Mac Mini M4 won't Start up. How can I recover the Data?

No Time Machine backup???? If not the data is gone .

while I am sure you not not repeat this mistake while you are waiting for the replacement please order a Time Machine backup External Hard Disk ( I suggest the Mac sales.com Mercury Elite Pro) so you are not caught without . Lightning CAN strike twice so safeguard yourself!!!!!

skapoor22 wrote:

What do they do with the dead devices?

Apple might

• Recycle them
• Salvage and repair parts for use in fixing other dead devices
• Repair them and sell the repaired devices as Certified Refurbished devices

If they reuse the board containing the flash memory (and your encrypted data), my guess is that they will NOT overwrite every flash sector. They will tell the Apple Silicon chip to select a new set of encryption / decryption keys, turning any existing data on the board into so much indecipherable hash.

Basically, the same thing that I believe "Erase All Contents And Settings" does on any Apple-Silicon-based Mac.

If your Mac won’t turn on, there is no way to access your data without breaking the warranty i.e. the replacement offer from Apple. On the other hand, If you return the mini to Apple for replacement, your data is as good as deleted. Do it without worry.

skapoor22 wrote:

1. Hello everyone, I recently bought Mac mini M4 on 5th February 2025, and after using it for 3 days it won't turn on. It is dead and will not power on whatsoever.

If it is dead, there is no way to access the data.

The flash chips in a M4 Mac mini are on a separate board from the motherboard. But it is not a standard M.2 SSD. It's a raw flash module of a type that probably only another M4 Mac mini or M4 Pro Mac mini can use.

The contents of that SSD are encrypted in real time using keys held in the M4 chip. So just moving that board to another M4 Mac mini would not let you recover the data. The new Mac mini would not have the right decryption keys to recover the data, so the data would appear to be so much hash.

My problem is that I had transferred my entire data from my MacBook Pro to this device as I wanted to give my MBP for service. Now my entire data is in Mac mini.

I take it that you did not make backups of the M4 Mac mini before it died. Do you have backups of your MacBook Pro?

Unless the problem with the M4 Mac mini is one that Apple or an Apple Authorized Repair Center can fix without changing out either (a) the M4 chip, or (b) the SSD, I don't think you're going to be getting any of your data back from the M4 Mac mini. You need the encrypted data (on the SSD) and the keys (on the M4) – and for them to be together.

I went to the service centre and after 2 days I got a call from Apple and they said that it can't be repaired and they can only replace it with a new device.

Apple is saying that they can't help with recovering the data and they can only replace it with a new one.

My data is very important to me and I can't afford to lose it.

If your data is important to you, and you can't afford to lose it, you make backups.

Is there a way to recover data from Mac mini m4 if it is dead and does not turn on?

See above.