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MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Mid 2010 Hard Drive Replacement

Written By: Walter Galan (and 10 other contributors)
  • Comments: 103
  • Favorites: 287
  • Completions: 474

Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

8

Time Required

15 minutes - 1 hour

Sections

4

Flags

0

Introduction

Upgrade your hard drive for more storage capacity!

  1. Remove the following 10 screws securing the lower case to the MacBook Pro 13" Unibody:

    • Remove the following 10 screws securing the lower case to the MacBook Pro 13" Unibody:

    • Seven 3 mm Phillips screws.

    • Three 13.5 mm Phillips screws.

    Edit

  2. Slightly lift the lower case and push it toward the rear of the computer to free the mounting tabs.

    • Slightly lift the lower case and push it toward the rear of the computer to free the mounting tabs.

    Edit

  3. For precautionary purposes, we advise that you disconnect the battery connector from the logic board to avoid any electrical discharge.

    • For precautionary purposes, we advise that you disconnect the battery connector from the logic board to avoid any electrical discharge.

    • Use the flat end of a spudger to lift the battery connector up out of its socket on the logic board.

    Edit

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  5. Remove two Phillips screws securing the hard drive bracket to the upper case.

    • Remove two Phillips screws securing the hard drive bracket to the upper case.

    • These screws are captive to the hard drive bracket.

    Edit

  6. Lift the the retaining bracket out of the upper case.

    • Lift the the retaining bracket out of the upper case.

    Edit

  7. Lift the hard drive by its pull tab and pull it out of the chassis, minding the cable attaching it to the computer.

    • Lift the hard drive by its pull tab and pull it out of the chassis, minding the cable attaching it to the computer.

    Edit

  8. Remove the hard drive cable by pulling its connector straight away from the hard drive.

    • Remove the hard drive cable by pulling its connector straight away from the hard drive.

    Edit

  9. Remove the two T6 Torx screws from each side of the hard drive (four screws total). You'll need to transfer these screws to your new hard drive if you're changing drives.

    • Remove the two T6 Torx screws from each side of the hard drive (four screws total).

    • You'll need to transfer these screws to your new hard drive if you're changing drives.

    • If you are installing a new hard drive, we have an OS X install guide to get you up and running.

    Edit
Conclusion

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

474 other people completed this guide.

32 Comments

Add a comment

THANK YOU! I'm still on a high from repairing my husband's Macbook. It feels so nice to have two computers up and running again. You saved me nearly a grand, and made me realize how much I really did learn as a kid building PC towers with my dad.

emhannaford - Reply

I'm about to take this on. A little nervous as I haven't done anything like this before. When I get the new drive in, can I just restore from Time Machine? Do I actually need to reinstall the operating system first?

Chrystal Hurst - Reply

Thanks, the drive replacement went fine.

bernie - Reply

Replaced my HD a couple of days ago. I did disconnect the battery. No problems. Thanks iFixit!.

Julio C Andrade - Reply

Installed osx (yosemite) on blank hard drive in 2010 macbook pro according to

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K82njigC...

BUT instead of getting the spinning planet at first step, I got a padlock (apparently to keep non-apple employees from futzing around). However, the following got me past that point:

http://www.justanswer.com/mac-computers/...

and to be a little more descriptive than the link, with one memory stick out I held down r+p+option+command, hit power button until it restarted, and *continued* holding r+p+opt+command as it rebooted (screen on, off, fan&cd noises were the only indication) like 4 or 5 times.

THAT got me past the padlock but then there was another problem getting the new OS (non-descriptive error message "there was a problem..."). The solution there was to open terminal and change the date according to

https://bensmann.no/changing-system-date...

Finally it was smooth sailing after that.

nonth - Reply

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