01 The Problem
A freelance graphic designer based in Santa Monica knocked a full mug of coffee onto her 2020 MacBook Pro 16". The machine shut off instantly and would not power on. She had 7 years of client files, custom font libraries, and unreleased project assets on the machine — no recent Time Machine backup.
02 Our Approach
We disassembled the MacBook and confirmed the logic board sustained corrosion damage — not repairable cost-effectively. The SSD, however, is soldered to the board. We removed the T2-encrypted SSD chip and used specialized hardware to interface with it in a controlled environment, then extracted the encrypted volume. With the customer's Apple ID credentials and recovery key, we successfully decrypted and copied the data to an external SSD.
03 The Result
All 7 years of work recovered in full — 280 GB of client files, project archives, and assets. We also set up automatic iCloud backups and a Time Machine schedule so this will never happen again. The client now uses an external backup drive that auto-syncs nightly.