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Honestly, how hard is it to install a internal hard drive in a MBP?

Skibsted

Skibsted

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 16, 2008
126
0
Copenhagen, Denmark
I just got the WD Scorpio and I'm pretty exited.
I have seen a lot of threads in here about how easy is it to switch drives.
I have looked a the iFixit guide and it looks pretty straight forward BUT, how hard is it honestly?

I'm not a mac freak and I haven't done anything like this before. Should I be afraid or what?

I'm only asking, cause I could pay around 250 dollars to get done in a certified store - but that's a lot of money.

So guys, what do you say?

Go or no go?
 
20-30 minutes tops. Easy.

Make sure you have the correct sized screw drivers, don't rush, and ensure you keep track of the screws: I layed them out left to right as I removed them bunched according to step number.
 
robbieduncan said:
20-30 minutes tops. Easy.

Make sure you have the correct sized screw drivers, don't rush, and ensure you keep track of the screws: I layed them out left to right as I removed them bunched according to step number.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the quick reply.
I have bought the screw drivers from iFixit, so toolwise I should be all set.

ok then, I'll do it but my heart rate will definately go up when I open up my baby:)
 
Skibsted said:
Thanks for the quick reply.
I have bought the screw drivers from iFixit, so toolwise I should be all set.

ok then, I'll do it but my heart rate will definately go up when I open up my baby:)
Click to expand...

Do yourself a favour and clone your excisting internal to the new internal first ( will need a enclosure ) & boot from it ,that way you can make sure all is ok before doing the swap
 
Nothing to be scared about. I install drives all day. Last night I installed 5 in my new raid enclosure :) Took 5 min tops.

All you have to remember is touch the casing before you go fiddling around inside. This discharges static. Also just try not to bang a drive around, they are fairly sensitive. When you power on your mac it will ask to initialize your drive, just click "Yes" and your good to go. You can name it and whatever else you want to do with it.
 
Neil321 said:
Do yourself a favour and clone your excisting internal to the new internal first ( will need a enclosure ) & boot from it ,that way you can make sure all is ok before doing the swap
Click to expand...

Yeah I have thought about that. How do I do specifically do that?
Please keep in mind that I'm a noob when it comes to all of this.
You say that I need an enclosure - how?
 
Skibsted said:
Yeah I have thought about that. How do I do specifically do that?
Please keep in mind that I'm a noob when it comes to all of this.
You say that I need an enclosure - how?
Click to expand...

You would have course need to buy the enclosure first,the site or where you bought the drive from should stock them,then its just a case of putting the new drive in the enclosure,get on google
and download either carbon copy cloner or superduper follow the instructions to clone over to the drive,boot from it,take it out the enclosure and swap it for the old drive,which you then put into the enclosure so you have a nice new external for the price of the enclosure and there only cheap
 
chrono1081 said:
Nothing to be scared about. I install drives all day. Last night I installed 5 in my new raid enclosure :) Took 5 min tops.

All you have to remember is touch the casing before you go fiddling around inside. This discharges static. Also just try not to bang a drive around, they are fairly sensitive. When you power on your mac it will ask to initialize your drive, just click "Yes" and your good to go. You can name it and whatever else you want to do with it.
Click to expand...

Thanks!

I feel more confident now.

I'll keep you posted on the progress.
 
I replaced the drive in my PowerBook recently and the hardest part was getting the case apart. Not sure if the MBP is easier, but I managed it and I'm crap :eek:
 
Neil321 said:
You would have course need to buy the enclosure first,the site or where you bought the drive from should stock them,then its just a case of putting the new drive in the enclosure,get on google
and download either carbon copy cloner or superduper follow the instructions to clone over to the drive,boot from it,take it out and swap it for the old drive,which you then put into the enclosure
so you have a nice new external for the price of the enclosure and there only cheap
Click to expand...

Ahh, I see.
But I can't I just use Migration Assistent?
I'm using Superduper as my backup software and I have of course made a full copy to my external backup drive. I thought I could just install the new internal drive and then migrate the stuff from my external drive to my internal drive.
Have I got it all wrong?
 
Skibsted said:
Ahh, I see.
But I can't I just use Migration Assistent?
I'm using Superduper as my backup software and I have of course made a full copy to my external backup drive. I thought I could just install the new internal drive and then migrate the stuff from my external drive to my internal drive.
Have I got it all wrong?
Click to expand...

yep that should work but you didn't mention you had an external in your original post,buy an enclosure anyways that way you have another external
 
Skibsted said:
True, sorry about that.
So how does it all work?
I mean, when I have replaced my internal drive do I just turn on my computer and insert my Leopard DVD?
Click to expand...

To be honest ive never used the the migration assistant as i haven't found it necessary,whenever ive upgraded my drives ive just always backed up my stuff to an external just in case and then used enclosures and the clone method.If you go this way no you wont need to insert the DVD as you already have a clone
 
Skibsted said:
I'm only asking, cause I could pay around 250 dollars to get done in a certified store - but that's a lot of money.

So guys, what do you say?
Click to expand...

Hi,

250 USD for 10-15 min of work (that much time only if you're replacing the drive for the first time in your life)? Just do it, like Nike says. From my experience, the most difficult part of the job was to find right set of screws (walking to a shop three streets away).

sash
 
Relax, it's easy. I followed the steps on one of those online guides, kept the screws clearly organized by step number, and it was cake. Just keep your water/beer/coffee far away and don't do anything spastic.

Once I had the drive in, I plugged in my time machine drive, put in the Leopard disk, and Leopard installed itself and copied all of my files and applications over EXCEPT for my Fusion virtual machine. That was a hassle. I had to hook up my old drive to my old PC, which has SATA cables, install software that could read a mac drive, put the virtual machine file on my PC had drive, then copy it over the network. Ugh. Just burn your virtual machines to DVD or an external drive.
 
Thanks guys for all your exellent replies.
I'm planning on replaing the drive tomorrow.
And - if God will - I'll be the happy user of a 320 GB internal drive:)

Thanks guys!
 
UPDATE ** UPDATE ** UPDATE

So I have just installed my new hard drive and it went surprisingly well.
It took me about an hour.
I can easily recommend doing this yourself and save the money.

I have never opened up my computer before and I managed to do this - I think that says it all.

Thanks again to everyone for helping me in here.

Skibsted
 
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