MacBook Pro Hard Disk Replacement
Tuesday, December 26th, 2006
As some of you may remember, I dropped my MacBook Pro a little over a week ago and killed its internal hard disk. I ordered a replacement from Other World Computing and installed it and aside from some dings on the case I think I’m back up to speed with this computer.
Testing the Internal HD
It wasn’t until I tried to erase my internal hard disk (running from an external backup) by writing zeros rather than a simple erase that I was able to determine for sure that something was wrong with it. I was able to erase it and test it without problem with disk tools but subsequent use showed me there was something wrong. Writing zeros confirmed this. I thought, incorrectly, that writing zeros or “zeroing all data” was a matter of security (not simply killing a directory but killing all data) but in fact, it’s also a test of writing to every track and sector of the hard disk. Once my friend Dale aimed me in this direction I found that Disk Tools choked about an hour into the writing of zeros: it found a track it couldn’t write and sat there clicking. I then knew the hard disk was shot and I’d need to replace it.
Which Replacement HD?
Other World Computing has numerous SATA internal hard disks that will work in a MacBook Pro so the question was, which to get?
The hard disk that I had in it that I was replacing was a standard, Apple installed Seagate Momentus 100 GB 5400 RPM drive. OWC sells Hitachi/IBM, Seagate, and Toshiba replacement drives. Whatever I got had to not only work in the MacBook Pro (any of these will) but it had to be compatible with Apple’s energy conservation software, it’s motion detection software, and given that MacBooks and MacBook Pros run pretty hot, whatever I got ought not be any hotter than what I was replacing.
I decided to stick with Seagate as I knew it would work with Apple’s system software so the question was, 5400 RPM which is what I was replacing or 7200 RPM which is a substantial performance increase. Given that I’m about to install Aperture on this computer, I considered the 7200 RPM drive as it would give me faster performance for what is undoubtedly a disk-intensive application (Aperture does a lot of reading from and writing to the HD as it moves through images as on large RAW files not everything will fit in memory or even in a memory cache). However, my guess was that 7200 RPM is a hotter drive than 5400 RPM and I noticed that Apple offered it in their 17″ MBP but not in their 15″ as standard equipment. This might be simple product segmenting: higher performance on larger, more expensive machine to push people into buying it but it also might be that the chassis on the 17″ is big enough to absorb the extra heat.
In the end, I went with almost a direct replacement: 120 GB Seagate, 5400 RPM.
Instructional Video
I’ve heard that HD replacement in a MacBook is very easy, there’s a bay under the machine and it’s like putting in memory.
HD replacement in a MacBook Pro is more complex and the machine has to come apart. Under normal circumstances this wouldn’t bother me but given that I’d dropped and damaged this machine I wasn’t sure how precise the fit and finish was anymore and it wasn’t all that great before this accident: the case was coming apart at the seams. However, I had no alternative as I had to either do this myself or let Apple fix it with AppleCare and given that I’d dropped it, it would have cost some money, more than the part alone.
OWC has QuickTime videos on installing their parts in just about every type of Mac including a longish video on the MacBook Pro for putting in memory, a hard disk or a new optical drive. You should download and watch it if you are considering doing anything to the innards of your computer as it will show you exactly what you will be doing on your own.
Given that I was going to be taking this machine apart I copied the video to my wife’s iBook so I could re-watch and review it there as I did the procedure (you can see the iBook in the image above). If you’ve opened up computers before and are relatively handy, this video is all you’ll need to put in a replacement HD. It’s excellent and very reassuring to watch.
Tools
I thought I had all the tools I needed but alas, I found I was missing a Torx T-6 screwdriver so I ended up ordering this excellent kit from OWC:
Newer Technology 7 Piece Screwdriver Kit
You only need two of the seven screwdrivers for this job:
Torx T-6
Phillips 0
It’s also useful to have a tweezers, a long bladed pocketknife and a clean white towel to work on. I took notes and labeled each pile of screws. Be aware, there are many screws that need to come out and many are different and need to go in the right places. Keep them sorted.
Take it apart
I won’t go into all the detail as the video will give you enough of that but my notes may be helpful in addition to the video.
Make sure your computer is backed up if possible. If your HD crashed and you need to do data recovery in it, do it before going further. I’m assuming here that you’re on top of this.
Also, leave the new hard disk in it’s anti-static bag so as not to mix it up with the old hard disk you are removing.
1. Shut the MacBook Pro down (don’t sleep it) and unplug all cables and power cord. The computer is closed and latched.
2. Spread clean towel out on a clear work surface. A large dining room table, well lit is perfect.
3. Turn the computer over and remove the battery.
4. Remove various screws on the bottom: memory cover, inside battery compartment.
5. Remove various screws on the case around the perimeter, back and sides. Open the computer and keep the screen as near to vertical as you can, not all the way opened.
6. Gently pry up the top keypad/touchpad but be aware: there is a ribbon cable attaching it to the motherboard so do not yank it up, just loosen it as the video instructs.
Note: this was the toughest part for me as my computer had been dropped and the fit wasn’t good anymore. A new or un-warped computer should be a lot easier.
7. On my computer, the ribbon cable was taped onto the motherboard. Simply pry up the tape and unplug the end of the ribbon cable from its connector on the motherboard. Make note of where it plugs in, it’s a very small rectangular connector that’s hard to differentiate from other components next to it. Put the keypad/touchpad aside, out of the way.
8. You can now see the hard disk in the bottom left corner. It is held in place by a simple 2 screw bracket but there are various wires tucked in around it.
9. Gently lift up on the wires and plastic pieces tucked in around the hard disk to expose two screws on the right side attaching the plastic bracket to the computer’s chassis. Make sure you’re looking at the correct screws, you don’t want to take apart the actual hard disk itself.
10. Unscrew these screws and be careful not to strip the wires that are now in close proximity. Also, be careful lifting them out; if they fall back in and roll under the hard disk it will be awkward to get them until you get the hard disk out.
11. Gently undo the hard disk from its power/data port in the back. It’s a wide ribbon connector fixed to the back end of the chassis. As you do this, also, un-stick the ribbon cable from the top of the hard disk (it’s just taped) so you can loosen it in back. This is delicate so be careful.
12. Lift the hard disk out of the machine. Make note of how the plastic bracket is oriented and installed on the right side of the hard disk.
13. Remove the plastic bracket from the right side and the 4 screws holding the rubber shock absorbing system. Keep them close by as you will need them for the new hard disk. As you do this, be aware, again, of how the plastic bracket is oriented.
Warning: don’t mix up the old, possibly damaged hard disk from the new one going in. Immediately put the one you just took out someplace out of reach and sight.
Take a deep breath, get a drink of water, pee. The rest is reversing what you just did.
Put it back together
In the image above note the area on the left where the internal hard disk goes (now removed). Also note the shock absorbing rubber mounts about to be attached to the new hard disk as well as its bracket.
13. Open the anti-static bag holding the new hard disk and hold the hard disk in your hand with its label facing up and it’s ports facing back (the label will be upside down to you in this orientation).
14. Attach the 4 rubber mounts to the new hard disk and clip the bracket onto the right side.
15. Lift up on the now loose brown ribbon cable under which the new hard disk will go and attach it to it’s power and data connector in the back.
16. Gently nudge it into place so that the right shock absorbing rubber rings are in their correct place and you can see through on the right to screw the bracket in place.
17. When everything is wiggled into place, screw the bracket down and reattach the sticky ribbon cable on top of the new hard disk.
18. Nestle the various wires and plastic stuff back into place around the now secured hard disk. Check the area to make sure things are flush so the keypad/trackpad can fit back on. Make sure no wires are bound or rubbing.
19. Place the keypad/trackpad in place so you can reconnect the ribbon cable. It’s awkward in that you need to hold it at an angle so the ribbon cable will reach. Reconnect the plastic connector making sure it’s pushed down on the right place on the motherboard. If there was tape, push down on that to hold the connector in place.
20. Gently lower the keypad/trackpad into place and starting from the front (away from the screen), snap the screw guides into place. Work your way around, not forcing anything until everything is flush an connected.
21. Close the screen and latch it.
22. Turn the computer over and replace all inner screws, memory cover and all bottom case screws.
23. Replace all perimeter and back case screws. You may need to squeeze down on the lid to hold the keypad/trackpad in place so as the screws line up. Do not force or over tighten these screws. Back off if they’re not fitting as you may have things misaligned.
24. Replace battery and you’re done.
Endnotes
The machine will not boot from this blank, unformatted hard disk so you’ll need to boot from your external backup.
Plug power cable back in and connect external hard disk that you will be booting from.
Turn on computer and boot from external.
Use Disk Tools on external to format the new hard disk. Don’t forget to partition it using the GUID partition table as it’s an Intel-based Mac.
Once it’s set up use SuperDuper! to copy your backup to the new internal hard disk.
When that’s done, set startup to the new internal hard disk and boot the machine.
Enjoy your new hard disk and let me know if you run into problems I might be able to help with.
Glad it all worked out for you. Sounds like it was a good couple of hours work!
Brian, thanks. Yes, it was no problem at all and anyone with a bit of experience with such things could do it.
Hi Richard,
Very thorough (I expect no less!) and useful. Very pleased it looks like it is going to be ok.
Speak soon,
Jon
PS Very wet and cold here in the UK! Need some Christmas snow!
Jon, glad you found the notes useful. One never knows when one might need to crack open one of these babies and now that I’ve done it once, I’m much less intimidated about doing it again if need be.
No snow here either, just winter dreariness. Sigh.
I found your blog to be very helpful. I’ve been looking for info on replacing HDD’s for macbooks and your blog gave me all the answers. I’m glad there are blogs like yours out there. Thanks!
Trina: Fantastic. Glad to help. If you ever put a 7200 rpm drive in a 15″ MacBook Pro I’d love to hear about it, heat-wise. I wanted to put that speed drive in this machine but I was worried about heat. I’d love to hear about your experience. Thanks for commenting.
I replaced the drive in my Macbook Pro using this page and the video instructions. Thanks for putting this together. After performing this upgrade however, my fit and finish is not quite 100%. Above the Hard Drive area (front left corner), there is a small gap (maybe a couple mm’s) in between the bottom metal and the keyboard part. The right side looks pretty good. I have redone the take apart and put together processes, and got it to be a little better – but still not perfect. Also, my battery seems to be a little looser than it was. Not sure if I missed a clip somewhere, but I’d like to get the aesthetics back to factory fresh feel.
somed00d: Glad you got it done, and I’d take it apart and try again, those clips are a real pain to get set straight. I’m sure you can get it back where it was. Great work, congratulations.
Think these steps will work on MacBook Pro 17inch? Ordered a 7200rpm HD and will give it a shot (unless I’m able to find more specific instructions for 17inch model).
jc: Absolutely. However, I recommend watching the video to make sure it’s the same. The 17″ has a 7200RPM option from apple so there’s probably a bit more room inside for the slight bit of extra heat the faster drive will produce.
Actually, truth be told, I’m sorry I didn’t opt for the faster drive as Aperture, which I’m using now, would enjoy that kind of speed.
Go slow, keep track of all the little screws, and don’t force anything. Let us know if you need help.
I’m reading your comments, as I’ve just taken apart and put together again my MacBook Pro, without making any changes as the Seagate Momentus dirve I bought was ATA rather than SATA (here’s hoping that I can return it as I had to snip open the bag to see that it was the wrong one), but I’ve a screw problem I can’t solve. One of the screws won’t fit back in. It’s one of the long ones on the reverse – it just won’t srew in all the way, whereas all the others are fine. I have no idea why. Maybe when I get the new drive and take the case apart I’ll be able to see what is going on. Also, tragically one of the tiny screws from the side is now lost – have you any idea where one cany buy a replacement. Thanks.
Nigel: Yeah, I can totally relate to all of your woes. Luckly for me I had no clue about ATA vs. SATA and asked so then got clued in. Sorry about that.
Because I dropped my computer it’s case got a bit warped so I was really concerned about the screws going back in right and the overall fit and finish.
Two of the screws in fact never went in all the way. They’re the two on the left side of the case, exactly where the hard disk lives. I got them in part way (one more than the other) but they’re not flush with the case as they’re supposed to be. I’m living with it but not too happy. I don’t know if I killed the inside female part that they screw into or the threads on the screws themselves. One way to find out would be to get some replacement screws but I’ve not tried to do that yet. If you find a place, let me know.
The bottom screw not fitting sounds more like an alignment problem and when you take it apart again to put in the right drive, you’ll surely fix that.
Ah yes, I figured someone would turn up eventually who “had a screw loose” so to speak.
Good luck with this and let me know how it goes when you get the new drive.
So, the job finished. Got rid of the drive in half a day (thank you ebay). My SATA went straight in, but more probelms putting the machine back together (and I’m not sure how it would hold up should I try to put a new optical drive in). One of the two tags at the back of the machine (near the screen) snapped off when I put the keyboard back. It’s not the end of the world, as screws round that part of the machine seem to duplicate. Still the screw underneath won’t go in, but I can live with that too. And as for one of the screws on the side, the truth is I wasn’t concentrating and I tried screwing it into the screw mounts on the right hand side either side of what looks like a video out. It’s not doing any harm, it’s just stuck fast. So I’ll find a new screw from somewhere, and I’ll be left with two empy holes out of maybe 20! The old drive went into a USB 2 case, and once I’d reloaded OS X, the old settings, documents and all the preferences migrated straight over the new drive. That was impressive!
Nigel: Well, screws are no big deal, your data is. Congratulations, you have a working machine. I agree with you, this is a delicate project and should not be attempted by folks who are distracted by anything else but the job at hand. Glad you got through it, again, congrats.
Hi Richard,
I dented the left hand lower corner of my macbook pro case and wanted to replace it myself – just wondering if you got as faras removing the lower metal casing and if you have any advice?
Marc
Marc, I did not remove the lower metal casing when I did my HD replacement even though mine’s a bit dented in both lower corners too. I take it you need to remove it to take the dent out. Can you possibly do it from the inside? Sorry, I’m not sure what taking the bottom of entails.
Thanks a lot for good information!!!
I’m thinking of upgrading hard disk of my MBP I think I found a perfect instruction from you!!!
How do you think about using Western Digital 160GB for MBP internal disk?
What matters most to me is the capacity and power comsuption isn’t that much important to me.
jikk: I can’t comment on the quality of western digital drives although in the list I’m posting a link to they’re cheaper than the equivalent seagate drives. I read very good reviews about seagate drives and they’re what apple uses as original equipment in my machine so I stuck with them.
SATA Drives
Unfortunately I lost the damn notes I kept about which screw goes where. The only ones I know for certain are for the back (2 very large L&R at top.. slightly smaller; centre, underneath?) – they seem to fit, anyway. Except one does not tighten.. but there is no way of getting it out. I even tried using a magnet.
I also know that the 2 very smallest fit on the side next to the CD drive. But that’s it! As you can see I’m in a bit of a mess.. so, if you – or anybody else reading kept their info, or know any place which has the info I need; please help.
Many thanks.
PS. I actually have the standard macbook, but I’m positive it’s near enough the same.
Philli: Sorry this happened and I can imagine it happening to me had I not kept good notes about what screws went where. Also, note that I did the entire job in one shot, not over days so I could lose things.
Did you watch that video I linked to above? It will help you get a better idea of which screens go where. There may be a different one for the MacBook as it’s case opens differently. i recommend that before going further. Good luck with it, let us know if you figure it out.
Have anyone one here found issue with there hard drive crashing and your computer starting up with questions marks on the screen?
I saw this website, and I was curious about it. http://www.thingy-ma-jig.co.uk/blog/30-12-2006/mac-book-pro-hard-disk-failure
Tonya: The question mark comes when the hard disk won’t mount and/or boot which can be for a variety of reasons but the two main ones are:
Hardware issue with the HD
Finder and/or System is munged up
You should boot your computer from your backup HD and check out the internal by running disk tools and seeing if you can get it mounted.
Hopefully you have a backup. If not… let me know.
Toshiba laptop 40gb hard drive making sound and showing message hard disk error, when i check all this i took with my laptop hard drive into hdrc recovery centre. Firstly i like term and condition of the company. They gave you some time for testing and recovery of your HDD. How does the problem occur on your hard drive they tell you, lif your HDD in a physical condition they permission to you for open your HDD. If your HDD under warranty or you need both data and hdd this type facilities also avliable here. I also need the same thing data and hdd both are that why i reply you. Now you need more information go down the website:www.hdrconline.com I want the hard drive back because my hdd under warrenty and it can be replace also.
best regaardsyscial condition and you
Beware, i upgraded my harddrive and found it dificult to replace the keypad back onto the casing, the clips just wouldn’t snap back in, after trying for a while i ended up bending the casing where the optical drive slot is and hence cd’s/dvd’s will not eject anymore. I may have to replace it now costing a fortune probably.
Hope this link works
/Macbook.jpg
Jeff: Are you sure you got the wires from the hard disk taped back on top of it correctly? Maybe there was a bulge that the keypad was resting on and that’s why it wouldn’t seat correctly.
My case is quite messed up from having dropped my computer yet I was able to get things back in place, twice now. But, I could easily see that not tucking the wires on top of the HD back into place correctly would cause a bulge.
Maybe you should take it apart again and check that out. Sorry this happened, let us know how it resolves itself.
Richard, thanks a lot for sharing your experience. I recently changed the hard drive of my macbook pro from 100GB to a Western Digital 250GB. Your instructions and the video were invaluable. Because of both, the whole exercise was fast and successful. It also saved me $150 – as this was the price the local Apple store wanted for the installation only.
Again, great web site and thank you very much!
Greetings from Europe
Michael: Fantastic news. Delighted to be of help. I’ll be very curious as to whether that big hard disk makes any more heat than the one you replaced. I considered that model but I wanted a 7200 RPM drive and one can’t have max speed and max size in these small format drives, yet.
Thanks for your report, glad it worked out. Always satisfying to do these things one’s self.
Hi!
I’m about to change my MacBook Pro’s hard drive, just to get better performance (from 200G 4200rpm to 200G 7200rpm), and I found this article really confirming (I have already done all the research I need, but a little more is never a bad thing). Great article, thanks!
Lauri, Great glad to be of help. It’s not hard. Just take your time and make little piles of screws with labels on them. Let us know how it all works out.
Apple sells a 15-inch MBP with a 7200rpm drive in it, now, so I don’t think heat is such a big problem. (Or I’m in for trouble: I bought the in-stock machine with the 5400rpm drive and am about to replace it with a 7200rpm Seagate.)
I used to buy 5411rpm IBM drives for my laptops when 3600 and 4200 were common. It makes a huge difference, and I would recommend it to anyone. (I had the fastest 12-inch Powerbook in the world when I upgraded it to 7200rpm before it was 24 hours old.) It’s just a pity that the Seagate 10K-rpm (!) laptop drive is only 73GB. If it did >=100GB, I would be all over it. Maybe that’s when you run into heat issues, lately.