TidBits: Last-Ditch Data Recovery More Difficult on the 2018 MacBook Pro

Originally published by TidBits.
By Josh Centers

Touch Bar-equipped MacBook Pro laptops have always featured solid-state storage soldered to the logic board, making it impossible to remove for data recovery, as was possible with hard disk drives. For these Macs, Apple enabled last-ditch data recovery through a special port on the logic board, combined with a custom tool for Apple Authorized Apple Service Providers.

Unfortunately, in its teardown, iFixit discovered that the 2018 MacBook Pro models lack that port, and MacRumors learned from internal Apple documents that Apple’s internal Customer Data Migration Tool does not work with these Macs.

Luckily, data recovery firm DriveSavers says it can still recover data from these laptops, even if the logic board fails or is damaged. Mike Cobb, DriveSavers Director of Engineering, said in a statement:

None of the changes mentioned in the iFixit article regarding the MacBook Pro 2018 have had any effect on our ability to recover data for our customers. This is due to our advanced capabilities in addressing the logic board. DriveSavers has been very successful in recovering data from the 2018 model as well as all others. It is worth noting that customers need to send us the whole device to complete the data recovery service.

The lesson here is simple, though it applies more than ever before to owners of the latest MacBook Pro: Back up your data regularly!

Read more: https://tidbits.com/2018/07/24/last-ditch-data-recovery-more-difficult-on-the-2018-macbook-pro/