Replacing the hard drive cable on a Macbook Pro?

Hi all, first post here!

I spent the better part of yesterday and today after work trouble shooting my issue. Looks like my drive (SSD) is fine, but the cable is not. The way I came to that conclusion was that it doesn't boot internally and boots when I put it in an external enclosure.

Anyway, mine is a mid-2010 13" Macbook Pro. I've heard people have issues with the hard drive cables and SSDs after about a year and a half to 2 years (which is exactly what happened with me). I don't want it to happen again. Would this be the right one for me (Amazon.com: Hard Drive Cable w/ IR Sensor for MacBook Pro 13" Unibody - 922-9062: Computers & Accessories) or is there a better option?

Any help, input, and feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!!

That appears to be the correct cable, however, to make sure you need to compare the model number it works with from that of yours. You can double check by going to www.ifixit.com and get the part number for your model MBP.

chscag said:

That appears to be the correct cable, however, to make sure you need to compare the model number it works with from that of yours. You can double check by going to www.ifixit.com and get the part number for your model MBP.

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Thanks for the suggestion - it looks like it's the same part number. However, are there any other cables out there that may be more "made" for solid state drives? I was told by the tech support rep at Crucial that this is a common issue. I don't want to have to replace this again in another 1 1/2 years, you know?

However, are there any other cables out there that may be more "made" for solid state drives?

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No, the same cable will work for both a spinning drive and a SSD. The Crucial tech was correct. The SATA cable is in an area where heat builds up and this causes the cable to become brittle and break internally. We recommend changing the cable each time you replace the hard drive in the models that use that particular cable. Newer machines where the SSD is integrated to the Logic board in a special socket - connector do not use a SATA cable.

chscag said:

No, the same cable will work for both a spinning drive and a SSD. The Crucial tech was correct. The SATA cable is in an area where heat builds up and this causes the cable to become brittle and break internally. We recommend changing the cable each time you replace the hard drive in the models that use that particular cable. Newer machines where the SSD is integrated to the Logic board in a special socket - connector do not use a SATA cable.

Click to expand...

I plan on using this computer for another 2 years or so, so hopefully the cable lasts that long! ;D Thanks for the help, I appreciate it!

Had this fail (twice) on a customers Mid-2012 MacBook Pro - first time I replaced the cable as per general internet wisdom, second time it failed I decided it wasn't a one off fault and decided to work out why.

Basically the inside of the chassis has machining marks and is not smooth like the outside, so the cable appears to chaff against it exposing the traces and then short against the chassis, causing problems. Came up with a very cheap fix for the problem in the video below which sorted it out.

Mid-2012 MacBook Pro Hard Drive Cable Fix - YouTube

Good information. Thanks for posting it to our forums.

No problem at all.

Looking around online it seems like some people have spent a lot of money on replacement cables (I found one guy who's been through SEVEN of them!) which seems like madness if you can prevent the problem for a few cents worth of tape!