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Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive

What you need

  1. Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive, Lower Case: step 1, image 1 of 1
    • Remove the following ten screws:

    • Three 14.4 mm Phillips #00 screws

    • Three 3.5 mm Phillips #00 screws

    • Four 3.5 mm shouldered Phillips #00 screws

    • When replacing the small screws, align them perpendicular to the slight curvature of the case (they don't go straight down).

  2. Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive: step 2, image 1 of 2 Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive: step 2, image 2 of 2
    • Use your fingers to pry the lower case away from the body of the MacBook near the vent.

    • Remove the lower case.

  3. Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive, Battery Connection: step 3, image 1 of 2 Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive, Battery Connection: step 3, image 2 of 2
    • Use the edge of a spudger to pry the battery connector upwards from its socket on the logic board.

    • It is useful to pry upward on both short sides of the connector to "walk" it out of its socket. Be careful with the corners of the connectors, they can be easily broken off.

  4. Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive: step 4, image 1 of 1
    • Bend the battery cable slightly away from its socket on the logic board so it does not accidentally connect itself while you work.

  5. Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive, Optical Drive: step 5, image 1 of 1
    • Use the flat end of a spudger to pry the AirPort/Bluetooth ribbon cable connector up from its socket on the logic board.

  6. Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive: step 6, image 1 of 1
    • Carefully pull the camera cable out of its socket on the logic board.

    • Though not recommended by iFixit staff, some users opt to omit this step completely. For information on this, see the step comments.

    • Pull the cable parallel to the face of the logic board. Pulling it upward may damage the logic board or the cable itself.

  7. Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive: step 7, image 1 of 2 Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive: step 7, image 2 of 2
    • Carefully move the AirPort/Bluetooth ribbon cable out of the way as you peel the camera cable off the adhesive securing it to the subwoofer and the AirPort/Bluetooth bracket.

    • De-route the camera cable out from under the retaining finger molded into the AirPort/Bluetooth bracket.

  8. Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive: step 8, image 1 of 2 Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive: step 8, image 2 of 2
    • Use the tip of a spudger to pry the antenna connector closest to the logic board up from its socket on the AirPort/Bluetooth board.

    • De-route the antenna cable from under the finger molded into the AirPort/Bluetooth bracket.

  9. Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive: step 9, image 1 of 1
    • Use a Phillips #00 screwdriver to remove the following five screws:

    • Two 10.3 mm screws

    • Two 3.1 mm screws

    • One 5 mm screw

  10. Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive: step 10, image 1 of 2 Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive: step 10, image 2 of 2
    • Pull the AirPort/Bluetooth assembly and the Subwoofer upward near the center of the side of the optical drive until they clear each other.

    • Move the AirPort/Bluetooth assembly and the subwoofer away from the top of the optical drive.

  11. Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive: step 11, image 1 of 2 Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive: step 11, image 2 of 2
    • Pull the right speaker/subwoofer cable out from under the retaining finger near the side of the optical drive.

    • Pull the right speaker/subwoofer cable upward to disconnect it from the logic board.

  12. Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive: step 12, image 1 of 1
    • Use the flat end of a spudger to pry the hard drive cable connector up from its socket on the logic board.

    • Bend the hard drive cable away from the optical drive.

  13. Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive: step 13, image 1 of 1
    • Use the flat end of a spudger to pry the optical drive connector up from its socket on the logic board.

  14. Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive: step 14, image 1 of 1
    • Remove the three 2.7 mm Phillips screws securing the optical drive to the upper case.

  15. Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive: step 15, image 1 of 1
    • Pull the optical drive upward from its edge closest to the display and remove it from the upper case.

  16. Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive, Optical Drive: step 16, image 1 of 2 Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive, Optical Drive: step 16, image 2 of 2
    • Pull the optical drive cable away from the optical drive.

    • Be sure to pull on the connector, not the cable itself.

    • Remove the two black Phillips #0 screws securing the small metal mounting bracket. Transfer this bracket to your new optical drive or hard drive enclosure.

  17. Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive, Dual Hard Drive: step 17, image 1 of 2 Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive, Dual Hard Drive: step 17, image 2 of 2
    • Remove the plastic spacer from the optical bay hard drive enclosure by pressing in on one of the clips on either side and lifting it up and out of the enclosure.

  18. Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive: step 18, image 1 of 3 Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive: step 18, image 2 of 3 Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive: step 18, image 3 of 3
    • Make sure that the hard drive connectors are facing down before placing it into the enclosure.

    • Gently place the hard drive into the enclosure's hard drive slot.

    • While firmly holding the enclosure in place with one hand, use your other hand to press the hard drive into the enclosure connectors.

  19. Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive: step 19, image 1 of 2 Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive: step 19, image 2 of 2
    • Once the hard drive is snug, reinsert the plastic spacer while holding the hard drive against the bottom of the enclosure.

  20. Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive: step 20, image 1 of 2 Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive: step 20, image 2 of 2
    • Use two Phillips #1 screws to secure the drive to its enclosure.

  21. Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive: step 21, image 1 of 1
    • Attach the optical drive bracket to the new enclosure with two Phillips #0 screws.

    • Reconnect any cables you have removed from the original optical drive onto the optical bay enclosure.

  22. Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive: step 22, image 1 of 3 Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive: step 22, image 2 of 3 Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Dual Hard Drive: step 22, image 3 of 3
    • Don't ditch that drive! You can still use your optical drive externally with the help of our SATA Optical Drive USB Cable.

    • Align the cable's SATA connector with the drive's port and plug in securely.

    • Plug the USB connector into your laptop and your optical drive is ready for use.

Conclusion

To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.

187 other people completed this guide.

Brittany McCrigler

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8 Comments

I skipped the steps 6-11 minus just removing two of the screws on the Airport/ Bluetooth assembly and my installation was flawless. I had prior experience removing my Superdrive and there is enough wiggle room for you to pull out the Superdrive drive without damaging any cords or plugs that others seemed to damage. Also, my suggestion is that you clone your hard drive to the SSD and install the SSD in the original hard drive location. I installed the hdd in the Apple Drive Caddy. My computer ran awesome before with a SSD but now I have 500gb for space.

JustinB - Reply

I did replaced my drive by a SSD really quickly ! However, since I've done that, my CPU goes crazy sometimes and the fans as well... I tried to install SSD Fan Control but it doesn't seems to work... Any solution ?

Alexis - Reply

I upgraded my MacBook Pro early 2011 this weekend with a Samsung 850 Pro 512GB. I followed one of the many online guides that talk about Carboncopy to copy your configuration on your HHD to your new drive and then you just have to swap them.

After I did this, I noticed that the fan started to blow for anything that I started. Just opening a webpage was enough. I cleaned the fan and indeed found a bunch of dust collected behind the exhaust of the fan. That must be it, I thought. But after starting my computer, it started the fan again quite soon.

Then I restarted my macbook via the old HDD on usb. Silence as I was used to before.. no fan going nuts on anything I started. So I created a bootable USB stick for a clean install. I have not heard the fan ever since. Only in cases that are normal because it requests more of my MacBook.

Marco Mul -

I did this upgrade with a 2TB drive. I had to move the main drive to the new drive enclosure and put the 2TB into the standard drive position.I thought I had broken the SATA cable but it was fine. Once I did the swap everything busted worked.

ken - Reply

I did it exactly as shown. Put a new SSD as primary drive, restored de backup, but can't access the HDD (the original, that I put as secondary, for file store). The HDD works fine with the SATA-USB cable, but not at the optical slot. What should I do now?

RAFAEL BARRETO - Reply

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