Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Mid 2012 Dual Hard Drive

Written By: Andrew Optimus Goldheart
  • Comments: 152
Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Mid 2012 Dual Hard Drive

Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

22

Time Required

10 - 30 minutes

Introduction

There are many benefits to adding a second hard drive to your laptop such as improved speeds, greater storage space, and less heartache when installing new software. Use this guide to install one using our optical bay hard drive enclosure.

  1. ZK52UttcjBKbEiPT

    • Remove the following ten screws:

    • Three 14.4 mm Phillips #00 screws

    • Three 3.5 mm Phillips #00 screws

    • Four 3.5 mm shouldered Phillips #00 screws

    • When replacing the small screws, align them perpendicular to the slight curvature of the case (they don't go straight down).

    How much weight can I save by removing the optical drive?

    gunes314 -

    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 -

    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 -

    Hello, where can I buy the screws I need in case I lose one of them?

    taylornya -

    iFixit sells a kit: MacBook Pro Unibody Lower Case Screw Set

    Darrell Johnson -

    I have one stripped screw... How opening without drill it?! Any suggestions please?

    rodrigosady -

    I also stripped a couple screws. I wasn’t able to open it up without drilling. After drilling the heads and removing the cover it was easy to hacksaw the tip and unscrew with a standard driver.

    Michael Wilkens -

    We have a guide for that!

    How to Remove a Stripped Screw

    Sam Omiotek -

    My top tip - make sure you buy good quality Phillips screwdrivers and a magnetic holder. Cheap screwdrivers won’t get the screws undone safely. Without a magnetic holder you have no chance of getting the tiny crews in and out safely.

    jeremyyoung -

    A good Phillips 00 is your friend here. Also, when reinserting the screws, gently start anticlockwise and you wil feel a click at the start of the thread. This tells you you’re in the right place and less likely to cross-thread through force in the wrong place.

    Iain Boyd -

    I feel like these are 000 screws. Amazon sales describe them as such and my 000 screwdriver fits better

    cam2000deluxe -

    Before ordering a new Trackpad remove the existing battery and try clicking the Trackpad. If it clicks OK with the battery out the source of problem is likely a swollen battery, which should to be replaced even if it still works to some degree. From the side of the battery you will likely see the soft part of the battery bulging beyond the hard case.

    Patrick Langvardt -

    That’s absolutely correct as I can testify. With the battery removed I also adjusted the T6 set screw that adjusts the sensitivity of the trackpad click, evidently someone had cranked mine down tighter than the factory setting.

    Gary Register -

    Le quatrième paragraphe dans les instructions en français n’est pas correct : ce ne sont pas les 2 petites vis, mais les 7 petites vis qui sont inclinées. Et les 3 grandes sont bien verticales.

    Degeorges -

    Bonjour ! Merci de votre observation. J’ai corrigé la traduction. iFixit étant un wiki, n’hésitez pas à modifiez si vous remarquez une erreur :) Encore merci de votre attention et à bientôt !

    Claire Miesch -

    Tip: if you have a magnetic screw mat or similar, lay the macbook over the mat to make sure it catches any screws that may decide to fall of and hide under your table

    Moritz -

    Funny, it's not her hands that are doing the close ups. :)

    Cinemated Man -

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    • Use your fingers to pry the lower case away from the body of the MacBook near the vent.

    • 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.

    • It is useful to pry upward on both short sides of the connector to "walk" it out of its socket. Be careful with the corners of the connectors, they can be easily broken off.

    Is this step of removing the battery connector required?

    manodh -

    yes - as with disassembly of any electronic component you have to remove any power source. You don't want to accidentally turn the Mac on

    khull -

    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.

    aekinaka -

    Be patient on disconnecting this one. It worked for me step by step, little by little.

    Phil Wagner -

    I used the nails of thumb and pointer finger simultaneously - worked pretty fine

    Reinhard Kaune -

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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.

    I put some tape between the connector and socket while working on the drive.

    Stephen Smith -

    That's a good tip

    Anrothan -

    Great tip, I did that too

    Ahmed Mahran -

    One other note: The screw heads fit flush with the curvature of the case -- which means that they aren't exactly horizontal. In other words, they aren't perpendicular to the table that the computer is resting on. Don't try to force them straight in vertically, because you'll risk cross-threading them. (nearly ruined one screw hole myself!)

    lelandjordon -

    On my MacBook Pro, the connector seems to be an integral part of the battery.

    Jerry South -

    I suspect it’s just like the special screwdriver required for seatbelts on cars – to discourage regular consumers from attempting repairs. Of course, this only encourages consumers to use the wrong tool to attempt to repairs

    colleenthompson -

    Dissambling my MacBookPro Premium Mid 2012 (i5-3210M 2.5Ghz) was easily, Careful with the screws, use screwdriver fitting exactly with the screws, you damage them very fast. Work very exactly, relaxed with time, consentration, good Tools and with feelings in your hands. Disconnect the Akku was easy if you take care, remove it to be safe, Two screws more, more space to work & haven`t to think about damaging someting. Apple use diffrent screws, you should have many difffrent scewdrivers. It is also good to clean everything inside, With time everything gets very dusty & dirty, don`t forget the sides and little fittings at the case. Use a pinsel, alcohol, soft peace stuff, it will look like new. If you have knowledge & experience, you can paint it in any colour or airbrushing for individualizing. You can also just polish it with a soft Politure (Sonax car Polish No1, NOT with wax or take an other light Politure you familiar & can do the job, A Laptop should serviced once a year, keeping it good working over years

    Stefan Lindner -

    First thing i do is open & cleanig everything inside,specially the cooling & fan, renew the thermal paste with an high quality product. Install the Nain System, clean up Bloatware and other unnecessary things, install standard software for daily use, additional change system components against better one (Edge to Firefox, Windows Media Player to VLC , an Office Suite and configuring everything for Data Protection, Privacy- & Indentety Protection, install Drivers from the component Manufactur (incedible effect, disable limitations, more functions, work better & faster, increasing performance, additional change the WiFi & Bluetooth Card to a better one a UMTS WWAN to an LTE Card, increase RAM with two Dual-Channel working SODIMMs, Use M2 or 2,5" SSD if no M2 Slot aviable) as System- and Software iDrive, a FAT32 formatted 32GB Partition to be safe of metaviruses comes with harmless downloads, and a big 2,5 HDD to store the user data. What does you guys think about this? Old Computer become a new life,

    Stefan Lindner -

    I livein Austria, near Vienna, if someone needs help or anything else, i would be glad to help. I always searching old or broken devices to bring them to new live. I also searching for spare parts, specilly a Bottom & Side Case and a 256GB or higher NGFF Storage Card for a Sony Vaio Tab 11 SVT1144HE (2014), some 14,1" Displays for a HP Probook 440G5 (2016), Elitebook MT 43 Mobile Thin Client, (2011), Dell Vostro 3460 (2012) Lenovo Thinkpad T440s (2014), and a Logic Board for an Lenovo Ideapad 330-15ARR (2017, damaged by Water i think) and a Logic Bord for an Alienware 17R4 with i7-6870HX & Nvidia 1080 (2018, CPU dead, maybe there is a repair Guide or workaround to bring it back to Life). I need always 8GB or 16GB DDR3 and DDR4 RAM Storage (perfectly two ident one for Dual-Channel use for Laptops, M2 SATA 6GB/s and NVMe PCIe SSDs 500GB or more and 2,5"SSD or HDD with 1TB or more and 3,5" HDD with 4GB or above. If you have some of this or other useful parts and doesn`t need them, please make me an offer, maybe

    2

    Stefan Lindner -

    an change something you need. This is not a Business what i do, it`s more a Hobby with challenging new Excercices.. Thats the best Point. Plase forgive me as a Newbie this very long Post in the wrong Section, but if you are start writing you cannot stop.... But now i have to come to an end and would be happy if someone wants to get in contact. My E-Mail is: udontknowme@gmx.at (the adress name is just a notice against Big Data and for Privacy Protection!

    Stefan Lindner -

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    • Use the flat end of a spudger to pry the AirPort/Bluetooth ribbon cable connector up from its socket on the logic board.

    N.B! Thank you very much all you here on iFixit! Some IMPORTANT notes. Be very careful BEFORE prying the connectors up and down. They are very fragile and the picture could actually be seen as showing a bending loading in their weakest direction, AROUND its slender axis. The connector is slender and inserted on the logic board, so the gentle "walking" up and down should be done ALONG their slender direction and WITHOUT touching the adjacent connectors. If bending is done around its axis the soldering comes apart and the cable is done and gone. Just happened. These flat cables are one of the weakest design spots in my experience. They are a major time, money and geist consuming reason for malfunction like Wi-Fi connection problems, HDD, SSD not found internally but externally from USB issues et al being found on different forums. Thanks again and again.

    Greg -

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    • Carefully pull the camera cable out of its socket on the logic board.

    • Though not recommended by iFixit staff, some users opt to omit this step completely. For information on this, see the step comments.

    • Pull the cable parallel to the face of the logic board. Pulling it upward may damage the logic board or the cable itself.

    I'd to disassemble my MBP two times because my SSD did not work properly in optibay. While doing it a second time, I omitted steps 6 and 8. It is really not necessary, but step 6 is really scary.

    nicholas -

    Do you even need to do this?? I've seen guides where they just leave those on and slide the superdrive out from underneath that module..??

    Philip -

    Yes, this is really no need. I left it there, and still can proceed.

    maiyawmh -

    I've replaced 4 dvd's with hdd's already, in different macbooks, so wasn't too fussed about #5. However; this time I broke the camera connector cable :(

    The connector is stil in it's socket, and I can't get it out no matter what I try. My guess is that some of the glue that connects the socket to the logic board, got into the socket as well. Prying with a small screwdriver, pulling with a pair of tweezers... nothing works. And this mbp belongs to a friend who uses his camera a lot for skyping...

    I hope we're still friends after I tell him.

    The thing is; I think it might be possible to do the whole operation with that cable still in its sockets; if you pull the rest of the cable free of the fingers, you can probably fold it out of the way when you lift the dvd out.

    puchelaar -

    This is Sooo Unnecessary!! don't do it!

    grant reynolds -

    I actually found it necessary to do this step. If not done you can rip chord, if you read the wording carefully and do as it says it should not break.

    Robert Wacker -

    After having initially skipped this step, I finally followed it. I couldn't find a way to move the airport / bluetooth assembly away otherwise, and in the end it's a pain to put the small screws back in. Didn't have any trouble unplugging the camera cable, but it is indeed scary because it looks pretty fragile.

    I only skipped step 8, as it didn't seem necessary.

    JoGersen -

    I also broke my camera cable!!! And I just realized that removing that lovely cable was not necessary for the following steps!!! Thank you!

    I dont know how to fix this problem and I asked it in this question: How can I fix broken camera cable

    Please, help...

    Yusuf -

    I successfully skipped this step when removing the hard drive enclosure (I had already the dual drive running, but I needed to replace the drive in the optical enclosure. I also skipped steps 7, 8, and 11.

    pauloau -

    I have a blog post on my experience of performing the upgrade with a simple diagram showing how to skip step 6, 7, 8 and 11. (http://www.ocyedwin.com/?p=190)

    Aderic Adsisco -

    I tried to pull the cable, but it did not come off even with moderate force. So it stayed as it was, and I had no problems taking out the drive and putting in the new one.

    Probably its best to skip this step.

    cearnach -

    I can't remove this so I skip it. I also skip 7,8,11 with no problem, just do it slow and carefully remove any parts.

    Pat Ach -

    Just did this. I elected to actually do this step and I’m glad I did. It was no big deal. Just pull straight back from the socket (not up or angled!) and although it was a little tight, it came out. I think it’s worth it not to possibly mess that cable up when you extract the drive. The drive itself does not lift up straight out- you have to work it out as there a few minor obstructions. At that point, it would be very easy to damage the camera cable. I took all the antenna cables off even those this guide only recommended taking off the long cable. This was due to an Apple repair video I had seen. This proved to be unnecessary and I should just have stuck with this guide’s recommendation. I did skip taking the woofer cable off towards the end of this guide as that seemed to be, and subsequently proved to be, utterly unnecessary. All in all, just moving slowly and carefully I managed this in 30 mins though next time will be faster, no doubt.

    dave -

    I did not perform step 6, 7, 8, 10 and 11. Once I performed step 9, I was able move the speaker housing to the right enough to get a long screwdriver to get to the ‘hidden’ screw underneath the housing and just removed the other two main screws holding in the drive in step 14. I did remove the HDD and holding backet prior to starting so I could slip the superdrive out and place the caddy back in the opposite direction. You just have to careful not to snag the wires when trying to remove the superdrive and and when slipping in the caddy. My Macbook is a MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012) and I only needed a Philips 00 screwdriver, and did not need to use a Torx screwdriver during any part of the upgrade.

    Balvinder Gill -

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    • Carefully move the AirPort/Bluetooth ribbon cable out of the way as you peel the camera cable off the adhesive securing it to the subwoofer and the AirPort/Bluetooth bracket.

    • De-route the camera cable out from under the retaining finger molded into the AirPort/Bluetooth bracket.

    This step is unnecessary, as is step 8. You can get the SuperDrive out and put the caddy in without pulling the cable out.

    Steve -

    I successfully skipped this step when removing the hard drive enclosure (I had already the dual drive running, but I needed to replace the drive in the optical enclosure. I also skipped steps 6, 8, and 11.

    pauloau -

    Confirmed for a second time: Steps 6, 7, 11 NOT NEEDED.

    Alvaro Paiva Bimbo -

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    • Use the tip of a spudger to pry the antenna connector closest to the logic board up from its socket on the AirPort/Bluetooth board.

    • De-route the antenna cable from under the finger molded into the AirPort/Bluetooth bracket.

    I successfully skipped this step when removing the hard drive enclosure (I had already the dual drive running, but I needed to replace the drive in the optical enclosure. I also skipped steps 6, 7, and 11.

    pauloau -

    Based on the advice above, I tried to skip this step. Unfortunately, the way the wire wraps around the plastic caused it to break underneath when I lifted the optical drive out, and now I have another broken part.

    lisaquatmann -

    Yu can easily skip the step, just make sure you take care when removing/put away the AirPort/BT assembly in the next step, be gentle.

    Lucian Onea -

    I skipped this step and disconnected (the end that was not mentioned) accidentally from the machine, what can I do to repair it?

    Ely -

    Ce connecteur est très fermement fixéà la carte. Lorsque j'ai procédé comme expliqué ici, il s'est brisé !!!!

    J'ai tenté de le recoller. Pour l'instant il semblerait que j'ai toujours du wifi. Ouf.

    Je pense donc qu'il faut éviter cette étape si possible.

    Pat Microbiom -

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    • Remove the following five screws:

    • Two 10.3 mm Phillips screws

    • Two 3.1 mm Phillips screws

    • One 5 mm Phillips screw

    Note the position of the little grounding rings when removing the red (10mm) screws. You'll have to make sure to re-seat them when reassembling!

    James -

    You are so right about making sure to put back the two metal rings when you screw back the two (red) 10.3mm screws. I missed putting back one of the rings and read your comment after I had installed the drive and closed the macbook. Everything was working fine, but I went back to open it an leave it just as it was, with both metal (one with a plastic/cloth material around it) plates/rings attached properly. So it is very important to make sure you put those two 10.3 mm screws back with the plates/rings that they hold, exactly as they were before you put it apart.

    pachis2 -

    I think you should remark when re-assembling the machine, you should pay attention to the metal clip in Step 9, the upper left screw position, it's easy to miss when assembling, because there are so many wires, and it may be very easy forgetting putting the metal clip back in place.

    Fisher -

    As far as the grounding ring goes, it slips back over the screw hole, be patient and gentle. You may have to finagle the airport board under it first and then lay the board flat and reattach the subwoofer. I will see if I can add a pic in the near future. But that the best way to describe it.

    Robert Wacker -

    FYI: These are #00 Phillips screws!

    Rossi Macri -

    Help! I think i stripped the screw head of the one encircled in yellow. What to do?

    BJC -

    Be weary of the cable when screwing in the Orange screw closest to the clutch cover. I pinched that cable and had to replace it.

    Duck -

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    • Pull the AirPort/Bluetooth assembly and the Subwoofer upward near the center of the side of the optical drive until they clear each other.

    • Move the AirPort/Bluetooth assembly and the subwoofer away from the top of the optical drive.

    The left part in the picture (the AirPort/Bluetooth assembly) is held down under a plastic tab that sticks out a tiny amount. Thus, it needs to be pulled very slightly towards the camera module in order to be able to lift out.

    Darren -

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    • Pull the right speaker/subwoofer cable out from under the retaining finger near the side of the optical drive.

    • Pull the right speaker/subwoofer cable upward to disconnect it from the logic board.

    I will confirm for a third time, having just done this replacement yesterday morning: Steps 6, 7, 11 NOT NEEDED.

    cjdow -

    When I attempted to lift this cable out of the connector, the connector broke and separated from the board. I suggest not to do this step.

    car rider -

    Agreed. I skipped this step. No need to risk breaking a cable or connector if you don't have to disconnect it to get the optical drive out.

    Alan Grassia -

    Three things:

    1. Thanks for this guide!

    2. I don't understand the comments that this step (#11, disconnect the speaker cable from the logic board) can be skipped, given this guide is all about replacing a failed right speaker/subwoofer. Maybe this step was re-titled from its original post?

    3. My (used) replacement part from iFixit (part IF163-029-1) for my mid-2012 Macbook Pro 13" was different than the OEM part in that the replacement part's cable exited the subwoofer enclosure from the "northeast" corner of the package, rather than the "southeast" corner of the package. This required a rerouting of the cable to a route *on top" of the subwoofer rather than below it, as a nearby boss prevented the original route. Also, I needed to completely remove the heat shrink that joined the subwoofer and right speaker cables together near the connector, as it prevented the radius necessary to route that portion of the wire. I have pics but I don't see how one can provide them in the comments.

    ROBERT ANTHONY PASSARO -

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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.

    • Bend the hard drive cable away from the optical drive.

    N.B! Thank you very much all you here on iFixit! Some IMPORTANT notes. Be very careful BEFORE prying the connectors up and down. They are very fragile and the picture could actually be seen as showing a bending loading in their weakest direction, AROUND its slender axis. The connector is slender and inserted on the logic board, so the gentle "walking" up and down should be done ALONG their slender direction and WITHOUT touching the adjacent connectors. If bending is done around its axis the soldering comes apart and the cable is done and gone. Just happened. These flat cables are one of the weakest design spots in my experience. They are a major time, money and geist consuming reason for malfunction like Wi-Fi connection problems, HDD, SSD not found internally but externally from USB issues et al being found on different forums. Thanks again and again.

    Greg -

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    • Use the flat end of a spudger to pry the optical drive connector up from its socket on the logic board.

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    • Remove the three 2.7 mm Phillips screws securing the optical drive to the upper case.

    can i reuse this optical drive again

    justcause3 -

    Sure you can. Use it in anything. Stick it in a USB enclosure and carry it.

    scottmilliken -

    iFixit has a guide on How to Remove a Stripped Screw: How to Remove a Stripped Screw

    Stripped Screw -

    I stripped the top left screw and lost a few others, where can I buy replacements?

    Ely -

    top left screw is a nightmare

    Fabian Cadiz -

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    • Pull the optical drive upward from its edge closest to the display and remove it from the upper case.

    Because I skipped steps 6, 7, 8, and 11. when removing the hard drive enclosure (I had already the dual drive running, but I needed to replace the drive in the optical enclosure, I found it easier to remove the enclosure by lift the side close to the battery and main HD and pulling it towards myself (towards main HD and battery).

    pauloau -

    Did the same, also because i skipped those steps. It worked, you just have to remove it gently.

    Lucian Onea -

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    • Pull the optical drive cable away from the optical drive.

    • Be sure to pull on the connector, not the cable itself.

    • Remove the two black Phillips #0 screws securing the small metal mounting bracket. Transfer this bracket to your new optical drive or hard drive enclosure.

    If you wanna keep the optical for an external do you then need a new hard drive enclosure for the old optical bay?

    Customer Service -

    Nope! You just need one of these: SATA Optical Drive USB Cable

    Sam Omiotek -

    Pro Tip: Do NOT use a #0 Phillips on these screws. They slip easily because the screw bit is too large. This can lead to slipping, stripping, and rounding of the screw.

    #00 or even #000 Phillips screw bits are recommended. I used both and they fit much better in the actual screws.

    Rossi Macri -

    Use the largest bit that fits snugly and fills the screw head. In general, these guides are written for iFixit tool users, so if you’re using some other brand/kit, you’ll have to be a bit more careful about driver selection. The sizes are not very well standardized.

    Jeff Suovanen -

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    • Remove the plastic spacer from the optical bay hard drive enclosure by pressing in on one of the clips on either side and lifting it up and out of the enclosure.

    is it 9,5mm or 12,7mm for the caddy? My stuff macbook pro mid 2010, need advice what size is compatible. Thank you

    Adi Purba -

    All Macbooks use 9.5mm Optical Drive Caddy, also, If you’re wondering as well, the Optical Drive runs at SATA II speeds just like with the main hard drive area, so if you’re using a SSD, then it’s going to run at a slightly slower speed.

    - PS5iscool - -

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    • Make sure that the hard drive connectors are facing down before placing it into the enclosure.

    • Gently place the hard drive into the enclosure's hard drive slot.

    • While firmly holding the enclosure in place with one hand, use your other hand to press the hard drive into the enclosure connectors.

    Okay it seems like some models of MacBook Pro have issues with a fast (6Gbit/s) SSD in the optical bay. Even though my Mac says it offers 6Gbit on both bays it simply didn't work in the optical bay. So I switched places between the two drives and everything seems to work. My Mac booted from the old HDD in optical bay automatically and then I cloned it afterwards and changed the startup disk to the new one. As said before, don't put a fast SSD in the optical bay!

    Carl -

    This is an extremely late response to an old comment, but… whatev’s. My 2011 MacBook Pro had that issue: the main (HDD bay) SATA operated at 6Gbit, and while the optical bay said it was 6Gbit, the “Negotiated Link Speed” was like 1.5Gbits regardless of what you put in it (I can understand 1.5Gbits for an optical drive, but not for an SSD). Some of the early 2012 models did the same thing, from what I understand, but that was corrected pretty early on; both my 13” and 15” 2012’s run at 6Gb/s on both SATA busses.

    AJH -

    It’s not wise to swop the optidrive for an HD as there is no physical protection. The caddy is only intended for an SSD.

    Ben Ormerod -

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    • Once the hard drive is snug, reinsert the plastic spacer while holding the hard drive against the bottom of the enclosure.

    Normally with the HD enclosure there come a set of screws. use these to screw down the HD in the enclosure since you need to flip it up side down to reinstall it into the MBP

    Bart -

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    • Use two Phillips #1 screws to secure the drive to its enclosure.

    Where are these screws coming from? Were they part of the original optical drive?

    Bradley DeHerrera -

    The new enclosure should include these two Phillips screws.

    Sam Omiotek -

    Can someone show the step of removal process of hdd/SSD placed in the caddy? I am unable to revert this process. Do we have to apply back greater force to remove back the hard drive/SSD from the caddy?

    Tarun Kumar Verma -

    Gads, I wish they made a caddy where the optical drive was removable without having to remove the entire caddy. That is a major peeve of mine. Like… just mount it the other way! I don’t want to have to go through this entire process every time I upgrade the secondary drive.

    AJH -

    These screws seems to be located in different places on different enclosures. I had serious trouble getting the SSD that the previous owner of this MacBook installed out of the enclosure until I realized the screws holding the SSD in place were on the side and not on the bottom. In case anyone else has the same issue!

    nessie1001 -

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    • Attach the optical drive bracket to the new enclosure with two Phillips #0 screws.

    • Reconnect any cables you have removed from the original optical drive onto the optical bay enclosure.

    Replaced the optical with hdd, as well as replaced the hard drive with an ssd. Now I get the circle with a line through it. But, when I hold the option key down, it gives me both hard drives, PLUS, the thumb drive I have in the USB port with a Mountain Lion installer. It even shows the recovery disks, but gives me the circle with the line when I choose one. Any help is appreciated.

    claude -

    Mate,

    My mbp shipped with OS 10.8, and I had upgraded twice to 10.10

    I've a 10.7 USB which upgraded my old MBP.

    My plan today was to boot with my new ssd, my time machine back up and the Lion usb plugged in.

    I would then click on the Lion usb, and tell it to put the OS and time machine back up on the ssd.

    So I help down ALT and when it started it gave me the options of the usual Mac internal or the Lion USB.

    I clicked Lion, but instead of taking me to the install options (Disk utility, restore from time machine etc etc) it gave me that grey circle with a diagonal line through it. The no entry sign - grey on grey - that I think you have.

    Some googling said that it is because I was trying to usb a 10.7 install on a MBP that shipped 10.8

    You can't go back, apparently.

    So if any of the OSs are older than the mac you got, you will get this error. The grey in grey no entry.

    I just cloned my HDD to my ssd (Carbon copy cloner free 30 day trial) using an external stat-usb3 wire and all is good.

    Rory -

    I have a 17" Macbook Pro6,1 unibody with an Intel Core i5, 2.53GHz. I was successful installing a 250GB SSD in the DVD bay, and I'm able to boot from it. I did this by first installing OS X 10.9.4 on the SSD mounted into an external HD case, testing the system to see if it would boot up into the SSD, then installing the SSD and carrier in the DVD drive bay. The system now boots up from the SSD with no problems. If you are having installation problems, I recommend trying this method.

    roger hall -

    I just have finished installing second SSD to my MBP (unibody 15` 2010).

    First one was changed like one year ago. Samsung 500GB SSD. It is in my HDD bay and I'm running system from it.

    Today I put a new Samsung 1TB 850 Evo 1 SSD in to my optic bay.

    I encounter problem with SSD not recognized by Finder.

    But It was recognized by Disk Utility.

    What I did was I erase new SSD by Disk Utility. Then the new partition was created and now It has been seen by Finder.

    So If you see it in Disk Utility just erased it.

    Some extra info in under this link--> https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4...

    Wish you all luck :)

    rybafly -

    My installation went great thanks to the guide. I did notice a small thing that might make a good tip, and that is to inspect all the visible screws. I saw one that was slightly raised, and when I poked around with the spudger, I found 2 more that had worked themselves out a bit. Its probably something super rare but at the age of these things, it wouldn't hurt to check.

    Tineyi Chapisa -

  22. 3GeKNgsubSw2qWpF
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    • Don't ditch that drive! You can still use your optical drive externally with the help of our SATA Optical Drive USB Cable.

    • Align the cable's SATA connector with the drive's port and plug in securely.

    • Plug the USB connector into your laptop and your optical drive is ready for use.

    There is a small metal button in the front of the drive and you can use that to eject the drive if you were wondering.

    Joseph Landry -

    Maybe that explain the eject button mechanism maybe….

    - PS5iscool - -

    Die neue SSD wurde durch das Laufwerk ersetzt aber leider wird jetzt die alte HDD nicht mehr erkannt. Hatte schon ein anderer das Problem?

    Alexander Richter -

Conclusion

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

Author

Andrew Optimus Goldheart

Member since: 17/10/09

493803 Reputation

54 comments

Has anyone else noticed their Macbook booting and responding slightly slower with this duel-hard drive setup? I first swapped out my main hard drive for a SSD and the computer felt amazingly quick. I then replaced the optical drive with another SSD for additional storage and backup and ever since then the computer has felt slightly more sluggish in general. I suppose the CPU now has to constantly communicate to the second SSD where it could mostly ignore the optical drive before. Has anyone else noticed this?

Landon McKee -

Just fixed that issue:

Put the new SSD where the old HD used to be. Put the old HD where the optical drive used to be.

I found that the ports in the motherboard inside the mac have different speeds. The HD port is 6mb/s and the optical drive is 3mb/s.

chicle -

Are you sure its MB/S that would be horribly slow.

Zarkex -

I am seriously considering replacing my old HDD with a SSD instead of using a dual drive. Would you recommend still adding a dual drive with new SSD/ old HDD or just replacing the HDD with an SSD. I like having an optic drive, although not necessary. I am looking from the point of utility and practicality. Cheers!

nshourds -

Zarkex is correct. The transfer speed for SATA 3 is not 6MB/s it is 6GB/s.

Gary Altonot -

Successfully did this.

Didn't unplug camera, battery or speaker. Didn't remove orange screws from airport/bluetooth and didn't unplug antenna. I was just careful with the cables. One of the screws at the top left of the optical drive was sticky but just used a little contact cleaner and it came away fine. Everything is working as it should.

swirlykev -

Will this work with 2 SSDs? I replaced my HDD earlier with a 500GB SSD and if I wanted to add a second SSD in the old optical drive site, would that slow down the computer or require tinkering with the OS to get it to accommodate two SSDs? Or if I did this, should I get a new HDD and put it in the optical port site (I prefer the SSDs because I "throw" my computer around a bit, keeping it in my backpack as I'm a uni student and I know that jostling a spinning HDD can cause problems)?

irisremillard -

Kicking your mac around shouldn't have any noticeable effect on the hard drives - if you drop it from 1m every once in a while then yes, otherwise not really - remember iPods had hard drives for quite a while. Your computer sees hard drives and ssds the same way, you can have as many of either as you can fit

Darie H -

Great guide! Made it relatively easy to perform the upgrade. I did skip steps 6,8 and 11. Skipping steps means being more careful not to stress cables, connector or boards when maneuvering things around. Most connectors are pretty simple, just about weighing the odds of breaking a part by trying to remove/reconnect things or by working around the connections. Like every repair be diligent and take your time. It takes much less time to read and look closely at the steps then to order and reinstall another part.

Thanks.

nouzul -

TIP: If you do not have wifi and bluetooth after completing the the upgrade don't panic and stay calm. Assuming you were careful during the procedure you may have disconnected the airport/bluetooth board from the logic board. Without taking the airport board apart it looks like there is only one connection on the ribbon cable, on the logic board side. However there is another connector under the black material on the airport board side. Simply press your finger on the airport board right beside where yhe ribbon meets the airport board. If you hear a click you may have just solved your problem.

nouzul -

I salute all of you that take the time to do these instructions to help other people out.

Thanks a lot!

Anders Magrioteli -

I have installed 2 x 500Gb Samsung SSD and when I copy files on to the drive the second drive unmount it self during the copying process, if a small file, it is fine, I have got MacBook Pro 2012 without retina screen. Does mac have master and slave setting for hard drives? Thanks for helping

Sam -

Bought the ifixit dual drive mount and tried to install my original HDD in the optical bay, but the mount is to big to fit property. The optical drive has cutouts on the left side for the CD/DVD entrance plastic, the mount doesn't have this and won't come close enough to the keyboard for the screws to fit. Ill probably take a tool and make cutouts myself but a huge minus for the part, 40€ + freight, freight was late and have to mod the part to use it. Not recommended! Just switch the HDD to an SSD and keep the optical drive.

Simon Westerlund -

Which model of Macbook Pro do you have? I found this to when installing it in a 2012 13" Macbook Pro

Gerard -

Worked perfectly. As noted below in Landon Mckee's post, at the top of this page, this installation should only be used for a secondary storage drive not your primary or OS drive as the ports they are connected to run at different speeds.

JASON CULP -

Steps 9 & 10 are the only slightly tricky things to get right. I wasn't too keen on pulling the parts so far apart, as they felt very delicate. Instead, I just pushed them very slightly away from the top housing screw of the optical drive so I could gently get my screwdriver in to remove the screw.

I didn't remove all of the thin wiring either, like most of the commenters here.

The upgrade went really well. It probably goes without saying that you need to take your time, have a LOT of multidirectional light and the right tools. Also be organised. Place the screws into a receptacle in the same order/position you take them out. A bit of double sided tape helps - gently place the removed screws onto it in the same 'shape/order' as you remove them. A magnetic screwdriver head is also essential. The key word here is GENTLY - and then this really is a doddle to do.

bbmatt -

My mid 2012 15 inch MacBook Pro does not work with a SATA III drive in my caddy, but works fine with an older SATA II drive. I'm thinking this is a hardware or software limitation.

Weird that it works with older Macbook's. The drive that failed worked fine in a non pro mid 2010 Macbook. Albeit in SATA II mode since the MacBook didn't have SATA III.

emkey1 -

One more piece of data. I bought a brand new SATA II 1TB drive and it worked fine in the caddy. It seems pretty clear the issue is with SATA III devices. It's a bit of a bummer since there aren't many SATA II drives larger than 1TB.

emkey1 -

Thought I had a hard drive problem when computer wouldn't boot up. Took out HDD and connected with SATA cable to USB and the drive is fine. So I'm guessing the problem is the cable (which looks fine) or on the board. Was considering using this fix to put original HDD in optical drive slot but I see people remark that it will be slower than it was. Question is, how much slower? Too slow for a college student who doesn't use it for much other than internet browsing? Would I be better off getting a case for the original HDD, or just a new external drive, and continuing to use it via USB? Is that slower or faster than the optical drive connection? Thanks.

slwatts2 -

This guide is fantastic and very easy to follow!!

My Mid 2012 13" MBP's System Report shows a Link Speed of 6Gbs for my optical drive connection (should support SATA3.0). Using the first optical bay I purchased, my computer would not recognize a 2TB SATA3.0 HDD, a 120GB SSD nor would it recognize a 1TB SATA2.0 HDD. Strangely, the caddy worked with the stock SATA2.0 HDD.

I bought a different caddy from Amazon and all drives worked perfectly. Correct me if I'm wrong but most Mid 2012 13" MBPs should support SATA3.0 in the optical bay. If your SATA3.0 drive isn't recognized by your MBP, it could be due to a compatibility issue between the drive and the caddy you purchased. Try purchasing a different caddy before giving up.

Voscillate -

I just follow all this guide with correctly. First of all , everything is okay and I can see HDD partition on disk utility . When I shutdown and restart back the HDD partition is missing and cannot found at disk utility.

I already connected my HDD with usb cable and check it and everything okay .

And then , I read one of this article . It’s say because the logic board problem.

I hope you guys can help me .

Syafiq's -

I did everything as this manual explained. I put macOS on the SSD drive and computer started. No problem at all. Everything worked fine. I could install other applications, etc. But the next day, without me changing anything the computer doesn’t start anymore. The green light from powercable is on. But it seems that the computer doesn’t recognize the battery anymore (?!?). Sometimes if I try all kind of starting procedures (like option-command-R start or command-r start …) it starts for a few seconds and then shuts down.

Christian Scheltens -

seems the hard drive cable broken. I have the same issue with me, I. would like to replace a new cable.

superliujian -

Very good guide; thanks!

Osvaldo -

one minor problem, after due hard driver (ssd in HDD slot and HDD in Optical slot), It will takes about 10s to lighting the screen and hear the boot sound after press the power button. but if just one single SSD, everything goes well. anyone with the same problem of me? and any solution?

superliujian -

Just replace HDD with SSD and leave the optical drive because you risk damaging your Mac. Use an external SSD or HDD for storage or a USB thumb drive / SD card.

louisepalmer1902 -

Hello guys! I need a hand!

I just installed a SSD solid state samsung drive in the place the optical drive on my Mid 2012 MacBook Pro. Everything went smoothly. When I turned back on the Mac a folder icon was blinking. I followed a tutorial an installed the Mojave 10.14.2 software in the new SSD drive. Now I have a completely fresh and fast empty user. BUT I need to recover some files form the original hard drive! I researched a lot but I can have access to it again.

IS THERE ANY WAY to access the old drive and move some files to the new SSD disk? Please let me know if that's possible.

THANKS!

sebastian sanchez -

Boot up from your old HDD. Create a time machine back up. Boot the new (SSD) in recovery mode and then do a recovery from the time machine. This will effectively move everything from your HDD on you SSD like for like.

Shaw Woodley-Mitchell -

This thing is garbage. I installed it and it would not let me erase the ssd. I took it out and erased the ssd no problem, but when i reinstalled it, it didn’t recognize my ssd. What a waste of money.

Eddie -

The guide is very good. It would appear that I can’t put a 1Tb SSD in the Optical drive caddy/bay and have it work. The OS formats the SSD, but will only copy files of less than ~3Mb, so either, as noted elsewhere, 750GB is the limit for the Optical bay/caddy, or the caddy I have is no good for 1Tb. I planned on having a RAID 0 with two 1Tb SSDs in my MacBook Pro 13” mid 2012. From an external boot, I got as far as making the RAID 0, but as soon as any files went on it, it blew up. So the drives are OK and I now have a 1Tb main drive and the DVD drive back in, the 2nd 1Tb SSD is still OK and is in an external enclosure working well. Add to this fun, that 10.13.6 is temperamental with RAID and it’s been an interesting couple of days. Apparently the way to get a High Sierra install, onto a RAID 0, is to clone with Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper, to another external drive and then clone back to the RAID 0 (HFS+ not APFS) when it’s made. But as I seem to have hit a size limit with the 1Tb SSDs I gave up.

Mark Nissen -

An update - Success! - So it works - 1/. clone existing 10.13.6 install to ext disk with Carbon Copy Cloner, 2/.boot from ext disk, 3/. make RAID 0 (HFS not APFS) with the two 1 Tb SSDs in the Macbook Pro 4/. clone original install from ext disk to RAID 0, 5/.Reboot with RAID 0 as startup disk. Mine hung on a black screen, during the start up process, even after 1 hour, it was still stuck, but I force rebooted with the power button and then it worked! It now boots like a scalded cat ) Very fast.

Mark Nissen -

I should note, that I got a new, different, caddy, to fix the problems I was having earlier.

Mark Nissen -

Also a warning, don’t do any security updates, if you’ve got a RAID 0 HFS volume. The ‘security update’ tries to update the RAID 0 members to the APFS file system, resulting in KABOOM!, fortunately I had a backup and a clone so could restore with CCCloner :) same same for Mojave.

Mark Nissen -

Does anyone know if it’s possible to configure the HDD as a slave drive?

I want to run all of my Software and OS from the SSD and use the HDD to store all of my data such as music, docs, videos etc.

Thanks.

Shaw Woodley-Mitchell -

Did you ever figure this out. This was my plan, but I can’t copy files to the HDD in the optical drive anyway.

Daniel -

AFAIK, Mac OS X doesn’t need to designate “slave”or other. Just stick it in, format it, use it. :)

Mark Nissen -

could it be any HDD, i have one from my old samsung notebook and i want to put it un my mac, would it work?

fnavarro1992 -

Yes, any 2.5” Hard Drive will work in your Mac, as long as you format it using Disk Utility.

- PS5iscool - -

I was able to do this in under 10 minutes. Very good write up.

djlogic26 -

I’m ordering parts from OWC to set up 2 new drives in my 2012 unibody. As anyone succesfully set up a Raid 0 configuration? I’m guessing the the problems that some folks may run into is that ideally Raid 0 should be using two identical drives.

Frank Lazar -

Even if it is possible and stable, RAID 0 would actually be slower since the disk drive uses SATA II. It would be best to boot off the SATA III and use the second hard drive as just a second hard drive.

Sam Omiotek -

Is there any reason why the enclosure/caddy supports HDDs of up to 750 GB only ?

Also, if my System Information shows that I have a link speed of 6 Gbit/s where my optical drive currently is, does it mean that I can expect a SATA Ⅲ SSD to operate at full speed if I install it here?

J.P. -

No, even though it says that the Optical Drive is SATA III Speed, when you put in a DVD Drive Caddy with a Hard Drive/SSD, it will only work with SATA II Speeds or lower, I would recommend ditching the RAID 0 Idea for the Optical Drive Caddy.

- PS5iscool - -

I’m going the dual SSD route myself. Mainly because I want multiple operating systems on the unit. I’d use the secondary bay for experimental OS’s and the main drive bay for main Mac work. So I am thinking two one terabyte SSD’s. But since the speeds of the bays are different, I’m abandoning the RAID zero idea.

Frank Lazar -

I purchased the enclosure listed. I put my former Mac HDD drive in it. This one:

Journaled HFS+

  Writable: Yes

  Ignore Ownership: Yes

  BSD Name: disk1s2

  Device Name: ST500LM012 HN-M500MBB

  Protocol: SATA

  Internal: Yes

Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table

I get errors when I try to copy files or unmount it in Disk Utility.

Do I need one of these? Optical to SATA Drive Converter Bracket Solution

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DDAM...

Daniel -

Can anyone help me? Where can I find the three 2.7 mm Phillips screws securing the optical drive to the upper case ? I am in need of those but I can’t find them.

Jesus Flores -

Sata I: 1.5Gb/s = ~150MB/s

Sata II: 3 Gb/s = ~300MB/s

Sata III: 6 Gb/s = ~ 600MB/s

Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA

qiet72 -

NOTE: when you’re installing a SSD in the Optical Drive Caddy, you’re only going to get SATA II Speeds, I would strongly recommend ditching RAID 0 configuration since the Optical Drive Caddy does not support SATA III speeds.

- PS5iscool - -

Thanks for the great guide! Quick question, anyone got any clever ideas for making the old optical drive a bit more robust as an external disc drive? I.e. is there an enclosure I could buy?

Donald Waters -

Mid 2012 13” 2.9GHz i7 16GB

Dual SSD: Main: Samsung EVO 850 1TB, Second: Samsung EVO 870 2TB (all music)

Boot time from Startup sound to Desktop: 18 seconds

Steph G -

@d00nad … I used an enclosure from a slot drive pioneer that had seen better days… swapped out the interface board and 3d printed some PCB mounts to keep everything from moving around — now has a usb-3.1 to SATA adapter… It is still going back to a standard USB port but it works a treat… You can find cases online for lots of different drive configs,

Gareth Boord -

Hello, I lost my One 5 mm Phillips screw , Do you know where can I buy it ?

R SL -

Great guide! Only thing to note is that Step 20, the newer ssd optical drive replacements do not have the secure drive screws at the bottom; they have been moved to the sides. Thanks!

DeShaun Smith -

Just a quick question : I'm wondering of what's the best option :

To put 2 SSD 860 EVO of 1TB

or
just 1 SSD 860 EVO of 2 TB

??
Hope you can help me with this !
Thanks for the great tutorial !

Anaïs Bénéthuiliere -