Q: Macbook Air SSD failure?

Another failure here. My girlfriend's 15 month old MacBook Air Toshiba 120gb SSD failed. Apple Store would not offer a warranty extension. I purchased a drive from OWC instead. I have concidered calling in to see if I have better luck with phone support.

I have a few points for those examining the statistics of these failures. Particularly the point that we would see more people reporting issues given the volume of Macbook Air sales. Apple sources their SSD's from many manufacturers. Split evenly, affected Toshiba drives could account for 1/3 or more or less of the total 2012 Macbook Air's sold. If Toshiba produced multiple revisions of their controller chipset and not all are affected then the pool of drives prone to failure is even smaller. If the drive failure is caused by Apple's pulled firmware(wouldn't be the first time a firmware bug killed SSD's) then only those that installed the firmware are afected. Many Mac users perform updates on an irregular basis and would not have updated before Apple had time to pull the firmware. Concider also that many affected users will not be reporting their problem where it can be found with a simple search on Google. The backorder of SSD's at Apple's repair facilities and with OWC would indicate a larger issue than just what is being reported here.

Just got an email through from Apple,

telling me the part for my repair is constrained.
With an ESTIMATED date of arrival as the 12th of October 2013

Arse

Two failures here.  Bought two MBAs in 2012.  Both had SSD failures.  Authorized service center rep said he has seen several MBAs with the same problem.  I love Macs.  But there is no denying what's happened to me.  My love for Macs is based on my experience prior to these 2012 MBAs. 

Just wondering why there are suddenly that many cases - can't this be related to some sw/fw update? Righ after iOS7 was released...

Mine is completely unrelated to iOS.  The failure occurred before the release of iOS7, and no iOS device was affiliated with this computer.

An update:  The MBAir was repaired and returned to us, under warranty, after 3 weeks or so.

Three weeks to replace a disk - 5 minutes of work. That really *****.

The SSDs were in short supply and had to be ordered from outside the country - so we were told.

In any case, I am pretty sure they usually do extensive testing before and after replacing the SSD, so it likely takes more than 5 minutes.

I am happy to have it back, but I have a sneaky (and unfounded) suspicion that it is going to happen again. There are people here who have had this issue more than once.  Keeping my fingers crossed.

What country are you from? Just wondering about mine thats all, I only got told a 3 day turnaround

The testing part I understand, still being without a computer for 3 weeks is totally unacceptable in my opinion (for a 1400$).

I have been Apple fan for 10+ years, bought 8 laptops, Pro etc. but now I am becoming extremely concerned. I travel a lot and need a reliable piece of equipment...

I'm in the same boat, and even after my SSD failure, I'm still a huge fan.

From the posts here, the failure mode we've experienced appears to transcend firmware or OS7 updates and to possibly be use-cycle dependant. I believe Apple cares deeply about core user satisfaction but our little thread here may not be getting corporate attention. How best to make sure it does?

If Apple cared then they would have notified users of a defect, urged users to backup data in case of a failure and instituted a recall program. They would have posted the reason for pulling the SSD firmware update. I believe instead they are keeping quiet about the issue in hopes that customers won't figure things out. Why? Because acknowledging the issue would harm the company's reputation for reliability.

With my otherwise excellent experience with Apple, I'd like to first assume corporate ingnorance.

mclingan,

My regard for Apple's products also remains high, despite this one frustrating experience, and is based on more than 25 years of use of Apple products. The only other time I had a major hardware issue with a Mac was a hard drive failure on a Cube. Lost all data then and have faithfully backed up since.

It takes time, even for Apple, to gather evidence and sufficient data. If there is a sytematic pattern here, as seems to be the case with the 2012 MBAir, then I am sure Apple will take appropriate steps.  It usually does, even though the delay is quite frustrating to the affected users.

I know that the plural of anecdote is not data, but all these experiences on this board (and others) certainly seem to hint at an issue.

Hotur,

The MBA was bought and registered in the USA but the SSD failed while in use in India, so it was serviced in India. (The Mac's one year warranty is a world-wide warranty.)

Initially they estimated "at least 4 weeks", so receiving it in 3 weeks actually felt like a relief even though it was a major nuisance to be without own computer for that long.

Sorry to report another failure on a 2012 MBA...

Usual situation... Froze upon awakening from sleep then question mark.

We're extremely stick without it. We run a business and half of the work is performed by one of us on the Mac. Essentially half of our tasks are currently not possible.

The infuriating thing has been Apple support here in the UK...

From fault diagnosis on the phone, we were told it should be a same-day replacement, under warranty.

Dropped off at Apple store and time crept to 3-5 days.

Then told it needed a part to be ordered.

This was 21st Sept.

Told part ordered Saturday

Told part ordered Monday

Part still on order Tues, due Weds

Today, Thu, part still not available, maybe tomorrow, Fri 27 Sept...

We NEED to at least know a timescale so we can plan, or borrow a laptop.

My worry is that no one at the Apple store seems to know anything about parts logistics.

It seems it could go on indefinitely with no one able to tell us if there is a problem down the supply chain?

1) Does anyone know if there is a real SSD shortage?

2) As we are within warranty, is there any mileage in pursuing a replacement MBA. I know everyone's individual case is urgent, but I can't stress enough how critical the MBA is to our business's day-to day operations. It is causing huge stress. Given we only chose this Mac over a conventional laptop for the reliability...