How to: Upgrade Hard Drive 2009 Macbook Pro 13

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C2D 2.26 | 500GB Seagate Momentus | 2GB 1066 (soon to be 8)
Well I got my Macbook Pro finally and it only had a 160gb hard drive so the first thing I did was order a 500gb hard drive. This is a very easy process but I figured I would throw a guide out there in case anyone was worried about doing this. I ordered a 500gb Seagate Momentus 7.2k rpm drive (not XT) because I heard of some of the XT issues. I got my Macbook Pro from the pawnshop (yea, I'm cheap haha) and it came with the whole Adobe Suite, and Office for Mac 2008 but no reinstall disks for any of it. I wanted to keep all of this stuff and increase my hard drive space.

Things you will need:
New 2.5" Sata HD
Macbook Pro 13
Hard Drive adapter
Small philips head screwdriver
T6 screwdriver
Anti-static surface
A copy of CCC, SuperDuper, TimeMachine, or any disk imaging software / restore software

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/7013/img0409pm.jpg

Total time: Depends on the time it takes for your program of choice to copy your hard drive. SuperDuper took about an hour and 15 minutes to copy the hard drive then 10 minutes to swap them out.

First you want to plug your Sata HD into the adapter and plug it into your laptop. Alternatively, you can put the new HD into an enclosure and plug it in via USB. I chose to just leave mine out as it was on a wood (non conductive surface, and you are grounded any time you touch the hard drive) and it was only going to be out for an hour or so with no movement. If you choose to leave it out make sure nothing touches it during operation. The disk utility utility will pop up and you will need to reformat the drive as a Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Journaled is optional).
http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/139/screenshot20101029at111.png
Hit erase and Disk Utility will do its thing.

Next up is to actually clone your hard drive. Open SuperDuper (in this case) and select your media that you're going to copy, in this case the Mac HD, and the location, in this case Untitled (the 500gb Seagate Momentus). Hit Copy Now then hit Copy again as it warns you that it is going to erase everything off the drive, but since it was just formatted, it has nothing on it.
http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/139/screenshot20101029at111.png

http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/5183/img0412p.jpg
You can see my hard drive just laying there working, but make sure nothing touches it if you go with this method, and it is on a non conductive surface, and you are grounded at all times.

After SuperDuper is done (about an hour and 15 minutes in my case) you can change the startup disk via System Preferences -> Startup Disk and change it to your new hard drive and then restart and make sure the copy went over ok. After that, change back to the default hard drive already in the computer. When it boots up make sure you eject the new hd so it can be removed safely then remove it.

You can now turn off your computer and flip it over to remove the back panel. The hard drive is located next to the battery, and is removed fairly easily.
http://www.gearfuse.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/13inteardownbjpg-500x375.jpg (gearfuse.com)
There is a black bar holding in the hard drive which needs to be removed. Next you want to take out the Sata connector going into the hard drive. Then pull out your Torx screwdriver and take out the 4 screws in the old hard drive and put them in the new hard drive. Finally, remove the plastic tab and put it on your new hard drive. Then repeat the process with the new hard drive (sata connector in, push hard drive into place, screw black bar back on, case on), and finally reboot and you're good to go.

(sorry for no pictures, I recently got sick and am too lazy to take pictures of the disassembly)

Hope this can help someone.
 
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I am doing this as I type this. Thank you SOOOOO much for the clear instructions!
 
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At any point, do you change your Untitled HD's name? Can you do that at any time after the process?
 

pigoo3

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Well......it booted! And it is working okay! (so far). Is there anything I have to do like run a utility or something after the HD exchange?
 
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s2odin
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Nope, everything is good to go. It is an exact clone of your previous hard drive so all your settings, everything, will be the same.
 
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Why not just use Time Machine? A lot easier
 
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s2odin
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C2D 2.26 | 500GB Seagate Momentus | 2GB 1066 (soon to be 8)
Why not just use Time Machine? A lot easier

Because then you would have to reinstall the OS then backup from Time Machine. This does the OS and apps at once. Just a personal preference...

And I didn't have the OS disks at that time, so this was my only option.
 

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