The Bit by Bit MacBook Air Debacle

Mijn probleem

Hard drive crashed, we took the machine into an Apple approved repair depot, and were told the hard drive was done, they charged us $85 to diagnose and try to remove data, they were unable to retrieve any appreciable data, but said they tried. We were quoted roughly $400 for a replacement 80 gig drive. At that point we decided to give it a go!

Mijn oplossing

iFixit was great with identifying compatible replacement parts, so we ordered a 60 gig SSD (not from iFixit, because they didn't have a compatible drive) and used the online manual to carry out the repair. The instructions and process was very easy, and we managed to install the new drive, but upon start-up we received the lovely flashing "?", tried reinstalling and checking cables, but to no avail. We received an external housing for the drive so installed it, to test if it worked, but no cable had been shipped with the drive, so we called OWC and they shipped out the cable at no cost. When the cable arrived we did the external install and the drive worked, so we figured the next logical step would be the cable from the drive to the board, and if that didn't work it would be down to the logic board, and not worth the repair. In the meantime we did an external install of the old drive and it worked! We quickly retrieved all our data, and reinstalled in the laptop, but still nothing.

So now we order the Hard Drive Cable from iFixit and install the new drive, but still the flashing "?" So we try the old drive and the same occurs. So now sadly we own an SSD drive and a Hard Drive Cable, and it turns out the original drive was glitchy so it is dead and we are left having to replace the laptop as a logic board runs about $600.

Mijn advies

First of all would be to avoid any first generation hardware! We live in a city without an Apple store, and so the option of our trying to narrow down the problem was a good one. We are out the original $85 diagnostic fee, and $185 for the SSD, and another $30 in iFixit parts, but it was worth it; yes we could try to return all the not needed parts, but with the shipping and restocking fees, the money and time involved don't add up. Maybe the one thing we could have done different would be to wait until we had access to an Apple store, but with school timelines the wait was not going to help.