My MacBook Pro (2014) suddenly froze yesterday while I was working on some files, and I had to force shut it down. After that, it wouldn’t boot normally anymore—just shows a flashing folder with a question mark.
I tried going into macOS Recovery and opened Disk Utility, but my internal SSD doesn’t show up there at all (not even grayed out). It’s like the drive just disappeared.
I didn’t notice any warning signs before this happened, so I’m a bit confused. Does this mean my SSD has completely failed, or could it be something like a cable issue? Also, is there still any chance to recover my data at this point?
Any advice would really help—I haven’t backed up recently and I’m kind of stuck right now.
Unfortunately, what the service center told you is mostly accurate. On T2-equipped Macs, the SSD is tied to the T2 chip, and all data is encrypted at the hardware level. If the logic board is completely dead and the T2 chip can’t power on, there’s no way to decrypt the data—even Apple can’t access it. The old data recovery port you mentioned only worked on some pre-T2 models. Unless the board can be revived enough to boot (even briefly), recovery chances are extremely low.
If the T2 chip isn’t functioning, the data is basically locked. Recovery services usually can’t help in this case either. Only hope is if the board can be repaired enough to power on again.
If the SSD intermittently shows up or can be detected through another connection (like an external enclosure), you still have a chance to recover your data. In that case, you can try i Download iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac to scan the drive and extract files before attempting any repairs or replacements. But if the SSD is completely undetectable everywhere, recovery will depend on fixing the hardware first.