SSD in Envoy Pro 1A Enclosure won't show up on 2018 Mac Mini desktop

ACGypsy60 wrote:

I ran the Apple Diagnosis and it showed the VDH002 issue. Running Disk Utility in Recovery mode fails to run and says there is a problem with the drive.

Sounds like the SSD has failed. Unfortunately Apple doesn't document the specific failure for the drive associated with a particular error code.

Many times an SSD will begin to show signs of failing by not being able to power on & go ready quickly enough for the boot process. Try Option Booting your laptop by holding down the Option key immediately after hearing the startup chime to access the Apple boot picker menu. This may give the SSD enough time to power up & go ready while the laptop's firmware searches for bootable volumes.

Since you are having issues with your new external OWC SSD, I would suggest creating & using a bootable Knoppix Linux USB stick. Knoppix includes a utility that can check the health of the internal SSD....assuming the internal SSD can even be seen & can communicate. I have instructions in my other post here:

Creating & Using a Bootable Knoppix Linux USB Stick -- @HWTech - Apple Community

If your laptop's internal SSD can be seen & the SSD's health report can be retrieved, then I can review it for possible clues on how to proceed.

There is a slim possibility the SSD just needs to be reseated. Even though the SSD is secured with a screw, I have seen a couple of cases where the SSD still somehow got dislodged since reseating the SSD resolved the issue. It is critical to disconnect all power (Power Adapter & Battery) before reseating the SSD. I would prefer to see the results of using a Knoppix USB stick before making any physical changes to the laptop since that would be a last ditch Hail Mary effort.

So today I got an OWC Envoy Pro 1A enclosure and followed the directions the load the SSD and plug it into my 2018 Mac Mini running Sonoma. The LED lights but the drive does not appear on the desktop or in Disk Utility. If I pull up the system information, the drive does appear in the USB list:

Envoy Pro 1A:

 Product ID: 0****9

 Vendor ID: 0x1e91

 Version: 52.03

 Serial Number: 3********9

 Speed: Up to 5 Gb/s

 Manufacturer: Other World Computing

 Location ID: 0x14830000 / 17

 Current Available (mA): 900

 Current Required (mA): 0

 Extra Operating Current (mA): 0

This is not showing the external drive using any power. Have you tried using the other USB ports and even a different USB cable?

Is it connected directly to the Mini?

Have you tried connecting the SSD into a powered dock or hub?

Do you have access to any other computers....even a Windows PC to test the new SSD?

I'm truly hoping the SSD isn't bad as it contains a freelance project I was working on. Is there any way I can get the drive to display so I can pull the remaining data off?

We need to figure out whether the physical SSD can even be seen. If the physical SSD cannot be seen, then most likely the data cannot be recovered. I am assuming this is the original Apple OEM SSD which shipped in the laptop from the factory and that there has been no accidental damage to the laptop (physical impacts or worse liquid damage).

FYI, people should always have frequent & regular backups of their computer and all external media (including the cloud) which contains important & unique data. There are a lot more new ways to permanently lose access to the data stored on the internal SSD of the recent Macs due to all of the hardware, software, and security changes. Most SSD failures I have personally seen involved SSDs failing suddenly with very little if any warning signs....even an SSD's health report won't usually help with providing any notice of a pending failure. Unfortunately the lesson about backing up a computer must be learned the hard way by the majority of people.

Apple does provide the Time Machine app within macOS to make backups a simple process, but there are also third party options as well which can be better suited for some situations.

I tried the online Recovery but the option to select a boot drive would never show a drive.

When during the Recovery Mode process were you trying to select a boot drive?

Here is an Apple article regarding your blinking folder with question mark issue:

If your Mac starts up to a question mark - Apple Support

Personally I would go with the Knoppix USB stick method to figure out the condition of the SSD, but Recovery Mode or better yet Internet Recovery Mode (Command + Option + R) can also provide some very limited details. It is fine if you are only trying to fix a boot issue, but you are concerned about some critical data which changes how you should approach the situation since the primary focus is on trying to recover the data....not make the "bad" SSD bootable again. Keep in mind Apple assumes you have good backups, so Apple's troubleshooting & repair articles are not intended to protect & recover any data.

ACGypsy60 wrote:

As far as trying to boot when the SSD was still in the Macbook Pro, ....... Before I got the drive enclosure I was really hoping it was the flex cable that was bad as I'd read that was in issue in those Macs. Apparently not. With the SSD in the enclosure, I connected it to the MBP and did the startup while holding down the option key. It also did not see the SSD. I tried that in different USB ports and with a couple different cables. No Joy.

Ah, I misunderstood your original post & thought you had bought an external SSD, not just an enclosure to put the "bad" SSD into for access.

The recovery process would go through the process of downloading the new OS and then ask which drive to install it on and there would be no options to install it on.

What version of macOS was being installed? If you happen to be installing an older version of macOS, then it may not see any valid destinations since later versions of macOS have changed the drive layout where older versions of macOS won't recognize it.

With the enclosure plugged into the Mini I tried several combinations. Swapping known good cables, plugging directly into the 2 USB ports on the mini, plugging into at least 3 different ports on a powered USB hub. The hub recognizes a variety of externals both HDD and SSD but not the Envoy enclosure with the SSD. I even unplugged all the peripherals on the Mini except the keyboard and monitor and plugged in the Envoy and restarted. Again no joy.

I hate to say it, but I think this SSD is dead.

One trick to try & revive some SSDs is to connect the SSD to power, but not data (not easy to do with in this case since I don't believe the enclosure has its own power source so it would require a USB power only cable). Then after a while, disconnect power to the SSD for a minute, then reconnect the power (no data). I forget how long to leave the SSD connected initially since it has been a long time since I tried the procedure.....I was never successful in getting the SSD to respond to this trick. I know I posted the instructions a couple of times on this forum many years ago (8-10 years ago).

Even if the drive turns out to be a dead soldier, thanks for the detailed help!

I don't have much hope here from what you have described.

You could contact a professional data recovery service to see what they have to say about it.

ACGypsy60 wrote:

HWTech

I was able to create the Knoppix drive as you suggested and booted the MBP from that and ran the program you suggested. Bad news is it did not recognize the SSD at all. It did however recognize the thumb drive and the SD card reader and would run diagnostics on both.

You did use the GSmartControl app? That is the app which can be used to retrieve a drive's health information. Any other drive related apps are like the macOS apps where they only work with mounted devices & volumes.

Was the SSD reinstalled into the laptop? I'm not sure the OWC enclosure allows the necessary communication to access a drive's health information (some OWC products do allow it, others do not).

Oh well. I guess I'll take the drive to the local repair shop. They claim to be able to recover data even off a dead drive. So we will see. Thanks for all your help! At least I know more than I did and I have this new nifty diagnostic tool in case something happens again.

FYI, it is only useful on the non-USB-C Macs or general Windows PCs. Linux doesn't really support the T2 Macs (2018-2020) and M-series Macs (2020+) are only partially supported (no external boot drives at this time).

Please let us know what the repair shop has to say about the SSD and the data recovery.

<< They claim to be able to recover data even off a dead drive. >>

That claim is likely based on older technology Rotating Magnetic drives. To save time and complexity, those drives typically do not physically over-write data blocks when a file is deleted, because they know writing a new file will over-write those data blocks.

SSD drives with TRIM enabled notify the drive controller which blocks are made surplus by a file delete operation, and typically with seconds those data blocks are re-grouped into Super-Blocks and bulk-erased.

SSD drive failure typically leaves NO SURVIVORS. That is why MacOS, at every turn, nags you to make a backup copy of your files.

If you do not have a recent local, disk-based backup, your computer is like a ticking Time bomb. You are only one disk failure, one mainboard failure, one crazy software, or one "oops" away from losing EVERYTHING! Drives do not last forever. It is not a question of IF it will fail, only WHEN it will fail. In addition, you never know when crazy software or Pilot Error throws away far more than you intended.

If you are using another direct-to-disk backup method that you prefer, and you currently have a recent disk-based backup, that is great. If not, you should consider using Built-in Time Machine. Take steps to acquire an external drive as soon as possible. If you buy one, a drive 2 to 3 times or larger than your boot drive is preferable for long term trouble-free operation. Do not pay extra for a drive that is fast.  (You can get by for a while with a "found" smaller drive if necessary, but it will eventually become annoying).

Attach your external drive and use

Settings > General > Time machine ...

... to turn on Time Machine and specify what drive to store your Backups on.  It may ask to initialize the new drive, and that is as expected. APFS format is default format if running MacOS 11 Big Sur or later.

Time machine works quietly and automatically in the background, without interrupting your regular work, and only saves the incremental changes (after the first full backup). Time machine backs up your machine — including every connected drive that is in a Mac compatible format. it can not back up Windows format drives.

Time Machine's "claim to fame" is that it is the backup that gets done. It does not ruin performance of the rest of the computer while doing its backup operations. You do not have to set aside a "Special Time" when you only do backups. When you need it, your Time machine Backup is much more likely to be there and be current.

Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support