Introduction
Use this guide to replace a broken hard drive cable. The hard drive cable also contains the sleep LED and the IR sensor.
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Remove the following ten screws:
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Three 14.4 mm Phillips #00 screws
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Three 3.5 mm Phillips #00 screws
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Four 3.5 mm shouldered Phillips #00 screws
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Use your fingers to pry the lower case away from the body of the MacBook near the vent.
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Remove the lower case.
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Use the edge of a spudger to pry the battery connector upwards from its socket on the logic board.
This step is not really required. Apple does not recommend it.
My Battery does not get recognized after i disconnected it, screw this site!
Don't know what the deal is with the battery, but this IS a necessary step to keep from frying the logic Board if you accidentally touch something and short it out. I did this step every time during my troubleshooting and The battery was ALWAYS recognized by the system the next time I turned the MBP on. So be safe and don't fry your logic board in the process...
Prying the battery connector off does not take much force. I did exactly what the guide suggested (walked it off back and forth) with the spudger without any problems. Just be very gentle, much like with anything inside laptops, they are very fragile and need to be worked with carefully. A+ instructions, battery replacement was a success.
Installed/upgraded 4gb RAM to the system maximum 16gb and installed a 500 gb SSD today....DID NOT disconnect the battery cable....no issues at all when I powered back up. Then did a clean install of OSX Yosemite....next I used a time machine backup to put all my stuff back on the new HD. From start to finish it took about 4 hours. Macbook boots up right at 16 seconds now.
Easiest to use two spudgers, one on each short end, I found.
Its a lot easier and safer (corner wise) to pry it using the flat side of the black spudger directly in front of the connector (don't go/use the corners) very easily you will be able to pry it further by inserting the spudger into a better and thicker plastic section of the connector
DON'T remove the Battery Cable, you risk the battery NOT being recognised when you start the Mac up again, or breaking it!! More to the point, APPLE DOES NOT RECOMMEND THIS, so don't do it! I Installed 2x 8GB ( 16Gb total) of Crucial Mac RAM at 1333Mhz for my Late 2011 MacBook Pro, and it works beautifully, fully recognised and working well. I followed these instructions, but as Apple didnt recommend disconnecting the battery, I skipped this step, and as well as taking less time, nothing was damaged or broken, and everything works perfectly!!! Just make sure that you DISCHARGE ALL STATIC ELECTRICITY FROM YOUR HANDS, by touching a metal surface in the Mac. Apple recommends the edge of the Optical Disk Drive ( Big silver thing ) before touching any parts. Also, Take care removing the RAM out of its packet, DO NOT touch the Gold connectors, and hold the RAM by the edges. Finally, be PATIENT, GENTLE and it should all go perfectly. I managed it first time, with no technical ability, so follow my advice. Good luck!
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Bend the battery cable slightly away from its socket on the logic board so it does not accidentally connect itself while you work.
What are the changes of it broke when i bend it?, after i disconect it does not work anymore
The guide worked perfectly, as it has in the past (our family has three Mid-2012 Macbook Pros that have been separately upgraded with RAM and SSD).
The PH00 screwdriver fit perfectly.
One note on getting the screws to seat easily and thread perfectly...always turn them gently a couple turns to the left (CCW or Anti-Clockwise) until you hear a small click. That's where the threads will grab. Works with any screw, but when threads are fine, this will help ensure that the screw is at the correct angle and will grab and seat perfectly.
Great guides. Thanks!
Got RAM in but only one slot is working and now I can't remove! The RAM won't pop up like before and tabs don't seem to do anything. Please advise.
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Remove the two Phillips screws securing the hard drive bracket to the upper case.
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Remove the hard drive bracket.
Don't miss this step: I almost did and of course couldn't get the disk out until I looked at the video !
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Use the attached pull tab to lift the hard drive out of the upper case.
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Pull the hard drive cable away from the body of the hard drive.
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Remove the hard drive.
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Use the flat end of a spudger to pry the hard drive cable connector up from its socket on the logic board.
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Remove the following four screws:
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Two 3 mm Phillips screws
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Two 9.7 mm Phillips screws
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I'm finding that it's pretty much impossible to remove the two 3mm screws holding the cable down. Any hints on that?
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Carefully peel up the thin IR sensor/sleep LED ribbon cable from the adhesive securing it to the upper case.
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Pull the front hard drive bracket containing the IR sensor/sleep LED away from the front edge of the upper case.
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Remove the hard drive cable.
The replacement cable comes without the sleep led attached. Thus you have to remove the flat cable of the sleep led from the socket of the old hd cable. Take your fingernail and lift the side of the socket opposite to the cable. It's really tiny! Afterwards insert the new cable and push gently on the part lifted up before.
Hi, I feel like this article is missing an important step at the end. How do I replace the new IR sensor/sleep LED with the old one that is still attached to the front hard drive bracket? I see Skyynet answered this but it is still nor clear. Pictures would be nice. Thanks!
You just gently pull out the old cable and insert the new cable into the small plug as skyynet suggested. It all seems to smoothly realign and guide itself.. you don't have to do much work to get things to affix.
ydlwhite -
Hi. What is the purpose of the 5 black rubber pads that are shipped with the cable kit?
Step 13 has the note: "Your replacement part may come with several adhesive foam bumpers. These are to ensure a snug fit of both bracket and hard drive. Apply only as needed." - This would be if the drive width had a gap and allowed it to move "sideways" in and out of the torx post holes. I didn't need them.
prall -
Yes, this was fiddly and it needs extra photos. I only got this done with the aid of a magnifying glass.
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Use the tip of a spudger to flip the ZIF connector on the hard drive cable.
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Gently pull the sensor bracket cable out of the ZIF connector.
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Use the flat end of a spudger to pry the hard drive cable up off the sensor bracket.
This section is backwards, do not try to remove the IR sensor ZIF connector until you have removed the hard drive cable gently from the bracket as @Skyynet says above, by using a "fingernail (or the spudger) and lift the side of the socket opposite to the cable" gently, it's glued on. Then you can wiggle the ZIF connector off of the hard drive cable with your fingers.
My apologies, I was incorrect in my previous comment. The ZIF connector is a little flap on the hard drive cable that can be opened by flipping it up. This makes extracting the IR sensor easier. Removing the hard drive cable from the bracket may also make removing the IR sensor from the ZIF connector, but only if you've opened the flap. The new cable should already have the flap of the ZIF connector open, so make sure to close it. But does anyone know how you can tell if the IR sensor is connected? It's so small it's hard to tell if it can slide in further.
Also note there are 3 photos in this step, you can view them by hovering over each one. Click to enlarge.
Very nice set of close up photos of the hard drive cable IR sensor ZIF connectory are here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/708...
I would recommend using tweezers that come with the ifixit tool kit to properly insert the sensor bracket cable back into the sensor bracket. I had trouble with my computer in which the solution was that this step was not executed properly in my repair of the hard drive cable installation. I encourage everyone to make sure the bracket is fully and properly put back in the bracket otherwise the hard drive will appear to malfunction.
To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.
To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.
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28 Comments
Thank you Ifixit and Andrew "Optimus" Goldberg, the parts and tools arrived today i went to the shop to buy lunch when i had returned (15 mins later) my Husband had replaced the part (hdd cable) and my Macbook pro is super speedy again. Nice repair guide thank you i doubt i can say thank you enough.
After many hours of trying to get my SSD drive to work, I read elsewhere that other users had issues with the HD cable that came with the laptop. From when I opened the envelope until my SSD booted was less than 30 minutes. If you have the right tools this is an easy fix. Just keep in mind that there is adhesive on the cable that goes to the bracket -- don't forget to peel off the paper backing and line it up correctly.
Hello, I have a mid 2009 Macbook pro 13. I have bought a hard disk cable that looks almost the same as the original one except for greater width and shorter length. I guess that this new cable fits the 2012 model, SO YOU MAY HAVE TO UPDATE THE GUIDE accordingly.
Electrically the wider cable also works on the mid 2009 model (at least for disk access) though it does not fit mechanically.
My friends be careful when you buy this part.
thanks, Ifixit! Like many, my laptop developed the flashing question mark with startup even though when I removed the drive and put in external enclosure it worked perfectly, and putting in a different HD with a good system install on it also failed. thankfully I found out about the ribbon cable issue with a web search. The part fit perfectly and was easy to install, took about 10 minutes and I was up and running again.
Larry Schwartz
Lookup your Mac's serial number on a site like this http://www.everymac.com/ultimate-mac-loo... and make a note of the model number (for example, A1278). Then search eBay, Amazon for "Macbook hard drive cable A1278"
I purchased the HDD cable with the bracket, so my installation was a breeze. Remove the old cable and install the new one. Four screws and done. Here was my problem with the MacBook Pro 13 Mid-2012. Bought the i7 model off Craigslist from a student. Seller said the hard drive went bad and she replaced it with a smaller 250GB drive. I thought no big deal because I was going to install an SSD anyway. I bought a 500GB SSD and it would not boot. Rapidly flashing Apple, No sign, and Folder with question mark. The drive booted fine with an external USB case. 750GB drive would not even recognize in the MacBook. Went to Apple and they would not touch it since it had a third-party drive installed, but they suggested replacing the cable since everything else worked. Sure enough, the HDD cable was bad and the replacement cable works perfectly! The 500GB SSD is recognized and boots OS X. Easy fix. So if your hard drive appears bad, check it first, and then determine if the cable is bad.
I just bought a replacement 1TB SSD/hybrid drive from Ifixit.com because the stock 500GB HDD "failed." The 2012 MBP would not read the new drive internally but booted just fine from the new drive on external USB. Replaced the cable, new replacement drive still wouldn't show up in Disk Utility on the internal bus but the original drive works just fine. I put the new drive into the external silicone enclosure and use it for Time Machine backups.
Bob -
It is important to note that the replacement cable ordered from Ifixit.com may be of subtly different size from the OEM cable removed from MBP 2012. However the new drive did fit into the drive bay and the lower external case fit without any screw adjustments. Have faith and it should work out just fine.
Pretty easy! However, watch that sleep sensor/ribbon cable. Pretty easy to damage that during the fiddling process of removing it. Also, the adhesive on the replacement cable may still have on it seems to arrive melted via the shipping process. So make sure it hasn't gotten on anything else. Initial symptoms of the HDD cable failure were: slow indexing speeds, spotlight wasn't working, displaying directory listings were slow, complete OSX panics, OSX freezing, HDD folder appearing with question mark on boot. Disk Utility would randomly see the HDD but anything mounted externally it had no problem.
I have a MacBook Pro 13" Mid 2012. My hard drive is dead and happy to follow the instructions. Which hard drive do you recommend to buy?
Fixed my mid-2012 Unibody MacbookPro 13" with this guide and with the cable bought from iFixit. Perfect shipping and quality.
Feels good not to be dependent of a (main) external hard drive anymore !
My laptop crashed and could not find its own hard drive. Through process of elimination I figured it was the hard drive cable. Bought the part, replaced it, and the computer booted up by itself and everything was how I left it! Thanks!
My 2012 pro was not booting with Sandisk ultra. Replacing the cable worked for me. Thanks for the guide.
Hello,
I have followed your guide to replace my cable and it works, thank you.
The problem is I just realise that my new cable is for 2011 macbook while I have mid 2012 macbook. Both are for A1278 but the model number is different. The cable actually works well, but I wonder if it might damage the harddisk or the computer at some point in the future? Please help
Thank you very much.
Step 14: Note how far in the yellow tab of the sensor bracket cable goes into the ZIF connector before pulling it out. Reinserting was a little difficult, but looking at the photo at full size helped. When all the way in, there will be a line of gold running just in front of the connector. Overall, great instructions and photos. Thank you so much.
After following these steps, my Macbook will not boot up and the power adapter blinks orange. I did some research on the issue and unplugged and then plugged back in the battery connector, but that still didn't fix it. I may not have got the IR sensor plugged in all the way. if that's the case, would that actually cause the Mac to not even boot up?
I bought the hard drive cable from Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Drvie-821-1480-Mac...). I followed the steps and replaced the hard drive cable. However, when my computer could not turn on again.
I decided to put the original hard drive cable back in place (without the Hard Drive) and I could turn it on. I am running with dual HD, so with the main HD, my macbook boots from the HD that is in the optical drive place.
I suppose that the Hard Drive cable that I bought was bad, since I succeeded to put the original cable back in place.
However, does anyone know why the computer wouldn't turn on at all (no lights, no noise, nothing) ?
if i can boot a normal hdd with os x yosemite and start the computer but when i boot using ssd samsung 850 evo 120gb it show files missing using same os then i change back to normal hdd okay again .. whats that means? need help is it unibody problem?
I have the same problem. Did you find a fix?
Kaladin -
Hi, I've established that I need to replace the HD cable but like a fool I haven't backed up my hard drive in a long while. Just wondering if there's any chance of my hard drive being accidentally erased or anything when I replace the cable? Or is that only if you're reinstalling the OS?
Thanks you for this excellent guide! This was the first time I did anything more involved than changing RAM so the guide was really helpful. As for many others, the problem was that I got the dreaded "question mark in a folder" image upon start up, indicating that the OS could not be found. I managed to make one recovery start-up to repair the hard drive but the problem persisted, I then found comments about the hard drive cable often being the cause of this problem and this article allowed me to buy a new one and install it. Easy and quick!
The cable I bought fit perfectly and had the IR sensor included. It is a MyArmor Replacement 923-0104 HDD Hard Drive Cable 821-2049-A With Bracket for MacBook Pro 13" A1278, £16 on amazon.co.uk
Also bought ACENIX® 3 Pcs Nylon Plastic Spudger for £4.
Hello, I have a Macbook pro 2012 and am currently trying to diagnose whether my sata cable could be faulty or could it be the SSD firmware. I have a Samsung 850 Evo and a Sandisk Z400s and for some reason I can't format, partition, erase, or install the OS on either internally, which always results in an error. However, I am able to format them externally using a sata-to-usb adapter and is able to boot internally once the OS is installed externally. Btw the original Toshiba HDD that came with the laptop does not encounter these issues. Does anyone have any ideas what could be the problem? Thank you.
Scratch what I said about install being able to install externally; it doesn't work either. I have to install the OS on my HDD then clone over to my SSD.
Does void the warranty?
jfondeur - Reply
No, it does not void the warranty. More specifically: http://eshop.macsales.com/Search/display...
oakdragon12 - Reply
How much weight can I save by removing the optical drive?
gunes314 - Reply
You can save a lot of weight if lets say your installing a solid state drive or putting in a second hard drive but if you know that you use the CD/DVD disc drive a lot then you might just want to leave the drive alone.
Marshall WahlstromHelgren -
Also wondering how much weight I'd save by just removing. My drive is broken for ages, but I have not needed it in ages. The HD was already replaced by a cheap SSD (second best thing after upgrading to 8GB), so I'd appreciate losing some weight. I mean, the computer. Although I could lose some too... erm... well, anyway, I guess the lack of the DVD would not interfere with anything, right? Opinions?
Carlos Duarte do Nascimento - Reply
Apple has meticulously balanced the MacBook's weight from left to right, and removing the optical drive may off-balance the Mac.
skimmilk05 -
What so you think that a removing the optical drive which weighs less than a AA battery will unbalance a MBP making it unusable? LOL!
Unless you use the MBP on a high wire (an even then I have my doubts) you'd never notice the weight difference.
pmhparis -
I'm thinking you'd probably be OK losing the DVD drive without a problem. Just make sure the optical drive cable is secured or you might hear it rattling in there from time-to-time.
John Adam Wickliffe - Reply
Hey guys,
this website is amazing. I read it to guide me on fixing my mac book pro, but on the video, the girl gives a wrong information.. She says that is not possible replace just the keyboard... But I managed to replace only my keyboard. It is boring because I have to remove approximately 70 screws but it is possible. Thanks a lot! You guys helped me save about US$300 thats because in Brazil some technicians would charge me with that amount!
I posted some pictures on your facebook page..
renatumb - Reply
Tip: Use one of those weekday pill holders to have a cheep way to store screws you remove and each day of the week can be for different sizes or parts. It has been handy to have (much less expensive than the magnetic mat.
Robert Wacker - Reply
Great tutorial. I found that using a Phillips #0 in lieu of the #00 worked much better.
kschmesk - Reply
I tried the PH #00 for the 10 screws that hold the bottom case and it's too big, instead PH #000 works perfectly. Are you sure this screws are #00?
Alex - Reply
The likely problem with your wifi is not the card but the antenna leads that go into the plastic clutch
. Ifixit don't have a guide to change this as it it includes the isight camera so the screen has to be disassembled which is fairly hard
I got round it by using the camera cable from the old set and cutting off the new one
brian whittle - Reply
Hello MacWorld,
Just want to say that this site is a great resource for repairing or upgrading your Mac. I had a bad SATA cable in my MacBook Pro and after ordering a new one from the "IFIXIT" site I received the cable within two days, replaced it and was up and running again in no time. Thanks IFIXIT for you help!
wer 10/5/15
tayseer999 - Reply
I have found that my MacBook Pro 13 Late 2011 has five shouldered screws and not four. I am not sure exactly where it goes but I have put it in the top left corner of the picture as it is the odd one out.
GotMac - Reply
Hello, where can I buy the screws I need in case I lose one of them?
taylornya - Reply
iFixit sells a kit: Macbook Pro 13" and 15" Unibody (Mid 2009 through Mid 2012) Lower Case Screw Set
Darrell Johnson -
on my device the #00 screwdriver was a bit too small. a #0 was the perfect one
Maximilian Klotz - Reply
I found with mine that the shouldered and un-shouldered screws were reversed (the three un-shouldered screws going where the orange colour indicates). Also, I found that the front four screws went in at an angle.
gilded yak - Reply
I need to know why my party can't hear. Me on my android phone
Tina Porter - Reply
Because that party is inside your head Tino. Just close your eyes and enjoy the tunes
Snuf Box -
Are you sure the short screws are different? The set sold here just says “Seven 3 mm Phillips #00 screws.”
Jack - Reply