Chosen Solution
Hi, @danj Yes, I already know that the new MacBooks have a new SSD Interface hence why traditional SSD’s won’t work. I have an EMC 2978 MacBook with a 820-00875-01 LogicBoard. I tried to use an used SSD of the Internet for this model and it doesn’t work. The SSD Model is: 656-0044A. I am currently typing on this MacBook by booting it over an external drive I had laying around.
PROBLEM SOLVED! I solved the problem by buying another SSD (used) of eBay and this time it worked. Seems like the other SSD is shorted or something as it gets really really hot. So Replacing the SSD is possible! Not tied to the MacBook like say the Touch ID Units of any Apple product.
So lets back up a moment here your Aunt sent the SSD out as she needed to recover the stuff on it. So was the system really working at that point? I find it odd to go to such an expense to gain access to the data when you could have simply plugged in an external drive and copy off everything. Something else is at play here. FileVault encryption is disk based. You can either protect a folder or the entire drive. It stays with the disk. One of the element of the encryption is the CPU’s serial number so if the drive is transferred it can’t be used. So if the SSD you got was encrypted then that can explain why if was not working (used). I don’t do full drive encryption and I’m not sure what Apple has done in the newer systems. But from my use for folder encryption it wouldn’t have stopped you using a new SSD in the system. In any case you would have been asked for the recovery key some where in the boot process so if you had a dead system you could access the drive using the special key. Review this: How to encrypt your Mac with FileVault 2, and why you absolutely should. So where does that leave us??? I’m thinking the system had a problem to start with. Was the logic board damaged at some point? Liquid spill. At this point I think you’ll need to visit an Apple Store and let them see if they can fix things. You’ll want to put the SSD back in so they don’t get a surprise ;-} I would be curious what they say and do to fix things. Don’t over volunteer to much. Just say it’s your aunts system and it stopped working. As they say less is more!
I actually have a 2016 2.0Ghz MacBook Pro with Function Keys, and I purchased a 512GB SSD from a 2017 MacBook Pro with Function Keys and tried swapping them. The 2017 doesn’t work in the 2016. Can’t tell why either. Doesn’t show up in the disk utility, although a bunch of little tiny disks did in Terminal’s disk utility after I did a diskutil list. Update (07/19/2018) Well, I should update this– turns out the 2017 SSD that I had used had been fried. I had replaced my 2016 one with a different 2017 SSD and it turned out to be perfectly good! Just be careful when installing and removing the SSD, apparently it can short against the board when pulling it out.
