User profile for user: MDbauer
MDbauer Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

replacing ssd on MacBook pro 2017 no touchbar

My MacBook pro 2017 - no touchbar - seems to need new SSD Memory chip. Since a few days, everytime it goes to sleep, it is froze after wake up. When i restart it, there is an empty folder with a questionmark. When starting it with the Base-System (key-combination "R" and "command-key"), i try to perform Diskrepair, and it doesn't show the System Disk, but only the 2 GB Base Disk. After performing this operation a couple of times, the MB succeeded occasionally , until now, to restart correctly.


The diagnosis seems clear : Replace the SSDs. The steps don't seem too complicated (have some background in electronics). Nevertheless, 2 questions:


Question 1 : my actual OS is Ventura 13.6.9. The SSDs have 250 GB.

Can i install a larger SSD, or would that provoke problems?


Question 2 : in some posts i saw that i would need to reload an earlier system. Do i still have to do this ?


Thanks for all advices !


Cheers, Thomas

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Sep 16, 2024 5:38 AM

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4 replies
User profile for user: HWTech
HWTech
Community+ 2026
User level: Level 9
72,718 points

Sep 16, 2024 5:01 PM in response to MDbauer

Your SSD is failing. The SSD in this particular model has an extremely high rate of failure. These SSDs tend to fail when powering on or waking from sleep. The SSD has trouble powering on & going ready. If you Option Boot the laptop, perhaps it will give the SSD enough time to go ready where the system may see the physical SSD & see a bootable volume on it.


I certainly hope you have a good backup since you may not get another chance to access the data on the SSD since the SSD could fail completely at any time. I've seen it happen a number of times.


You can purchase & install a third part OWC SSD for this laptop, but I really don't recommend spending any money on this laptop due to all the known & lesser known hardware issues (this SSD failure is one of the lesser known issues). The OWC product page will tell you the largest SSD they offer for this laptop.


You can use any OS compatible with this laptop from the original factory OS to macOS 13.x Ventura.



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User profile for user: MDbauer
MDbauer Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Sep 16, 2024 5:58 AM in response to MDbauer

My MacBook pro 2017 - no touchbar - seems to need a new SSD memory chip. Since a few days, everytime it goes to sleep, it freezes after wake up. At restart , an empty folder with a questionmark appears. When I restart it with the Base-System (key-combination "R" and "command-key"), and try to perform Diskrepair, the it doesn't show the System Disk, but only the 2 GB Base Disk. After performing this operation a few times, the MacBook - until now ! - succeeded to restart correctly.


The diagnosis seems clear : the SSDs must be replaced. The steps don't seem really complicated (have some background in electronics). Nevertheless, 2 questions:


Question 1 : my actual OS is Ventura 13.6.9. The SSDs have 250 GB.

Can i install a larger SSD, or would that provoke problems?


Question 2 : in some posts i saw that i would need to reload an earlier system. Do i still have to do this ?


Thanks for all advices !


Cheers, Thomas

Reply

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replacing ssd on MacBook pro 2017 no touchbar

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