What adapter do I need for this SSD to get my data off it?
I have a 2018 MacBook Air model A1932 EMC 3184 and it's completly dead. Is there an adapter that I can use to get the information to my new MacBook? Thanks!
MacBook Air (2018 – 2020)
Question marked as
That would be a MacBook Air (Retina, 13-inch, 2018) – one of the Intel-based Macs with an Apple T2 Security chip.
Mac computers with the Apple T2 Security Chip - Apple Support
I suspect that the SSD is soldered in – but even if it wasn't; and there was a cheap external enclosure for it, you'd be hosed. My understanding is that Macs with the T2 security chip, and Macs with Apple Silicon processors, carry out real-time encryption and decryption of all, or virtually all, of the data that goes to and from the internal SSD.
As long as the encryption/decryption keys and the SSD are together (i.e., the Mac is still operational, and the SSD is still in it), you can access the SSD. It's like having a door with a deadbolt lock where you leave the key in the lock at all times. Separate the two, and it's not so easy to recover the data. (The raw data is just hash.) The analogy would be standing in front of a deadbolt-locked door for which you do not have the keys.
In your case, the keys are buried inside the T2 security chip, on the dead motherboard. Maybe a spy agency with a lot of money and time to spare could dig them out, but as far as you or I are concerned, those keys are gone. That means you wouldn't be able to recover the data on the SSD even if you could get the SSD out of the Mac and read the raw encrypted data on it.
Sorry.