Board-Level Mac Data Recovery
Mac Data Recovery — When the Board Holds Your Files Hostage
On a modern Mac, your data isn't on a drive you can pull out — it's NAND soldered to the logic board and encrypted by the Secure Enclave. When the board dies, normal recovery shops hit a wall. We don't, because we fix the board to get the data out.
MacBook, iMac, and Mac mini — Apple Silicon (M1–M4), T2, and Intel. We assess whether your files are reachable before you spend a dollar on a repair, and we tell you the truth either way.
When you need a data recovery
- Mac won't power on and your files were never backed up
- Liquid-damaged MacBook with irreplaceable data still inside
- Boots to a folder with a question mark, or won't boot at all
- Repeating kernel panics and gray-screen restart loops
- Deleted files, a lost partition, or a drive that mounts empty
- Internal SSD no longer detected in Disk Utility or at startup
Honest by default
Every device starts with a $65 diagnostic and a written report — exact cost and timeline before we touch it. The fee applies toward your repair.
Cost depends on what your Mac is and what it takes to read it. An Intel Mac with a healthy removable SSD is usually the simplest case. An Apple Silicon or T2 Mac means the data can't come out unless the soldered board powers up and decrypts — so the price tracks the board-level repair required to get there. We start with a $65 written diagnostic that tells you whether recovery is even feasible and what it will cost; that $65 applies toward the work. We'd rather show you the path first than promise a number we can't stand behind.
Our data recovery process
Identify the architecture
We confirm whether you have an Intel Mac with a removable SSD or an Apple Silicon / T2 Mac with soldered, Secure-Enclave-encrypted NAND. That single fact decides the entire recovery path — and we determine it during the $65 diagnostic, before any work begins.
Revive the board to decrypt
On Apple Silicon and T2 Macs the data only decrypts when the original board powers up and the Secure Enclave does its job. We use current-profiling and thermal imaging to find the failed components — power rails, PMICs, SoC connections — and microsolder the board back to life with its NAND/SoC pairing untouched.
Image your data
Once the Mac authenticates with your password or FileVault recovery key, we make a complete, read-only image of your storage. On older Intel Macs with a removable SSD, we often image the drive directly without board repair.
Verify and hand off
We confirm your files open, then return them on an external drive you keep — and walk you through a backup plan so this never happens again. Tracked mail-in is available to all 50 states.
On an Apple Silicon Mac, is my data gone if the logic board is dead?
Not automatically. On M1–M4 Macs the SSD is soldered to the board and encrypted by the Secure Enclave, so the data only decrypts when that specific board runs. If we can revive the board at the component level — which most failures allow — your data comes back. It's only truly lost if the SoC die or Secure Enclave is physically destroyed.
Do you need my password or FileVault key?
Yes. T2 and Apple Silicon Macs encrypt storage by default, and FileVault adds another layer. We repair the hardware so the Mac can decrypt itself, but it still needs your login password or recovery key to unlock. No lab can bypass that encryption — and that's a good thing for your privacy.
Why can't a normal data-recovery shop pull the SSD on a newer Mac?
Because there's no drive to pull. The NAND is soldered to the logic board and cryptographically tied to that board's Secure Enclave, so a removed chip reads as encrypted noise. Recovery on these Macs is a board-level microsoldering job — exactly the in-house work we specialize in, and exactly what most shops mail out or decline.
My MacBook had liquid damage. Can you still recover the data?
Often, yes — and it's the first thing we focus on. Liquid corrodes the power rails around the SoC and NAND, but if we clean and repair the board fast enough to power it once, we can image your data before doing any further restoration. The sooner you stop using it and bring it in, the better the odds.
Will you guarantee you can get everything back?
No honest lab can. We tell you the real odds after the diagnostic, not before. If the board can be revived and the Secure Enclave survived, success rates are high. If the encryption hardware is destroyed, the data is unrecoverable — and we'll say so plainly rather than charge you for false hope.
How much does Mac data recovery cost?
It starts with a $65 written diagnostic that confirms your Mac's architecture, what failed, and whether recovery is feasible — and that $65 applies toward the work. Intel Macs with removable SSDs are typically simplest; Apple Silicon and T2 Macs cost more because they require board-level repair to read at all. You'll have a firm quote before we proceed.
Why WeFixed for Mac Data Recovery
Most "data recovery" shops are software shops — they run a scanner and quit when the SSD won't mount. Modern Mac recovery isn't a software problem; it's a soldering problem. For 11 years we've done board-level microsoldering in-house at our Arlington lab, which is the only way to coax a dead Apple Silicon or T2 board back to life so it can decrypt its own NAND. We're upfront about what's possible, we never touch or sell your data, and we back our repairs with our standard warranty. When your files live on a soldered, encrypted board, the repair lab is the recovery lab.