Difficulty
Easy
Steps
7
Time Required
15–30 minutes
- Access Door 2 steps
- Battery 1 step
- Hard Drive 3 steps
- Hard Drive 1 step
Featured Guide
This guide has been found to be exceptionally cool by the iFixit staff.
Parts
- 500 GB 5400 RPM 2.5" Hard Drive
- 500 GB 7200 RPM 2.5" Hard Drive
- 750 GB 7200 RPM Seagate SATA Hard Drive (New)
- Universal Drive Adapter
- 320 GB 5400 RPM 2.5" Hard Drive
- 500 GB SSD Hybrid 2.5" Hard Drive
- 1 TB 5400 RPM 2.5" Hard Drive
- 128 GB SSD
- 256 GB SSD
- 512 GB SSD
- 1 TB SSD
- MacBook Unibody (Model No. A1278) Hard Drive Bracket
Introduction
When replacing your hard drive, you must transfer the Torx screws from the old drive to the new one.
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With the case closed, place the Unibody top-side down on a flat surface.
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Depress the grooved side of the access door release latch enough to grab the free end. Lift the release latch until it is vertical.
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The access door should now be raised enough to lift it up and out of the Unibody.
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Grab the white plastic tab and pull the battery up and out of the Unibody.
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Remove the single Phillips screw securing the hard drive bracket to the upper case.
My Phillips #00 screwdriver does not fit here. In fact, I´ve tried every Phillips screwdriver I have. Nothing fits. I am losing my mind trying to get that screw out.
Turns out I have a stripped screw...
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Lift the hard drive by its pull tab enough to grab and remove the retaining bracket.
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Lift the hard drive out of the chassis, minding the cable attaching it to the computer.
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Remove the hard drive from its cable by pulling the cable connector straight away from the drive.
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Hard drive remains.
I'm also considering an SSD, any help with this question?
I did some some looking around for specs at everymac.com and I came up with this.
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/ma...
From the link there it says the SATA interface is 3Gb/s, which would be SATA II.
As for whether or not an SSD is worth it on SATA II, I found a Tom's Hardware article which explains the problem a little bit more.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-...
Hope this helps!
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Remove the two T6 Torx screws from each side of the hard drive (four screws total).
To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.
To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.
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5 Comments
Very easy and worth the upgrade
The model A1278 in front of me doesn't look like the above. It has 10 screws holding a single piece base onto the body, and not a single quick-release catch in sight. The battery bay looks different as well, but removing the HDD is just as easy.
That is because you are looking at a MacBook Pro A1278, not the MacBook Unibody. Apple made the regular MacBook in an aluminum enclosure in 2008 and the following aluminum model was changed to be called the MacBook Pro.
