Macbook Air 13 Mid 2012 Solid State Drive Replacement Repair Guide

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Featured Guide

Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

5

Time Required

                          15 minutes            

Sections

3

• Lower Case
• 2 steps
• Battery Connector
• 1 step
• Solid-State Drive
• 2 steps

Flags

1

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Introduction

Before you perform this repair, if at all possible, back up your existing SSD. Then, either familiarize yourself with internet recovery or create a bootable external drive so you’ll be ready to install macOS onto your new drive and migrate your data to the new SSD.

Finally, we strongly recommend installing macOS 10.13 High Sierra (or a later macOS) before replacing the original SSD from your MacBook Air. Most new SSDs require updated storage drivers not found in versions of macOS prior to High Sierra.

What you need

Step 1

              Lower Case               

• Before proceeding, power down your MacBook. Close the display and lay it on a soft surface, top-side down.
• Use a P5 Pentalobe driver to remove ten screws securing the lower case, of the following lengths:
• Two 9 mm screws
• Eight 2.6 mm screws

Before proceeding, power down your MacBook. Close the display and lay it on a soft surface, top-side down.

Use a P5 Pentalobe driver to remove ten screws securing the lower case, of the following lengths:

Two 9 mm screws

Eight 2.6 mm screws

1024

Step 2

• Wedge your fingers between the display and the lower case and pull upward to pop the lower case off the Air.
• Remove the lower case and set it aside.

Wedge your fingers between the display and the lower case and pull upward to pop the lower case off the Air.

Remove the lower case and set it aside.

Step 3

              Battery Connector               

• As a precaution against accidental discharge or shock, disconnect the battery connector from the logic board.
• Grab the clear plastic pull tab attached to the battery connector and pull it toward the front edge of the Air to disconnect the battery from the logic board.
• Be sure to pull the connector horizontally toward the battery, and not straight up from the Air, or you may damage the socket on the logic board.

As a precaution against accidental discharge or shock, disconnect the battery connector from the logic board.

Grab the clear plastic pull tab attached to the battery connector and pull it toward the front edge of the Air to disconnect the battery from the logic board.

Be sure to pull the connector horizontally toward the battery, and not straight up from the Air, or you may damage the socket on the logic board.

Step 4

              Solid-State Drive               

• Remove the single 2.9 mm T5 Torx screw securing the SSD to the logic board.

Remove the single 2.9 mm T5 Torx screw securing the SSD to the logic board.

Step 5

• To avoid damaging its socket, do not lift the end of the SSD excessively.
• Slightly lift up the end of the SSD and pull it straight out of its socket on the logic board.
• When reinstalling the SSD, be sure it is properly seated before reinstalling its retaining screw.

To avoid damaging its socket, do not lift the end of the SSD excessively.

Slightly lift up the end of the SSD and pull it straight out of its socket on the logic board.

When reinstalling the SSD, be sure it is properly seated before reinstalling its retaining screw.

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

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                    Andrew Optimus Goldheart                     

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Eugene General Ed - Jun 2, 2014

Reply

I understand this is probably a noob question, but can somebody explain what is preventing anybody from swapping a 128GB SSD for a 256GB?

Julian - Jun 21, 2014

Reply

Eugene - nothing, I just followed this guide to upgrade from 256GB to 512GB. It’s just that MBA 2012 SSDs are pretty hard to come by. I had to lurk on eBay for quite some time.

perarve - Dec 17, 2014

Reply

How do I get the operating system on to SSD?

Eugene General Ed - Dec 21, 2014

Reply

You should be able to transfer the os installer into an 8+ gb thumb drive via DiskMakerX. You do need a working mac with something that works with the mac app store installed and enough space to download the os from the app store. Afterwards, just boot up your mac with the alt key, and install.

diskmakerx.com

Mac Justice - Jan 21, 2015

Reply

Are you certain it’s a P5 pentalobe driver? We found the P5 doesn’t fit, and have always used a Wiha 267IPR / 4IPR x 40