Installing MacBook Pro 13″ Unibody Mid 2012 Dual Hard Drive
Duration: 45 minutes
Steps: 22 Steps
Hold onto your tools! It’s important to be cautious during this repair. If you feel uncertain at any point, don’t hesitate to schedule a repair. We’ve got your back!
Adding a second hard drive to your laptop can work wonders! Imagine zipping through tasks with improved speeds, enjoying heaps of extra storage, and breezing through software installations without a hitch. Follow this guide to get one installed using our handy optical bay hard drive enclosure. If you need help, you can always schedule a repair.
Step 1
– Unscrew the ten screws listed below with care:
Step 2
– Give the lower case a gentle nudge with your fingers to pop it off the MacBook body near the vent. It’s like a little hug for your device!
– Now, go ahead and lift off the lower case. You’ve got this!
Step 3
Gently nudge the connector upwards on both short sides to help it ease out of its socket. Just a heads-up—watch those corners, they can be a bit fragile and might snap off if you’re not careful!
– Gently use the edge of a spudger to lift the battery connector up from its cozy spot on the logic board.
Tools Used
Step 4
– Gently nudge the battery cable away from its socket on the logic board to prevent it from reconnecting while you work your magic.
Step 5
– Grab your trusty spudger and gently slide the flat end underneath the AirPort/Bluetooth ribbon cable connector. Give it a little lift to pop it up from its cozy spot on the logic board. You’re doing great!
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Step 6
Gently slide the cable parallel to the logic board’s face. Lifting it straight up could cause some serious damage to either the logic board or the cable itself. Let’s keep everything in one piece!
While iFixit staff might raise an eyebrow at this, some adventurous folks decide to skip this step altogether. If you’re curious about their thoughts, check out the comments for this step.
– Gently wiggle the camera cable free from its cozy home on the logic board.
Step 7
– Gently nudge the AirPort/Bluetooth ribbon cable aside while you peel off the camera cable from the sticky adhesive that’s holding it down to the subwoofer and the AirPort/Bluetooth bracket. Easy does it!
– Now, let’s guide that camera cable out from beneath the little retaining finger molded into the AirPort/Bluetooth bracket. You’ve got this!
Step 8
– Grab your trusty spudger and gently nudge the antenna connector nearest to the logic board, lifting it out of its cozy spot on the AirPort/Bluetooth board.
– Next, let’s give that antenna cable a little freedom by guiding it out from beneath the finger molded into the AirPort/Bluetooth bracket.
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Step 9
– Grab your trusty Phillips #00 screwdriver and get ready to unscrew! There are five little screws that need your attention, so let’s take them out together!
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Step 10
– Gently lift the AirPort/Bluetooth assembly and the Subwoofer upwards towards the center of the optical drive, just until they part ways with each other.
– Carefully slide the AirPort/Bluetooth assembly and the subwoofer away from the top of the optical drive.
Step 11
– Gently wiggle that right speaker/subwoofer cable free from its cozy spot under the retaining finger near the optical drive.
– Now, give that cable a little lift to disconnect it from the logic board. You’ve got this!
Step 12
– Gently slide the flat end of your trusty spudger under the hard drive cable connector and lift it up from its cozy spot on the logic board.
– Now, give that hard drive cable a little bend to the side, away from the optical drive, to keep things clear and tidy.
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Step 13
– Gently slide the flat end of your trusty spudger under the optical drive connector and lift it up from its cozy spot on the logic board. You’ve got this!
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Step 14
– Take out those three 2.7 mm Phillips screws that are holding the optical drive snugly to the upper case. You’ve got this!
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Step 15
– Gently lift the optical drive from the edge nearest to the display and slide it out of the upper case. Remember, you’re the boss here!
Step 16
Make sure to grab the connector, not the cable itself. You’ve got this!
– Gently detach the optical drive cable from the optical drive, giving it a little wiggle if needed.
– Next, take out those two black Phillips #0 screws that are holding down the small metal mounting bracket. Don’t forget to give this bracket a new home on your shiny new optical drive or hard drive enclosure!
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Step 17
– Pop off the plastic spacer from the optical bay hard drive enclosure by giving one of the clips on either side a little press and then lifting it right out. You’ve got this!
Step 18
– First things first, make sure those hard drive connectors are pointing down before you slide it into the enclosure. We want everything to fit just right!
– Now, gently tuck that hard drive into the cozy little spot in the enclosure designed just for it.
– While you’re holding the enclosure steady with one hand, use your other hand to give that hard drive a little push into the connectors. It’s like a warm hug for your hard drive!
Step 19
– Once the hard drive is in place, gently pop that plastic spacer back in while keeping the hard drive snug against the bottom of the enclosure. You’ve got this!
Step 20
– Grab two Phillips #1 screws and fasten that drive snugly to its cozy enclosure. You’ve got this!
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Step 21
– Secure that shiny new optical drive bracket to your enclosure using two trusty Phillips #0 screws. You’ve got this!
– Now, reconnect those cables you carefully detached from the original optical drive onto the optical bay enclosure. Easy peasy!
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Step 22
Don’t toss that optical drive just yet! You can totally keep using it on the outside with our handy SATA Optical Drive USB Cable.
– Carefully line up that SATA connector with the drive’s port and give it a firm push to connect securely. You’ve got this!
– Plug the USB connector into your laptop, and just like that, your optical drive is all set to rock and roll!
