DIY with iFixit.com
If you want to do any repairs or upgrades to your Mac, check out iFixit.com for some terrific guides that will walk you through every step and even tell you what tools you’ll need. The guides include good photos of all the steps and there’s a PDF version you can download and print before you get started.
Last week I upgraded to a mid-2010 15-inch MacBook Pro, the 2.66 GHz Intel Core i7 model. The only thing I wanted to do to it is swap out the stock 5400 RPM drive for a faster 7200 RPM model. I found a nice Western Digital 320 GB at Newegg.com for $60.
I used this iFixit guide to replace the drive, and it took maybe 20 minutes to complete the job. First I cloned the internal drive to an external firewire drive using SuperDuper, swapped in the new one, then booted from the external drive and cloned back to the internal. The cloning takes some time because I was moving about 200 GBs each way, but the actual drive swap was quick and easy, and SuperDuper performed flawlessly as it always has. The only other thing I needed was a $3 tri-wing screwdriver that I found at Microcenter, but the iFixit guide mentioned that so there were no surprises.
I used an iFixit guide three years ago to do another drive swap and it was really helpful. This is a great resource for DIY projects and may save you some money on repair costs, but beware of doing things that could potentially void your manufacturer’s warranty.
Posted: September 21st, 2010Filed under: Apple, Hardware, Tips Tags: mac, macbook pro | No Comments »
Leave a Reply