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Does a new hard drive void my warranty?

I can settle this question easily.

My old Apple drive died in my MBP Rev A, I installed a 160gb replacement since I wanted more than the default 80gb.

Later when I had a logic board issue, they did warranty service on my computer, no issues. I asked them if replacing my HD would cause issues, and the guy told me that as long as its not related to the HD, its still covered. So calm down, just don't break anything.
 
frostrambler said:
I can settle this question easily.

My old Apple drive died in my MBP Rev A, I installed a 160gb replacement since I wanted more than the default 80gb.

Later when I had a logic board issue, they did warranty service on my computer, no issues. I asked them if replacing my HD would cause issues, and the guy told me that as long as its not related to the HD, its still covered. So calm down, just don't break anything.
Click to expand...

There's the answer I'm looking for. I think I'm going to follow the instructions that I've found here

http://youtube.com/watch?v=I_bgDRRN0_w

I now understand the process of replacing the HD and the RAM, however are there software changes that I have to make? Do I have to re-install Leopard? If anyone knows, please post.

Thank you.
 
I just had my faulty seagate drive replaced at my local retail store (though i purchased it on apple online store). Now the warranty status is still the purchase date (no sign of extended warranty since replacement). Is that normal? Or the new hdd should have its own 1 year warranty?
thanks!!
 
Sdao said:
Update

I just phoned the Apple Yorkdale Store here in Toronto.

The official word from their genius bar is that they WILL NOT install 3rd party hardware in my laptop.

It seems like I will have to install the new HD and RAM myself.

Has anyone here done it themselves? I have never replaced the RAM or HD of a laptop computer and am a bit concerned with the difficulty of doing so.
Click to expand...
I put the RAM in my Macbook Pro without problem. Just use a #00 phillips to undo the three screws on the RAM cover in the battery compartment. Apple provides instructions, even: RAM is a user-replaceable part.

I'm planning to increase the size of the hard drive in my MB Pro, and BeamEcho (where I bought my machine) will upgrade with a user-supplied hard drive. They said it will cost around a hundred bucks for the work, and the Apple warranty will remain on the rest of the computer.

I was originally planning to buy the WD 320-gig hard drive, but then I started wondering about power consumption. It seems that the 320-gig drive I was looking at has significantly-higher power usage than the one I now have.

Here's the product sheet for the one I now have, the 120-gig Fujitsu MHW2120BH that came with my MB Pro:
http://www.fujitsu.com/us/services/computing/storage/hdd/mobile/mhw2160bh-sata.html

Here's the Tom's Hardware article describing the 320-gig drive, the Western Digital Scorpio WD3200BEVT:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/02/18/wd_and_toshiba_join_the_club/

Here's the Tom's Hardware article describing the 250-gig drive I was also looking at, the Hitachi TravelStar 5K250:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/11/15/travelstar_7k200_and_5k250_beat_the_band/

The Western Digital drive apparently has a SATA-300 interface, which draws more power than the SATA-150 interfaces of the Hitachi and Fujitsu. According to Tom, the WD drive draws 4.2 watts under load, and 1.1 watts at idle. The Hitachi drive draws 2.7 watts under load and 0.8 watts at idle. For comparison, according to the product page, the Fujitsu drive I already have draws 1.9 watts under load and 0.6 watts at idle.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/02/18/wd_and_toshiba_join_the_club/page7.html#power_requirements

I think I'll go with the 250-gig Hitachi drive; I'm concerned that the 320-gig will shorten my battery life too much. Anyone know what percentage of the Macbook Pro's power budget is taken by the hard drive?
 
Komiksulo said:
I put the RAM in my Macbook Pro without problem. Just use a #00 phillips to undo the three screws on the RAM cover in the battery compartment. Apple provides instructions, even: RAM is a user-replaceable part.

I'm planning to increase the size of the hard drive in my MB Pro, and BeamEcho (where I bought my machine) will upgrade with a user-supplied hard drive. They said it will cost around a hundred bucks for the work, and the Apple warranty will remain on the rest of the computer.

I was originally planning to buy the WD 320-gig hard drive, but then I started wondering about power consumption. It seems that the 320-gig drive I was looking at has significantly-higher power usage than the one I now have.

Here's the product sheet for the one I now have, the 120-gig Fujitsu MHW2120BH that came with my MB Pro:
http://www.fujitsu.com/us/services/computing/storage/hdd/mobile/mhw2160bh-sata.html

Here's the Tom's Hardware article describing the 320-gig drive, the Western Digital Scorpio WD3200BEVT:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/02/18/wd_and_toshiba_join_the_club/

Here's the Tom's Hardware article describing the 250-gig drive I was also looking at, the Hitachi TravelStar 5K250:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/11/15/travelstar_7k200_and_5k250_beat_the_band/

The Western Digital drive apparently has a SATA-300 interface, which draws more power than the SATA-150 interfaces of the Hitachi and Fujitsu. According to Tom, the WD drive draws 4.2 watts under load, and 1.1 watts at idle. The Hitachi drive draws 2.7 watts under load and 0.8 watts at idle. For comparison, according to the product page, the Fujitsu drive I already have draws 1.9 watts under load and 0.6 watts at idle.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/02/18/wd_and_toshiba_join_the_club/page7.html#power_requirements

I think I'll go with the 250-gig Hitachi drive; I'm concerned that the 320-gig will shorten my battery life too much. Anyone know what percentage of the Macbook Pro's power budget is taken by the hard drive?
Click to expand...

Thank you for saving me a lot of embarrassment. I'm going to opt for the 250gig Hitachi 5k250. It's power consumption is incredibly low for a drive of that size. The WD 320 gig hard drive is a monster in terms of power consumption.
 
Just to emphasize this, I took my 17" MBP completely apart to apply different thermal paste to the logic board. During the process there were no stickers to break and absolutely nothing else that's designed to "break" to show that the case had been opened.

The unit later went back to Apple for screen replacement and a new logic board that turned out to be defective. The warranty was NOT broken and was fully honored, even though I'm sure they took one look at the logic board and knew the thermal paste was not of the factory kind.

Bottom line: I didn't do anything stupid and didn't break anything while inside the unit, so the warranty is still 100% valid.
 
stevegmu said:
This is a little odd-

Product Dimensions: 19.7 x 19.7 x 19.7 inches ; 1 pounds
Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds
Click to expand...

hahaha, maybe that is in reference to the packaging? very odd, indeed

other than that, does it look acceptable? I'm a little worried to buy the OWC generic 4gb ram, I've heard kingston is a decent brand, and its only 20+ dollars more.
 
Why did Apple make it harder to swap the HDD on a MacBook Pro compared to a MacBook? RAM and HDD is essentially what the user is expected to want to upgrade sooner or later.

As for user replaceable parts, you certainly don't want to come too close to the motherboard (or total opening up of the laptop) in the process. That increases the risks of causing damage, accidental or not. In the end, it would be hard to determine if was your actions, or a hardware fault from the beginning.
 
remember, this is how these things go...

the HD on the MBP is easy enough to replace if you've got a couple o' brain cells. So you replace it. Of course, the warranty agreement says something like 'invalid if you damage anything!'. but you're pretty smart and manage to replace the HD with no problems. and it works. all is good. then something else craps out. i duno...the logic board, a port, who knows. something. and they crack the MBP open to repair and see a new hard drive. of course, you put it in. they know this because it's a model they don't use.

oh look, you invalidated your warranty...

bottom line? get that sh*t in writing, and still don't take it as gospel. what you can and can't do, and what someone can say you can and can't do (and did and didn't do!) are very different things...
 
When will you people understand. Opening your machine will not void your warranty. Installing your own hard drive will not void your warranty.

From Apples Warranty: Limitations Section (i.e. it will not cover the following)
(ii) Damage to the Covered Equipment caused by accident, abuse, neglect, misuse (including
faulty installation, repair, or maintenance by anyone other than Apple or an Apple Authorized
Service Provider), unauthorized modification, extreme environment (including extreme
temperature or humidity), extreme physical or electrical stress or interference, fluctuation or
surges of electrical power, lightning, static electricity, fire, acts of God or other external causes;
Click to expand...

What this means is you can do your own work, but Apple will not cover parts you replace. They will also not cover damage done to your machine if you damage something or everything during your own modifications.
 
notengolegs said:
When will you people understand. Opening your machine will not void your warranty. Installing your own hard drive will not void your warranty.

From Apples Warranty: Limitations Section (i.e. it will not cover the following)


What this means is you can do your own work, but Apple will not cover parts you replace. They will also not cover damage done to your machine if you damage something or everything during your own modifications.
Click to expand...

which is what I said. What I also said is beware of what Apple considers damage done during your own modifications. It's their call to make and they might not always make a call that, how can we say, agrees with the customer.
 
...and the debate continues. To replace yourself, or not to replace.


Those who had apple replace the drives for you, how much do they charge? and if they do it for you, what happens when you need to take in the computer for repair? do you need to pay them again to change it back to the original drive?
 
sal said:
...and the debate continues. To replace yourself, or not to replace.


Those who had apple replace the drives for you, how much do they charge? and if they do it for you, what happens when you need to take in the computer for repair? do you need to pay them again to change it back to the original drive?
Click to expand...

Good question.

Does anybody know the answer?
 
I replaced my hard drive in my old Macbook Pro and had no issues when dealing with the warranty. I even was very straight with them and said that I had changed the 120 GB HD out with a 250 GB Western Digital HD when I took it in for service. I needed the battery and LCD replaced. The kicker is apple was unable to get an LCD at the time so they ordered me a brand new macbook pro to replace it. They specificly verified that my hard drive had been upgraded since the serial number indicated it was supposed to be a 120 GB HD and made sure that the new machine also had a 250 GB HD.

Though this could just be a case where I got lucky with good technicians I think the reality is that apple does in fact allow user replacement of the hard drive without voiding the warranty. You simply are SOL if you happen to screw something up and apple can verify that the issue was caused by the user when replacing the drive.
 
A lot of people have said completely opposite things in this thread and it's very confusing. I am thinking about swapping out my HDD in my Macbook for a 250GB and as I only got more confused reading these threads I called Apple tech support myself.

When I spoke to the rep he told me that on my Macbook, I am allowed to replace the RAM myself without voiding my Apple Care Protection Plan. When questioned on the HDD he told me that if I open the computer any further than taking the battery out or the RAM, it will void my entire ACPP. Let me repeat that part, he said opening the computer at all past the RAM will void the entire Protection Plan.

I know someone is going to quote that part and flip out and tell me I'm wrong and I can do it all I want and this, that and the other thing, but understand I'm not arguing anyone's point, I'm simply telling you what I was told when calling Apple myself. I would much rather believe that I can change it myself, as I understand it to be a simple task, however this is the news I got.

I plan on going to my local Genius Bar on Monday and asking them about it as well and seeing if they would just swap it for me in order to keep my ACPP. I will post the information I get from them after I get back.
 
It looks like people are STILL wondering if replacing the hard drive in a Macbook is allowed under warranty.

Apple Instructions for DIY HD Replacement

Well, given that they provide this information, I think it pretty safe to say that it is OK to install a HD upgrade yourself...

Folks, it can't get any more obvious than this. Rather than quote what someone told you at a store or over the phone, why not just READ the document that tells you how to replace your hard drive?
 
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