After much deliberation I have decided to just swap out the hard drive on the MacBook rather than letting the existing 60GB drive crap out. I also now don’t feel that my previous ranting on Leopard was fair considering the possibility that said hard drive was about to die a horrible death. Even though Leopard’s just as buggy as Vista, I´ll give it a go with a fresh hard drive. If I feel it necessary to bitch about Leopard again then I will, but I´ll wait until after I´ve reinstalled it on my brand spankin´ new 320GB Western Digital Scorpio 2.5-inch SATA drive. It´s a simple process, really, in terms of the hardware, but I ran into a hitch involving OS X along the way. It was more of a human error.
Before we get started, make sure you have a #00 Phillips screwdriver and a T8 Torx screwdriver. Ok? Good. Also, be sure to transfer all your files to an external drive, which I did with my Passport. Or you can opt for the FireWire target disk mode if another Mac is accessible to you.
First things, first. Ground yourself before doing anything because you don´t want to be that guy and fry your new hard drive or RAM or whatever it is that you might be installing. Now that we have that out of the way, we’re going to flip that MacBook over and remove the battery by unlocking the battery lock. A coin or flathead screwdriver with a napkin should work. (I don´t like to leave unnecessary battle wounds on my gear in case you´re wondering about the napkin.)
Once the battery is removed you´ll see an L-shaped bracket with three phillips screws along the back. Remove said screws and that will reveal your RAM ports and, to the left, your hard drive, which is easily discernible by the white plastic tab. Flip the tab up from the bottom and pull to the right. Your hard drive should easily slide out.
Be sure not to shuffle around and create static electricity. On each side of the drive you´ll see two T8 Torx screws. Unscrew these. Duh.
Swap the old drive with the new drive and replace the T8 screws. Make sure you don´t tighten them too hard. Tuck the white tab back under drive and slide it back on in. Insert the short end of the L bracket first and then tuck the RAM buffer pads back into the slots before screwing it back in. Replace the battery and lock it up.
Fire your MB back up and insert your OS X disc. Erase and partition the new drive. Replace your files and make any other tweaks you see fit. You should be good to go with your new hard drive now. Wasn’t that painless?
What was the OS X glitch?
I replaced a hard drive on an iBook G4 once. Let’s just say the instructions on how to do so would make James Michener’s eyes go wide. Nice to see Apple making it a lot less INSANIFYING to replace the part of a computer that’s most likely to crap out.
Also dying to hear what the OS X glitch was….
Oh, it wasn’t an actual OS X glitch. More of a human error that I’d rather not make public.
Is there a way to backup your installed applications, so that you can transfer them to the new drive as soon as it’s installed?
Mike – you’re right. I did my powerbook a few times and it’s like giving a cesarean.
Hi, Peter,
Great post.
In Brazil, it’s not an easy task to find assistance for Macs.
So, I made a translation of your post into Portuguese: http://www.notebooks-site.com/blog/como-trocar-o-hd-de-um-macbook/
Would you please give me authorization to publish the photos on my blog?
Thanks,
Go ahead, Yan.
Cool!
I can’t wait to buy a new macbook, and then rip it apart and put some more RAM and possibly a much larger hard drive. So now I know how!
Thanks Crunch!
what to do with the 60GB? Use an external enclosure. First you can use it to clone 60GB to 320GB. Then swap. Done. SuperDuper, http://www.shirtpocket.com
awesome post…. but for someone who puts napkins over your screwdriver to prevent scratches, that laptop looks like someone took a dump on it……ha…
great work though
RC-
That’s an invisible shield that’s started to turn yellow.
I recently upgraded my MacBook Pro HDD and came across a problem late in the process where I could not partition my drive for Boot Camp. The main problem is formatting the drive with a GUID partition table. Problem: That option is not available from Apple’s Disk Utility program. There’s a (very) simple workaround:
http://www.on-a-mac.com/2007/12/01/macbook_pro-hard_drive-upgrade/