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User profile for user: Chris Blake2
Chris Blake2 Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

MacBook Air 2013 internal hdd is hiding?

My MacBook Air 2013 will not boot and displays the file icon for lack of OS bootable drive. I am able to enter the recovery OS and through disk utility I can see the 2GB startup recovery image but that is it. No internal SSD anywhere to be found. Also not found through terminal.


Is this a dead SSD issue? I can’t understand how it can see a 2GB recovery partition but not the rest of the hard drive.


Interesting side show; the track pad works only intermittently and does not allow for clicking. I am able to get around this by using a mouse.

Posted on Apr 21, 2020 9:10 PM

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User profile for user: kaz-k
kaz-k
User level: Level 9
50,208 points

Posted on Apr 22, 2020 3:43 AM

Hi,

Resetting NVRAM, then boot in Recovery Mode could find the SSD.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063


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User profile for user: HWTech
HWTech
User level: Level 9
60,500 points

Apr 22, 2020 8:40 PM in response to Chris Blake2

Try running the Apple Diagnostic.


The 2GB volume is most likely the virtual boot drive created by booting into Internet Recovery Mode.


Does your laptop have an original Apple SSD installed? If so, then the SSD may have failed. IIRC this model laptop had some known SSD issues.


If you have a third party SSD installed, then you need to boot from macOS 10.13+ in order to see a third party SSD.


If the original Apple SSD has failed, then you can purchase an OWC Aura SSD (their kit includes the necessary tools). Apple uses a proprietary SSD connector in this laptop so standard SSDs won't work. Third party SSDs require a system firmware update has already been installed prior to using a third party SSD. If your laptop never had macOS 10.13+ installed, then you will need to get an original Apple SSD instead so the system firmware can be upgraded since Apple will only update the system firmware with a properly erased original Apple PCIe SSD installed internally. If your laptop already has this system firmware update because macOS 10.13+ has already been installed, then you can use a third party SSD.


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MacBook Air 2013 internal hdd is hiding?

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