How to access Mac Book Air SSD externally?

I have made a mistake using my Air, I deleted the boot record on the SSD.
The laptop is unable to start, unable to run diagnorstics, unable to run boot select, nothing, it just shows the gray background with no apple logo on it, so does not even loads the OSX. I believe it stuck in the boot process when there are two OS (OSX, SUSE) and no boot records. The system detects external USB flash drive, but it can't boot from that either.
My questions are theese:
In order to repair and reflash the SSD from an older backup image that I have, I need an external SSD reader, which I can connect to another computer. Where can I finde such? I have been looking for it the whole day, but no reader has the same connection that apple does.
If there is no reader to that, I can make it. Correct me if I am wrong, but the Air's SSD is a SATA, but a smaller one. Are the pinouts in the same order as in SATA? Because in this case, I just need 2 connectors and a bunch of wire...
It would be much easier to do this process without a home-made sata reader, so I have an another idea, a riskier one: The problem is with the SSD, so why not remove it, and start a linux from an USB stick, then when the system is up, put back the SSD, and reformat it. Is it technically possible? Will the system recognise that the SSD was put back? Will it damage the mainboard?
So, theese are my ideas to reflash the SSD, I hope I can make it without buying a new one. If someone has better ideas I am looking forward to it too...
Thanks for every reply!

if its a 2011 model then it gotta still be under warranty. why not at least try to ask the apple store to take care of you? if its a 2011 model like you say it is then it won't do any good to take the computer apart.
ive tried linux before on a pc (i think it was the backtrack linux) and by default it put lilo on my main hard disk boot sector and it screwed it and not the sd card that i told linux to install it to. lame
your not thinking hard enough. its realitively easily to erase the hard disk, install snow leopard and then instal lion from someones CD. the external drive only costs $79 why are you rushing into wanting to take the computer apart and replace its ssd module (at a cost of around 249 to 289) to fix yourself? without trying everything else?
maybe you didnt make the usb boot disk properly. usb drives do not use boot sectors. technically usb drives have built in firmware to look for system files and then to boot.. you can't physically write a track 0 to a usb drive in real life. if you were actually able to you would ruin the drive.
from your description you make it sound like its some kind of nvram failure or worse (like a total firmware failure)
Shut down the computer.
Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
Turn on the computer.
Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
Release the keys.
Your computer's PRAM and the NVRAM are reset to the default values. The clock settings may be reset to a default date on some models.

Similar Messages

New Mac Book Air with external Super drive cannot get Book camp with windows 7 dirve to load

New Mac Book Air with external Super drive cannot get Book camp with windows 7 dirve to load?

Dear All,
Also i am having a strange problem.
It is impossible for me to use a downlaod manager such as orbit, or IDM..
Could it be linked with booth camp ?
Thanks

HT1689 how sinc my mac book air to my iphone 5 all the itunes

ok I have purchase a few song on my Mac Book Air and I have purchase few song on myiphone 5;
now like to have it sinc????

iTunes is on your computer.
Launch iTunes on your computer.
Connect your phone to your computer using the USB cable that came with it.
If the "Library" button is displayed on the right side of the screen in iTunes click on it to switch to Library view. If the button says "iTunes Store" you are already in the library view.
Also on the right is a button that should say "iPhone"
Click on it.
Look at the bottom right of the iPhone page that is displayed when you clicked on "iPhone"
Click on the button that says "Sync"
Now go and read the manual and learn about the other wonderful things your iPhone can do.

How to 'reset' Mac Book Air?

My Mac Book Air is instable, permanently< asking to restart. Its in a loop. What I need is a kind of Secure Mode start up. Repeatedly pressing power off for several seconds brings the same error message, that Mac OS wants a restart. Urgently need advise.
Thanks.
Al.

Try booting up in [safe mode|http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1455] and see if you get the same message.
Steve

How to connect mac book air toiphone 4s

Any help out there, without tethering??

Apart from tethering there is no other purpose to connect an iPhone to a Mac via Bluetooth.

Problem accessing Seagate External Harddrive from iMac and Mac Book Air

I have a brand new Seagate 2TB external harddrive which I have just used to backup my entire iMac files (photos, videos, etc) via the Time Capsule programme. However I now can't access the files which apparently have been copied onto the Segate. I have now connected the Seagate to my Mac Book Air and it is not even being recognised as an external storage device.
Is someone able to tell me how I can access the files on the external drive?

do you mean "time machine" as opposed to "time capsule" the latter is a back up drive in itself.
before you did your backup was your seagate drive formatted or did you just connect and instruct the mac to back up to the drive.
if the drive was not formatted then you will need to format the drive using disc utility.

HT1338 How to setup an external HDMI screen with a Mac Book Air

How do I setup an external HDMI screen with a Mac Book Air? I am using an Apple accessory Moshi cable interface with a Samsung Syncmaster screen SB24B300 and I am unable to get any response. Thank you.

You need to connect it to the computer using either USB or Thunderbolt. Setup is simply prepping the SSD:
Drive Partition and Format
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Apply button and wait until the process has completed.

How do i format an external hard drive for use on both windows and mac book air?

how do i format an external hard drive for use on both windows pc and mac book air?

Use exFAT on the PC.
(71374)

How do I transfer a specific backup from my external hard drive to my mac book air?

How do I transfer a specific backup from my external hard drive to my mac book air? I downgraded my mac's software from Mavericks to Mountain Lion because of the computer's limations so I need to transfer all the info I had when Mavericks and down to Mountain Lion. I already went to the Apple Genius Bar and they helped me downgrade, but I want to transfer information from a specific backup on my external hard drive?

time machine backup? Go into the backups.backupdb (time machine) and extract out the specific files, drag them to your desktop etc.
consider in the future additional backup methods than time machine for easy file extraction.
Methodology to protect your data. Backups vs. Archives. Long-term data protection

How do I get a video signal to an external monitor via the mini-display port on my Mac Book Air?

I can't get a video signal out through my mini-display port on my Mac Book Air (version 1). Thus I can't feed BBC iPlayer to an external monitor. There is some connectivity - the MAC wallpaper is broadcast, the mouse pointer is visible and sound is transferred. Is it likely to be a cable connection problem (though the cable works with a Windows operating laptop)?

First, what you said is contradictory. You say "can't get a video signal", then say"the Mac wallpaper is broadcast, the mouse pointer is visible". "No video signal" means an absolutely black,blank screen. It sounds like you have plenty of signal.
I am supposing what you are seeing is actually a blank desktop, which is to be expected if your settings are such that you are extending the desktop, instead of mirroring it.
Within the preference panes is a setting that allows you to change this. Open System Preferences, click Displays, and then click Arrangement. You will see that you are extending the desktop. Change that setting.

How do I unlock file permissions on an external flash drive connected to a mac book air?

Hi there, I have just synced my I tunes library to I Tunes on my mac book air using a WD external flash drive (which I have always used as my storage drive for my entire library and was previously running on a Sony Vaio PC) and although I can now see and play all my files I can't download new content as I get an error message stating "there was a problem downloading.... you don't have priveleges to make changes" which from my research is because the flash drive I tunes folder permissions within it are locked to read only.
Which is where the problem lies as I can't see anyway to change this when clicking on the drives in my devices and going to the get info option, as although it shows the permission status - you can't edit that?
Note I know this is the issue as if I change the I tunes media folder location back to the defualt folder as the hard drive on the mac book I can then download new files no problem, however I dont want to store my content on the hard drive of my mac book air as my library is over 300gb and want to keep it all on the external (as I always did when running I tunes on my PC).
Any help will be apprecaited guys!
Thanks

If the drive is formatted as MS-DOS or exFAT, use the Disk Utility in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder to repair it.
If it's formatted as NTFS, either reformat it or install third-party software which enables the Mac to write to NTFS drives.
(86377)

Can anyone recommend an external storage device to supplement my mac book air? I already have a time capsule but want the new device to replicate the data on that so ideally would like a device that i can connect to the time capsule through a cable.

Can anyone recommend an external storage device to supplement my mac book air? I already have a time capsule but want the new device to replicate the data on that so ideally would like a device that i can connect to the time capsule through a cable.

Hi CJR
I'm not sure how Time Capsule can be replicated onto your external drive but there is a USB port on the back of TC that can be hooked up to any recent external drive.
Another thing to think about , besides a Time Capsule failure, is the theft of your Time Capsule, so it might be a good idea to consider separating any redundant back-up from your Time Capsule or both my be stolen.
TC will back up until full and then begin deleting the oldest back-ups. Mine is a 2TB Time capsule.
My back-up plan is as follows:
1. Macbook Air back-up on Time Capsule though Time Machine backs up everything - I think it's about every 30 min or so.
2. Contacts, reminders, appointments, notes, email are backed up through iCloud.
3. iTunes and non-itunes purchased music is on iMatch (and no need to back-up) and any non-iTunes music is backed up on an HP external drive (in case Time Capsule dies)
4. Photos are on my MacBook Air and are backed up on my HP external drive.
5. Office documents (Excel, Powerpoint, Access etc) are stored in a Skydrive app (like iCloud) and Skydrive syncs these docuemnts with the MS cloud and my old PC and does not alter their native format like storing in iCloud would do.
Cheers

My mac book air can't start installation, because i use windows installation in DOS to make partion, now no mac os on it. How to get back the mac os? i have a window based iso image from a friend, because in my country there is no Apple service.

my mac book air can't start installation, because i use windows installation in DOS to make partion, now no mac os on it. How to get back the mac os? i have a window based iso image from a friend, because in my country there is no Apple service.

It sounds like you destroyed your boot partition and the recovery partition. Depending on it's age, your MacBook Air might be able to do a net boot. Plug and ethernet connection into it and attempt to boot. If it has the right firmware, it will find a net boot configuration on the net and boot that. Then it will give you a Recovery Partition like display and allow you to reinstall the OS X version that came with it.... assuming that it was Lion or ML. If your computer came with Snow Leopard, then even the net boot won't work.
At that point you need a bootable USB Key, or an external DVD drive AND a Snow Leopard installation DVD.
An Apple Store, if there is one nearby, MAY be able to get you going again. However, whatever is on the SSD now will be toast too.

I sold my Mac Book Air.How do I remove my account from it?

I sold my Mac Book Air. 128 GB SSD. OSX 10.7.5 How do I get my name off it, and let the new owner register it so they can get all the upgrades?
Thank you.

Follow these instructions step by step to prepare a Mac for sale:
Step One - Back up your data:
       A. If you have any Virtual PCs shut them down. They cannot be in their "fast saved" state. They must be shut down from inside Windows.
       B. Clone to an external drive using using Carbon Copy Cloner.
          1. Open Carbon Copy Cloner.
          2. Select the Source volume from the Select a source drop down menu on the left side.
          3. Select the Destination volume from the Select a destination drop down menu on the right
              side.
          4. Click on the Clone button. If you are prompted about creating a clone of the Recovery HD be
              sure to opt for that.
               Destination means a freshly erased external backup drive. Source means the internal
               startup drive.
Step Two - Prepare the machine for the new buyer:
          1. De-authorize the computer in iTunes! De-authorize both iTunes and Audible accounts.
          2, Remove any Open Firmware passwords or Firmware passwords.
          3. Turn the brightness full up and volume nearly so.
          4. Turn off File Vault, if enabled.
          5. Disable iCloud, if enabled: See.What to do with iCloud before selling your computer
Step Three - Install a fresh OS:
     A. Snow Leopard and earlier versions of OS X
          1. Insert the original OS X install CD/DVD that came with your computer.
          2. Restart the computer while holding down the C key to boot from the CD/DVD.
          3. Select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu; repartition and reformat the internal hard drive.
              Optionally, click on the Security button and set the Zero Data option to one-pass.
          4. Install OS X.
          5. Upon completion DO NOT restart the computer.
          6. Shutdown the computer.
     B. Lion and Mountain Lion (if pre-installed on the computer at purchase*)
         Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because
                   it is three times faster than wireless.
          1. Restart the computer while holding down the COMMAND and R keys until the Mac OS X
              Utilities window appears.
          2. Select Disk Utility from the Mac OS X Utilities window and click on the Continue button.
          3. After DU loads select your startup volume (usually Macintosh HD) from the left side list. Click
              on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
          4. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Optionally, click on the Security button
              and set the Zero Data option to one-pass.
          5. Click on the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.
          6. Quit DU and return to the Mac OS X Utilities window.
          7. Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Install button.
          8. Upon completion shutdown the computer.
*If your computer came with Lion or Mountain Lion pre-installed then you are entitled to transfer your license once. If you purchased Lion or Mountain Lion from the App Store then you cannot transfer your license to another party. In the case of the latter you should install the original version of OS X that came with your computer. You need to repartition the hard drive as well as reformat it; this will assure that the Recovery HD partition is removed. See Step Three above. You may verify these requirements by reviewing your OS X Software License.

I recently purchased a time capsule and thought I would put my itunes on it as an external drive as my mac book air only has 120gb. However I can not be connected to the internet and the TC at the same time in order to download the files to the TC. Help?

I recently purchased a Time Capsule and put my iTunes library on there so that I wasn't using up my hard drive space. Only 120gb on my mac book air. However when I download songs from iTunes I can not be connected wirelessly to the internet at the same time. Can I hard wire my TC in to my mac so that I can treat the TC as just an external hard drive? Thanks

Initially, you asked if you can hardwire your MBA to the TC. The answer is yes, by using the optional USB Ethernet adapter that Apple provides. However, in order for your MBA to access the TC's internal or USB-attached HDD, it would need to establish a network connection to it. This would be true of any NAS device on an Ethernet network. Therein, lies the problem. Your MBA cannot connect to two networks simultaneously.
One option then, would be to have two separate iTunes Media folders; one on the MBA & the other on the TC. This way, you can download the music to your MBA when connected to the Internet at the AirPort lounge, and then use iTunes Consolidate Library feature to transfer the audio files to the TC's iTunes Media Folder location. A great program to help maintain multiple iTunes Librarys and/or Media Folders, that you may want to consider, is PowerTunes.

How to access Mac Book Air SSD externally?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for