RSS13" Macbook Pro Hard Drive Upgrade
Aug 17
Apple’s move to make the unibody MacBook become the low-end of the MacBook Pro line marked a few changes. Most notably, the addition of FireWire 800 and the “non replaceable battery”.
The change of the battery made upgrading a hard drive slightly more difficult, as there is no panel that opens to do that anymore. The solution now is to remove the whole bottom casing. There are 10 screws involved, and 3 of the back screws are longer than the others. It is important to keep track of where the screws go.
Once removed, you have access to everything, including the battery with a sticker saying Do Not Remove.
On the lower left, you see the hard drive, positioned in the same place as the original Unibody MacBook.
There is a small black bracketbetween the hard drive and the DVD drive with two screws. Remove those screws, and pull out the bracket. Once removed, the hard drive is free. Remove the SATA connector from the drive and pull the drive out. There are 4 screws on the hard drive that need to be removed and installed on your replacement drive. They require the T6 Hex screwdriver, found at your local geek supply, such as The Shack. Once you have moved those little screws to the new drive, connect the SATA cable and position the new drive. Put the black bracket back in place, and secure. Do the same for the bottom casing, and you are done!
Of course, now you have a Mac with a blank drive which isn’t terribly useful. Turn on your Mac, pop in the OS X install DVD, and hold down the Option key until it gives you the option of booting from that DVD. Install the Operating System, and then off you go.
Enjoy the new hard drive.
