MacBook Air · MacBook Pro · iMac · Mac mini · blade SSD · Fusion Drive · T2 · Apple silicon · FileVault · APFS
MacBook and Mac data recovery. Which Macs can be recovered like any drive, and which depend entirely on the logic board.
Whether a Mac's data can be recovered comes down to one question: is the storage a drive that can be taken out, or a set of chips soldered to the logic board and encrypted with a key that lives on that board. Intel MacBooks up to 2017, iMacs up to 2019 and Mac minis up to 2014 have removable drives, blade SSDs, hard drives or a Fusion Drive pairing the two, and those are recovered here like any SSD or hard disk, imaged first, with FileVault opened by your password or recovery key. Every Mac with a T2 chip, from 2018, and every Apple-silicon Mac since 2020 is different: the storage is soldered and always encrypted, with the key held in the Secure Enclave on the board, so the chips cannot be read on their own. We do not do board-level work on Macs, so those we do not take: if the Mac still boots to Recovery, any Apple repairer can transfer the data; if the board is dead, the data cannot be recovered by anyone, and we say so rather than take the job. A removable drive is £300 + VAT, fixed in writing after a free first look.
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Which Mac you have decides everything.
What is wrong, and what can be done.
Describe yours to us →| What you see | The usual reason | Where that leaves you |
|---|---|---|
| Intel MacBook will not start; blade SSD inside | The Mac has failed, or the SSD has | SSD removed, imaged, recovered; from £300 + VAT |
| iMac clicking or very slow | Hard drive mechanical failure | Drive out, repaired on the bench, imaged |
| Fusion Drive iMac shows the disk as failed | One half of the pair has failed | Both parts needed; reassembled from images |
| Question mark folder, or stuck at the logo | Boot volume damaged, or the drive failing | Imaged first, APFS repaired on the image |
| T2 or Apple-silicon Mac dead, no backup | Logic board failure | Not taken here; an Apple repairer if it still boots to Recovery, otherwise not recoverable |
| FileVault volume, password forgotten | Encryption with no key | Needs the password, recovery key or iCloud key; otherwise not recoverable |
How a Mac drive is recovered here, and the honest limit.
Removable drives. Take the blade SSD or hard drive out of the Mac and send the drive, as with any machine; we can tell you which Macs allow it and how. The drive is imaged first on hardware that controls every retry, the APFS or HFS+ volume is repaired on the image, FileVault is opened with your password or recovery key, and the files are listed for you before any bill exists. A Fusion Drive needs both the hard drive and the blade SSD, because APFS and the older Core Storage spread one volume across the two.
Soldered, encrypted Macs. On T2 and Apple-silicon Macs the storage chips hold data that is encrypted with a key unique to the Secure Enclave on that board. Reading the chips off the board gives encrypted data and no key, so chip-off recovery, which works on many other devices, does not work here. The only route is the one Apple provides: a Mac that boots to Recovery can share its disk to another Mac for the data to be copied, which any Apple-authorised repairer can do. We do not do board-level work on Macs, so we do not take T2 or Apple-silicon Macs; where the board is dead, the data cannot be recovered, by us or anyone, and we tell you that at the first conversation rather than take the machine in.
FileVault. On any Mac, FileVault encrypts the volume with a key protected by your login password and a recovery key, which may also be stored in iCloud. With one of those, the volume opens; without all of them, it does not, and that is a limit of the encryption, not of the lab. The same honesty applies on our BitLocker service for Windows.
Questions answered before you commit.
Can you recover data from a dead MacBook Air or Pro?
If it is an Intel model up to 2017, yes: the blade SSD comes out and is recovered like any SSD. If it is a T2 model from 2018 or an Apple-silicon Mac, the storage is soldered and encrypted with a key on the logic board, and we do not do board-level work on Macs, so we do not take those; if it still boots to Recovery an Apple repairer can transfer the data, and if the board is dead the data is not recoverable by anyone.
My iMac is clicking. Can the data be saved?
Usually. iMacs to 2019 use ordinary hard drives, which fail mechanically; the drive comes out, the fault is repaired on the bench and the platters imaged. Stop using it now; every spin-up risks the platters. If it is a Fusion Drive, the blade SSD is needed too.
I forgot my FileVault password. Can you decrypt the drive?
Only with your login password, the FileVault recovery key or the key stored in iCloud, if you chose that. Without any of them the volume cannot be opened, because FileVault's encryption cannot be broken; we would say so at the free first look rather than take the job.
Do I send the whole Mac?
For a Mac with a removable drive, send the drive; we will tell you how to remove it. For a T2 or Apple-silicon Mac, the data cannot leave the board and we do not do board-level work, so we do not take those Macs; check Time Machine, and if the Mac still boots to Recovery an Apple repairer can transfer the data.
What does it cost?
A removable Mac drive is £300 + VAT, fixed in writing after a free first look, with no bill on most jobs if no data comes back. Soldered T2 and Apple-silicon Macs are not taken.
Begin here if yours is doing the same thing.
Tell us the model and the year, and you get a straight answer.
The year and model decide whether a Mac's drive can be recovered here like any drive, or is soldered to a board we do not work on. The first look is free, and the honest answer comes before any figure.