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Hard Drive Replacement/Upgrade on a MacBook Pro

R

ricardo1064

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 12, 2007
69
0
Hello everyone,

We now have an up to date tutorial on how to remove, replace and upgrade your MacBook Pro Hard Drive. Tutorial is located here, if there is anything we can do to improve quality, please let us know.

Video coming shortly.
 
Good work!

I've just passed this onto a friend you is considering swapping the HD on her MBP.
 
Cool. The pics are a bit small (would be nice to have the option to view larger/closer shots) but good tutorial. Looking forward to seeing how to migrate the drives..just about the only thing holding me back from swapping out my 200 gig drive.
 
Neil321 said:
Sorry to be petty but its 00 as in the number not the letter,also you mention nothing about grounding yourself
Click to expand...

Contrary to popular belief I did put 00 not oo. Although they may look like o's, but I assure they are 0's. As for the ground strap I take it for granted and have added it now.
 
Radio Monk33 said:
Cool. The pics are a bit small (would be nice to have the option to view larger/closer shots) but good tutorial. Looking forward to seeing how to migrate the drives..just about the only thing holding me back from swapping out my 200 gig drive.
Click to expand...

We will link to exact size photos from now on. Never thought it would be an issue and apologize for inconvenience.
 
Ok I think we've got everything. If there are any other discrepancies please do not hesitate to let me know. Thanks for the constructive criticism everyone.
 
It might be good to add that it's for a MacBook Pro 17", isn't it? so that people don't do any type of mistakes. Also maybe mention which version of the MacBook Pro since it's slightly different with different versions.

It might also be good to mention the clips in the front and to show them on a picture since you need to use some force to loosen these clips and to make sure that they click when the case is put together

Otherwise a great guide.

//adamsen87
 
Here is the link for the guide/tutorial on how to Clone Your Mac's Hard Drive. I will have more updated pics on the bezel later this week along with a video on replacing the hard drive hopefully.

I really appreciate everyone's help, thank you all.
 
what did you swap it with?

i am really looking to do this
hitachi 200gb 7200rpm
or some 250 or 300gb at 5400rpm.

who ever said about grounding yourself?

wouldn't you want to not be grounded as so electricity does not come from you or from the computer to you?
i kinda forgot this from physics.
i dunno whenever i do electrical work i always make sure to wear rubber soled shoes, rubber gloves and rubber griped tools and not to touch other parts with out rubber between you

like working on a car. i always when working with hot wires make sure not to touch the car.

i mean if you want the electricity to flow, being grounded then hot is better,
pretty sure about that.
 
In the "lifting the keyboard" section I would mention that you should start lifting at the "top", or the section closest to the LCD. You have to "lever" the top cover back and forth (up and down?) at a 30 to 45 degree angle to release the clips along the front edge, which you make no mention of. Had I not done this a number of times myself, reading this would have me thinking that the top cover just lifts off once the fasteners are removed.

Otherwise it looks good, but I would constantly remind the readers that this is on a 17" MBP, which is physically different inside from a 15" MBP. For one, the ribbon cable on the hard drive is routed differently and there are things like temperature sensors and the sleep LED wiring that have to be dealt with in the 15".

MacDann
 
ricardo1064 said:
Here is the link for the guide/tutorial on how to Clone Your Mac's Hard Drive. I will have more updated pics on the bezel later this week along with a video on replacing the hard drive hopefully.

I really appreciate everyone's help, thank you all.
Click to expand...

Shift + command + 4 + space bar will get you an image of the actual window, that way you don't get the often inaccurate rectangular boxes generated by the dragging method. Just my $0.02 on what would look better on your guide.
 
benlangdon said:
what did you swap it with?

i am really looking to do this
hitachi 200gb 7200rpm
or some 250 or 300gb at 5400rpm.

who ever said about grounding yourself?

wouldn't you want to not be grounded as so electricity does not come from you or from the computer to you?
i kinda forgot this from physics.
i dunno whenever i do electrical work i always make sure to wear rubber soled shoes, rubber gloves and rubber griped tools and not to touch other parts with out rubber between you

like working on a car. i always when working with hot wires make sure not to touch the car.

i mean if you want the electricity to flow, being grounded then hot is better,
pretty sure about that.
Click to expand...

I used Western's 320 GB drive. It operates faster than the original 160 GB hard drive. I know it doesn't make much sense considering they are the same speed, but the 320 gig is quieter and somewhat faster.

I'm not sure what you mean about grounding. I normally wear a ground strap but since it's such second nature I forgot to include it in instructions. I also never do work in carpeted areas. But as long as you are grounded and the battery/power isn't hooked in you shouldn't have any problems.

If battery is out and power is not plugged in, you should not be even touching your machine internally, let alone having metallic foreign substances in areas where they can cause shorts.

MacDann said:
In the "lifting the keyboard" section I would mention that you should start lifting at the "top", or the section closest to the LCD. You have to "lever" the top cover back and forth (up and down?) at a 30 to 45 degree angle to release the clips along the front edge, which you make no mention of. Had I not done this a number of times myself, reading this would have me thinking that the top cover just lifts off once the fasteners are removed.

Otherwise it looks good, but I would constantly remind the readers that this is on a 17" MBP, which is physically different inside from a 15" MBP. For one, the ribbon cable on the hard drive is routed differently and there are things like temperature sensors and the sleep LED wiring that have to be dealt with in the 15".

MacDann
Click to expand...

I am definitely going to go into more detail on removing the top cover, need two more days to get some stuff situated so I can get the right photos for the job. I'm going to bold the "17 inch" note and will have to take apart a 15 inch in the next week to get those shots as well.

iToaster said:
Shift + command + 4 + space bar will get you an image of the actual window, that way you don't get the often inaccurate rectangular boxes generated by the dragging method. Just my $0.02 on what would look better on your guide.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I like to have some of the background items there as it paints a more complete picture to the end user in my opinion anyway. But a noteworthy shortcut for sure.


I can not thank you all enough. I never thought I would have gotten such a positive response.
 
ricardo1064 said:
I used Western's 320 GB drive. It operates faster than the original 160 GB hard drive. I know it doesn't make much sense considering they are the same speed, but the 320 gig is quieter and somewhat faster.
Click to expand...
i was looking at that one for a while until i saw it was 5400. that one seems the most economical
hey which one did you get as i remember seeing either a
3gb/s and 8mb cache or 1.5 gb/s and something
I'm not sure what you mean about grounding. I normally wear a ground strap but since it's such second nature I forgot to include it in instructions. I also never do work in carpeted areas. But as long as you are grounded and the battery/power isn't hooked in you shouldn't have any problems.
Click to expand...
thats what i was saying. see a short, is when a live wire gets grounded and the there is to much current.

i dunno i could be wrong ill look up later


o and one on the 15 would be supper for me.
:)
3 more weeks
 
benlangdon said:
i was looking at that one for a while until i saw it was 5400. that one seems the most economical
hey which one did you get as i remember seeing either a
3gb/s and 8mb cache or 1.5 gb/s and something

thats what i was saying. see a short, is when a live wire gets grounded and the there is to much current.

i dunno i could be wrong ill look up later


o and one on the 15 would be supper for me.
:)
3 more weeks
Click to expand...

Customer reviews led me to chose this one over the other 3, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136197 .

Just seemed to make everyone happy in general and the positives I read are all on the money. The drive is definitely quieter and faster. It might not be by leaps and bounds, but small differences are the most appreciated ones. ;)
 
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