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MacBook Air Flash Storage Drive Replacement Program

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Re: MacBook Air Flash Storage Drive Replacement Program

#51

Post by dekz »

javis wrote: post #21

I think this may have happened to my MacBook Air 62 GB (Summer 2012). One day I booted up and nothing happened, just had a blank screen that never went away. I tried to use the internet restore and it couldn't find a drive. I then USB booted to Ubuntu and looked for the drive, but no drives were there. Does this sound like the drive failure they're talking about? It happened a month ago and I haven't touched it since…

Same thing happened to me around the same time. I went in reporting failures and not being able to boot into it or find it with liveboot. Genius recommended a reformat which somehow installed (but didn't really work, console all also reported failures).

Second visit ended up replacing the hdd with a new one. Just did this update and my Mac isn't doing so well. user land can't load. Beware.

EDIT: Eventually it came to life, my model is TS064E which is apparently one of the effected models, so it looks like a third Genius appointment for me.

Re: MacBook Air Flash Storage Drive Replacement Program

#52

Post by ejdyksen »

hrktb wrote: post #39
quarterto wrote: post #3

We also recommend backing up your data on a regular basis until you receive a replacement drive. Why stop there? With tools and services like Time Machine, Carbon Copy Cloner and Crashplan, there's no excuse not to maintain a backup. As evidenced by this page, shit happens .

Just as heads up: - Time machine: is not reliable for network backups (yes, really) - CCC: needs a USB connected drive for a MBA - Crashplan: recurring payment service based in the US All of the above solution are useful, but none are reasonable and no brainer backup solutions for everyone, especially for MBA owners. As for now, bittorent sync with a mirror on the same network feels like the best solution IMO.

CrashPlan doesn't require that you use their service. The client software (which is free) is also server software, and you can backup to your own server(s).

Re: MacBook Air Flash Storage Drive Replacement Program

#53

Post by ValentineC »

hrktb wrote: post #39
quarterto wrote: post #3

We also recommend backing up your data on a regular basis until you receive a replacement drive. Why stop there? With tools and services like Time Machine, Carbon Copy Cloner and Crashplan, there's no excuse not to maintain a backup. As evidenced by this page, shit happens .

Just as heads up: - Time machine: is not reliable for network backups (yes, really) - CCC: needs a USB connected drive for a MBA - Crashplan: recurring payment service based in the US All of the above solution are useful, but none are reasonable and no brainer backup solutions for everyone, especially for MBA owners. As for now, bittorent sync with a mirror on the same network feels like the best solution IMO.

Could you elaborate on why Time Machine isn't reliable for network backups? That's my setup at the moment.

(My 2012 MBA's SSD failed, but thankfully much of my data was automatically backed up to my NAS the previous night. The backup restored fine, too.)

Re: MacBook Air Flash Storage Drive Replacement Program

#54

Post by nwh »

reneherse wrote: post #33
nwh wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't say that. I've been using SSDs since 2009, and I've never had an issue with them. Every MacBook I've owned since then has had a hybrid of SSD + HDD for speed and capacity, and it seriously works a treat. The only issue I have ever encountered with them was an issue between a very specific combination of drives, once that was nutted out it's been solid as a rock. I would never go back.

I run an SSD for the system and a HDD (in the optical drive bay) for storage in my (aged) MBP. Any advice to get the HDD to wind down when not in use? This setup is fantastic when plugged in, but battery life suffers with the HDD in the aftermarket location unable to go to sleep...

I've never had an issue with getting a HDD in the optical bay to sleep. Just checked the option in the settings and used a tool (CHUB? CHUD?) to set the minimum spindown time to be lower than normal.

Re: MacBook Air Flash Storage Drive Replacement Program

#55

Post by nwh »

reneherse wrote: post #38
JSadowski wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes... swap the two drives. The optical bay cannot properly put the HDD to sleep. I am running a similar setup, but with the HDD in the original bay, and the SSD in the optical bay and have no issues.

Ah, yes. I think with my machine being a very old model (MBP 4,1) there was some issue for why I didn't do this. Perhaps the maximum speed of the optical bay? I'll have to look up the specs again to see if it wouldn't be worth the trade off, as it would be great to make the old goat more portable. Thanks for the tip!

My original SSD setup didn't actually have any problems in the 2007 model MacBook Pro, so I can't imagine you would either. The speedup is absolutely incredible, even with a cheap Chinese SSD.

Re: MacBook Air Flash Storage Drive Replacement Program

#57

Post by fadamakis »

hrktb wrote: post #39
quarterto wrote: post #3

We also recommend backing up your data on a regular basis until you receive a replacement drive. Why stop there? With tools and services like Time Machine, Carbon Copy Cloner and Crashplan, there's no excuse not to maintain a backup. As evidenced by this page, shit happens .

Just as heads up: - Time machine: is not reliable for network backups (yes, really) - CCC: needs a USB connected drive for a MBA - Crashplan: recurring payment service based in the US All of the above solution are useful, but none are reasonable and no brainer backup solutions for everyone, especially for MBA owners. As for now, bittorent sync with a mirror on the same network feels like the best solution IMO.

Time machine needs a HFS+ file system on your disk.

Re: MacBook Air Flash Storage Drive Replacement Program

#58

Post by AhtiK »

hrktb wrote: post #39
quarterto wrote: post #3

We also recommend backing up your data on a regular basis until you receive a replacement drive. Why stop there? With tools and services like Time Machine, Carbon Copy Cloner and Crashplan, there's no excuse not to maintain a backup. As evidenced by this page, shit happens .

Just as heads up: - Time machine: is not reliable for network backups (yes, really) - CCC: needs a USB connected drive for a MBA - Crashplan: recurring payment service based in the US All of the above solution are useful, but none are reasonable and no brainer backup solutions for everyone, especially for MBA owners. As for now, bittorent sync with a mirror on the same network feels like the best solution IMO.

CrashPlan process in linux occasionally eats up most of the cpu. As a result of this I haven't been able to complete a single full upload after trying it for the last 4 months for a few hundred GBs. I have paid for a full year but I don't think it makes sense to renew. CrashPlan sync is just too slow and CPU heavy for a laptop that is used for dev work at the same time.

Re: MacBook Air Flash Storage Drive Replacement Program

#59

Post by mbell »

Anyone know of a way to check the model/version data of a drive in an OWC USB 3.0 enclosure?

I bought a 2012 MBA with the 128GB drive on release and in early July this year the drive completely spazed out. After a round with Apple's Genius Bar the options for my 3 weeks past warranty drive were ~$700 to replace it in store or ~$300 to send it away losing my laptop for a week. I just ordered a new drive from OWC and had it overnighted.

Re: MacBook Air Flash Storage Drive Replacement Program

#60

Post by foo2312 »

chrisrhoden wrote: post #42

As a PSA, if you can get the model number, the following SSDs are checked for in the update package: TS064E - Revisions TPSABBF0 and TPVABBF0 TS128E - Revisions TPSABBF0 and TPVABBF0 That is all.

A quick way to apparently find hardware model/revision information (OSX 10.8.5):

Select "About this Mac" from the apple menu, and click on "More info..."

Click on "System Report" and select the SATA/SATAExpress page. Model and revision numbers for each installed hard drive appear to be reported here.

(edit: presumably drives connected via USB are similarly described in the appropriate page of the diagnostics/report)

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