MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Mid 2009 Hard Drive Replacement

Written By: Walter Galan
  • Comments: 34
MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Mid 2009 Hard Drive Replacement

Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

8

Time Required

30 minutes

Introduction

When replacing your hard drive, you must transfer the four locating pins (removed with a T6 screwdriver) from the old hard drive to the new one.

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    • 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.

    Compare the short screws carefully before reinstalling them. The shouldered screws go in the holes on the front edge.

    David Kilbridge -

    Before I started removing any screws I took a piece of paper and drew the bottom of the laptop and put a piece of double-sided tape in the spot where each screw goes. That way when I took out the screws, I could put them on the tape so I knew exactly which screw went in which spot. I did the same thing for dismantling the inside on another sheet of paper, then a third sheet for the screen after getting the front glass off.

    mastover -

    I use a similar technique: I print out the iFixit manual for the job, and Scotch-tape down the screws/brackets/cables I remove at each step next to the component descriptions. That way, when I'm reassembling, the bits are taped right next to the photo of where they came from.

    adlerpe -

    That's exactly what I do for all my repairs! It's the best way to keep track of all of the parts ' original location and to make sure that you don't miss any parts during reassembly.

    joyitsjennie -

    Great idea and one I use often

    Thomas Overstreet -

    Excellent idea! Thanks for sharing it here.

    Laura Sharkey -

    I used a 00 that fit but the screws were very tight so I used a tiny paintbrush with some wd40 on it and put it around the edges of the screws. Worked like a charm

    valentinedhdh -

    I use a magnetic mat and place the screws in order on that :)

    Cary B -

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

    In the introduction you should link fixers to this excellent doc: https://www.ifixit.com/Misc/HD_Software_...

    It is really critical, super easy, and free(!) to clone your existing drive onto the new one you will install. I ran into one error, but SuperDuper! support replied immediately on how to fix it...Thanks ifixit and SuperDuper! (I ponied up the $28 for the software anyway, I was so impressed!)

    Mike -

    Long story short: I drank the AppleKoolAid back in 1984 and have always left the guts of my machines up to Apple - until recently when I needed to swap the SATAs from my original MacDaddy (2009 13" MBPro that I killed in 2018 - coffee + blackout = OOOOPS) into a pristine 2009 MBPro from a Goodwill in North Carolina through eBay. I need the files from iCal and MacMail that can't be opened in my newer machines.

    Well . . . I ain't never done nuttin' like that, before!

    Enter Luke Miani on YouTube. He raves about you guys! So, I watched everything I could, read your site, bought the right tools and at the ripe old age of 72, I sat down, this morning and did the work. Now my original MacDaddy lives in MacDaddy2.0.

    Am I allowed to cry?

    Seriously, I can't thank you enough for your bitchen site and killer tools. I wish I'd'a been turned on to this shizzle 30+ years ago.

    IFIXIT - IDIGIT!

    kath myers -

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

    That was a brilliant read.

    Yes, I came across ifixit a few years ago. Totally helped me out on several occasions.

    Glad your Mac repair journey worked out.

    :)

    Cary B -

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    • 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.

    Quote from gansodesoya:

    why is step 3 necessary?

    Just to disconnect any power source to avoid damages by short-circuits.

    MrKane -

    How do you get that battery connector back on? Do you just press it in back in place after you're done?

    Horace Chung -

    yes. I usually plug it in before I screw it down so I can lift the battery a bit and have enough slack to be able to go straight down on the connector, otherwise it comes in on a bit of an angle, which can't be good (though not necessarily bad).

    maccentric -

    This step almost finished me, and I did extensive damage to the battery plug. Fortunately, I later replaced the battery, and the replacement came with a new plug! :) Newbies need to know - 1. The battery plug is like a thin lip on a thicker lip, so you need to pry BETWEEN 2 thin lips to get it off, else you are trying to yank out the socket. 2. Mine was initially VERY tight, and trying to get it out broke the plastic on all sides of plug, even though I was as careful as possible. Luckily, this didn't hurt functionality and I later replaced the battery. AFTER disconnecting once, it was never so tight again,

    Jeff Diamond -

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

    • These screws are captive to the hard drive bracket.

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

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

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

    I guess it's probably my fault that I broke the SATA cable during this step (unless the cable was somehow already weakened), but for anyone reading this, be extra careful. My connector was fitted really tightly, and when it finally came out it ripped the cable, which is pretty expensive in its own right (although you can get a cheaper deal on eBay).

    nitrous -

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    • 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.

    Does anyone know how I can get another set of the T6 screws I took out of my old HD? I forgot to save them and now my new SSD rattles around in the laptop!

    help

    TimAndSusanna Decker -

    Hi there. We sell the Screw Set for the MBP 13" Mid 09 which includes the hard drive T6 screws you require. Hope this helps.

    Walter Galan -

    For those with the boot up issues, did you create a bootable flash drive per this link: How to create a bootable USB drive

    and THEN follow the install procedure for High Sierra at this link: How to Install macOS High Sierra

    I didn’t replace my hard drive, but those seem to be crucial steps prior to replacing it.

    This document is also referenced in a comment in one of the earliest steps of this guide. https://s3.amazonaws.com/ifixit-assets/M...

    Dan -

Conclusion

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

Author

Walter Galan

685236 Reputation

15 comments

I'd suggest using the free software "Super Duper" to clone the hard drive. It worked wonders for me and after the 2 hour clone, I was up and running in 5 minutes!

cmoore22739 -

I wholeheartedly agree. Super Duper! made the task effortless.

danzeitlin -

The T6 torx screws on the side of the existing Hitachi drive fit my Crucial M500 240GB replacement perfectly. Be aware that they were originally installed into the HDD with blue Loctite, so it takes a bit of effort to break them loose.

Thanks ifixit for excellent guidance!

danzeitlin -

What do you do when your laptop doesn't read your new hard drive?

amberscheme -

If your hard drive dosent connect. you might need to change your hard drive connect cable . The second option is that you need a strip to replace your hard drive with DVD rom.

Asim Rafaq -

If your hard drive doesnot connect you need to change your connecting cable

Asim Rafaq -

Hi guys, just wanted to share some experience that some may find useful to some.

I bought the Samsung Evo SSD drive in order to boost up the speed of my mac, following the steps indicated here I was able to replace the drive fairly easy. I did't have the the screwdriver needed for the 4 screws and used a normal clippers(pliers) to unscrew and screw them to the new SSD. As I was about to make a new installation of OS on this drive, I was expecting it to get recognised as was my thumb drive, but sadly it was not. So I used a bit of help from youtube and found out that the drive needs to be formatted if used for a very first time. I did that via the disk utility on booting mode with my hard drive connected via USB.

Just wanted to share how happy I am from the fact that I repaired and upgraded my hardware using the ifixit instructions and tools, and along with that i want to encourage you guys to really put your hands on it - nothing to be afraid of, in the end you will be way more confident and it saves cash.

Kristiyan Dyankov -

I upgraded my macbook pro 13" mid 2009:

replaced optical drive with 250GB SSD.

replaced 2x2GB RAM with 2x4GB.

replaced old battery..

Things work, except the fan never slows down and makes a lot of noise.

The fan start at full speed as soon as I click the power button, even before the screen lights up.

Please help.

Also the bluetooth and camera stopped working :(

abhi -

There is likely accumulated dust so the fan is working hard to pull in air but can't with the dust in the way... Remove the fan and peel out any dust between the fan and the intake vent. I did this today and removed a strip of dust about 1/2 cm x 4 cm in size!! Now the fan is functioning as it did 8 years ago!

Amanda Mullen -

Oh man, ifixit makes me feel like I can do anything! Almost spent a whopping $300 to replace my hard drive at a local tech collective in Boston. Believe it or not, it was a dude from the Apple (I went there afterward to get a second opinion) who recommended I buy a new hard drive from Best Buy ( I got a SSD) and used ifixit to do the install. The repair guides are so stupidly easy to follow I'm considering opening up my own collective---right here on my couch, with free beer for all my costumers while they wait the whole 10 minutes it took me to replace this sucker. Poor old hard drive though, sorry I don't have the $400 to recover your data; the old rosy-cheeked pictures of me drunk in college are lost forever. Bye bye. Thanks contributors!

Rachel Freid -

My MBP 13 inch, 2009 was working perfectly, just needed more space. I replaced my 160GB drive with a Toshiba 1TB and used this procedure. Everything worked perfectly! One thing I did first was to connect the new drive with an external chassis and initialized it. I then booted into Recovery mode “Control-R” and chose Restore from Diskutility, choosing my new drive as the Target. After about an hour, the new drive was ready. Then I restarted, ran Sys Prefs | Startup Disk and chose the new (External) drive as the boot disk and restarted again. This makes the new disk “Bootable”. Once complete, I ran Sys Prefs | Startup Disk again and selected the Internal drive. After another restart, I shut the system down and replaced the drive. It booted without any problems and my system is now the same with a bigger drive. I decided to mothball my old drive, just in case there is a problem with the new drive in the near future. Thank you for the tutorial!

Michael Faris -

how do I format the hard drive with no recovery disk?

Paul McKenna -

A set of useful directions: https://s3.amazonaws.com/ifixit-assets/M...

happy -

I just got this in the mail and installed it and now my macbook 2009 will boot up with the prohibitory sign. I followed all the steps listed here and my Macbook used to boot up fine before this. I don’t seem to understand what the problem is.

josematrix211 -

If you tried to install High Sierra as linked on the last step, that may be why. High Sierra is only compatible with 2010 or newer models. Try following this guide to install a compatible operating system.

If that does not work, you may also try Apple’s guide.

Sam Omiotek -