCUSE for anything soldered on a mid to high end machine. RAM, Storage, CPU, WIFI card, etc... It's pretty pathetic in my opinion.
 
They keep giving me reasons to keep buying elitebook. Oh well.

Even my phone has removable storage jeeze
 
These are Trendy, Overpriced devices made for Trendy, Overpriced idiots. I see nothing wrong with this, and Apple's shareholders see nothing wrong with this.
 
I'd agree data is the responsibility of the user, but seriously? soldering the SSD to the motherboard? LOL
 
Yeah, IMO there's no excuse to solder RAM or the SSD into the motherboard. There already exist straddle-mount M.2 and SODIMM slots, so that the memory modules and SSD don't add any thickness to the machine.

I'm struggling to come up with substantive ways in which the new machine is better than the old. The CPU is marginally updated, and the keyboard is less vulnerable to dust. But it's less functional due to Apple's War On Useful Ports (aka the Campaign for Dongle Dominance), and less serviceable than ever.
 
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