How much should it cost to have a professional remove the hard drive from Macbook Air

lambo said:

I need the hard drive removed from my late 2010 Macbook Air. How much should I expect to pay?

I called one place already, but I want to make sure I'm getting a good deal.

Or do you recommend that I remove it myself?

Click to expand...

Your MBA does not have a hard drive. It has flash memory.
MacBook Air 11" Late 2010 Teardown

I have all the necessary Apple tools to do it, I would charge about $40.

I say that I have all the tools because the shop you find should have them too.

But keep in mind that $40 would to hand you a stick like the above picture. It would be rather worthless unless you buy an enclosure too.

This is correct. Try to get them to stick it in an antistatic bag for you. I've seen a blade SSD get nuked by ESD.

If you tell us why you are taking the drive out, we may be able to assist you further.

How much?

A shop would likely charge $100.

Friend with knowledge? Half that.

Not including parts.

I'm no engineer (I worked for Apple Retail, but not as a genius and they didn't teach us anything I didn't already know from MR or YouTube), but I replaced a Mac Mini hdd two weeks ago. Rated as 5 star, only to be done by a pro.

I found the right tools, followed the instructions and it's working great. Sometimes the biggest obstacle is fear.

Cool

lambo said:

Thanks for all the responses!

I need to remove the flash memory (thanks GCJ studios) because I want to sell the Macbook Air and don't want my personal information on it. It's water damaged so I can't turn it on. I'm not particularly interested in using the information on the flash memory, but if it's cheap to get the antistatic bag, perhaps.

The place I called is charging $75.

Click to expand...

That doesn't seem outrageous. The hard part is taking apart and putting back together, which is the same whether your removing or swapping a drive.

lambo said:

I'm not particularly interested in using the information on the flash memory, but if it's cheap to get the antistatic bag, perhaps.

The place I called is charging $75.

Click to expand...

They should give you an antistatic bag for free. Many electronic components are shipped in them, most shops keep a few handy for customers.

I think $75 is a bit steep, is it an 11" or 13"?

U disclosed to the buyer he's getting laptop sans storage right? OK.

Mrbobb said:

U disclosed to the buyer he's getting laptop sans storage right? OK.

Click to expand...

I'm guessing that with water damage, the lack of storage is a relatively minor issue.

Buy a pentalobe screwdriver and take it out yourself.

Spend the money on some beer/wine or dinner instead of paying for an hour of labor from a tech.

Its relatively easy. I work for a Computer repair shop, we charge by the hour minimum 1 hour for it would be $70. You just need a pentaloble screwdriver and phillips. Just watch a youtube video, since your MBA is already damaged beyond repair it doesnt matter if you mess anything up. its about 9 screws and your drive is out. Super easy. You can also check out iFixit.com for tutorials.

Honestly, there are a ton of youtube videos on how to do this. Buy the screw driver and you're good to go. It's really not as hard as you think. For a long time I was hesitant to open up any of my macs. Then the hard drive failed on my 2008 iMac and I decided to take the plunge. It was a piece of cake! Since then I've opened up my MBP to upgrade to dual drives with SSD. Go for it!

I second all the comments about doing it yourself. It seems daunting, the idea of taking apart a computer, but ifixit guides are really thorough and it shouldn't take more than 15 minutes tops.

lambo said:

I need the hard drive removed from my late 2010 Macbook Air. How much should I expect to pay?

I called one place already, but I want to make sure I'm getting a good deal.

Or do you recommend that I remove it myself?

Click to expand...

Do it yourself... it'll probably be $20/hr... at cheapest.

It really boils down to whether you value time or money. If you are really short on cash, and are willing to order and wait for the right screwdriver, this is a VERY easy and quick piece of work.

If you dont want to deal with the learning curve and wait, then $75 seems reasonable. Make them put it in an appropriate storage bag for the price.

Good luck - I think you'll find the process very easy and straightforward.

Well alright, I guess u guys talked him into it. I was just about to regale my nightmare taking apart an iPod Mini but alright a big (comparatively) laptop should be no problem.

Just make sure you don't strip the screws. If the screw head doesn't fit in exactly, they ship you the wrong size tool.

lambo said:

Thanks for all the responses!

I need to remove the flash memory (thanks GCJ studios) because I want to sell the Macbook Air and don't want my personal information on it. It's water damaged so I can't turn it on. I'm not particularly interested in using the information on the flash memory, but if it's cheap to get the antistatic bag, perhaps.

The place I called is charging $75.

Click to expand...

$75 is steep. Good on you to buy the tools yourself. Should only take you 30 min to complete the job if you watch some YouTube videos and/or read some tutorials.

Tis is the easiest thing in the world to do. Take off the back screws, open back,detach battery cable to drive then remove ssd drive. I replaced mine with a bigger one from OWC and it took about 10 minutes...if that. Go to their website and look at the videos on how to do it

Cool!

macfly4 said:

Tis is the easiest thing in the world to do. Take off the back screws, open back,detach battery cable to drive then remove ssd drive. I replaced mine with a bigger one from OWC and it took about 10 minutes...if that. Go to their website and look at the videos on how to do it

Click to expand...

That's WAAAAAAY easier than 2009 Mac Mini I did.

Videos make it super simple.

If the machine is already broken and you just want to prevent people getting your data do it yourself.

You can't break a machine that is already broken...