Weirdly disappearing SSD on MacBook Pro Retina

Question

Level 1

4 points

Weirdly disappearing SSD on MacBook Pro Retina

Hit a problem with an SSD disappearing in my Macbook, all of a sudden. The setup is: Macbook Pro Retina (A1425), original SSD 256, notebook never opened since purchase.

The symptom is that SSD won't be detected by system on reboot or after sleep - showing "question mark folder" error on start up. Disk utility from Recovery Mode won't detect any disks installed.

Now the weird part is that when MB sits alone for a while (an hour or so) - it detects SSD on next reboot without any problems. I've been able to reinstall the system, cleanly, from bootable USB onto SSD and it just works. Disk utility won't show any errors on the drive, everything appears fine. Immediately after reboot/shutdown/sleep cycle the system won't detect SSD again.

What do you guys think? That is the symptom of dying SSD (considering it's in moderate usage for 3 years) or could it be anything else?

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X El Capitan (10.11.4)

Posted on Mar 22, 2016 8:05 PM

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Answer 1

Dec 21, 2017 8:23 AM in response to capnut

I have some problem with MacBook Pro and Kingston A400 480GB SSD. The SSD worked fine about 6 month and disappeared. After First Aid from DiskUtility SSD worked about 2 days and disappeared forever.

But this SSD work fine throw USB and in another PC under Windows. Kingston SSD Manager under Win 10 see absolutely healthy SSD.

SMC and NVRAM reset don't help me.

Do you resolve this problem?

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Answer 2

dwb

Level 7

33,244 points

Dec 21, 2017 10:31 AM in response to Baranchugov

Start a new thread with your problem. You've hijacked an old thread which involves a totally different computer. Be sure to include your model (look under the Apple menu for About this Mac).

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Answer 3

Sep 6, 2017 2:18 PM in response to capnut

I have the same issue, however a reinstall did not fix permanently the problem only temporarily.

Its very sporadic and I cant seem to replicate the issue manually. any one have any ideas what is going on?

ta

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Answer 4

clausiii

Level 1

12 points

Oct 2, 2017 10:28 PM in response to Graham.Splendid

Same problem here! I have two SSDs in my MBP. Sometimes both of them disappear!

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Answer 5

capnut Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 24, 2016 5:22 AM in response to capnut

An update.

The drive was randomly detected/not detected by the system and in one of these "detected" stages I've been able to perform another clean install of OS X 10.11.4 to the SSD from USB.

After 24+ hours of standard usage, about dozen of sleep cycles (lid close/open), same amount of reboots & user-initiated shutdowns and 1 overnight sleep - the drive is functioning normally. At first, there were about 40+ seconds of waiting time from boot/reboot to login screen and after several restarts the waiting time went down to usual 10-12 seconds.

At the moment the system & drive are functioning normally. I really don't know what to make of it.

The funny thing that when the notebook was in of these "drive not detected" stages I took it to Apple's Authorized Service Center and they've proclaimed SSD dead without a hope, asking about $800 for a repair.

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Answer 6

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,329 points

Mar 24, 2016 5:51 AM in response to capnut

Try a SMC reset:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295

If you find that the SSD must be replaced, look mat these options:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/SSDA12R240/

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/SSDA12R480/

A little better than $800.

Ciao.

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