MacBook Pro 13" Unibody (Mid 2009-Mid 2010) Hard Drive Cable

My Problem

The Mac stopped booting when the storage drive was inside but worked fine with it connected by USB, so the HD data cable needed to be replaced.

My Fix

The repair was almost totally smooth. The one wrinkle was that one of the tiny screws holding the cable in place wouldn't come out and started stripping. Fortunately, I was replacing the part it held so I wasn't concerned about breaking the cable.

As soon as I tore the cable out from under the screw, the screw was happy to come out with ease. Getting the new part in place was easy.

My Advice

Be open to thinking outside the box. Sometimes a slightly more violent approach nets a nondestructive outcome.

My Problem

My son was moving from south Florida to Pittsburgh, PA and the week of the move, his 13" MacBook Pro mid 2009 showed the "Slashed Folder icon and would not boot. Also, the trackpad had become very difficult to depress. I really like that Apple products seem to last and last, so why not try to nurse it back to health?

My Fix

I had previously replaced the battery and swapped the HDD for an SSD,so I didn't anticipate any problems. After I removed the SSD, I used a USB SATA adapter and tested it using my Mac mini. This revealed that the SSD had started to develope non-writable blocks, indicating that it was approaching its end-of-life. I was able to clone the SSD to another SSD, and installed it back in the MacBook Pro, along with a new replacement battery. The MacBook did book, but the SSD still had issues - Disk Utility could not correct some catalog errors, and oils boot about 90% and then get stuck. A quick web search pointed to a bad hard drive interface cable. I ordered one from iFixit with the attached drive bracket and circuit board (I didn't want to mess with swapping the existing bracket, as it involved attaching a very small circuit board connector.) At the same time, I replaced the adhesive silicone feet on the bottom plate. I booted up the MacBook Pro, and this time, it worked perfectly.

My Advice

I saved at least $850 over replacing with a new MacBook. I spent $99 for a quality battery, $35 for the Cable/Circuit Board/Bracket, and about $14 for the silicone Feet, and well worth it. After all these years, the MacBook Pro still performs well with the SSD.

My Problem

Powerbook was acting as if the hard drive was crashing. Replacement drive was better but did not fix all read-write symptoms. Online searches revealed hard drive cable wears out over time (laptop is almost seven years old). Moving drive to external housing revealed that it was fine.

My Fix

Package was a little late arriving because of USPS, not iFixit. Once it arrived, I simply had to take off the back of the laptop, unplug battery, remove hard drive, remove cable and replace. Only needed a small Phillips screwdriver.

My Advice

This is a really simple repair. If your laptop is having hard drive issues, remove the drive and place it in an external drive housing to see if it works (boot off external drive). If it does, then perhaps the issue is the hard drive cable.

My Problem

My hard drive became corrupted due to a faulty hard drive cable, rendering my computer unusable.

My Fix

I had some experience taking my computer apart when I installed an SSD, but this was still a very easy and quick repair. I didn't buy the bracket, so reattaching the indicator light was like threading a needle, but nothing too difficult.

My Advice

Your system files may have been corrupted due to a faulty hard drive cable, so after you replace the cable, be sure to erase your hard drive and do a clean install of macOS from Recovery. And starting today, make sure you back up your computer every once in a while.

My Problem

A young friend's laptop stopped working. It wasn't too hard to figure out the hard drive cable had crapped out.

My Fix

So easy I made my young friend do most of it himself. Seven year old laptop still runs like a boss.

My Advice

This repair is so simple, that even if you don't watch the video, you're going to be able to sort it. Be gentle removing the old bits.

My Problem

I got a question mark inside a folder icon on start up. Hard drive wasn't recognized

My Fix

It went great. This is so easy! Got a new cable and followed instructions provided by ifixit and comments.

My Advice

Before assuming your old hard drive broke down, try removing the hard drive and connect it to your computer via USB (you will need an SerialATA to USB adaptor or whatever. Do some research). You will be able to boot the OS through the USB port. If you can boot your old system then you know something must be wrong with the cable that connects the HD to the mother board.