Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

16

Time Required

                          20 - 40 minutes

Sections

5

  • Lower Case
  • 3 steps
  • Battery Connector
  • 5 steps
  • Battery Contact Board
  • 1 step
  • SSD Assembly
  • 6 steps
  • SSD
  • 1 step

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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 Pro. Most new SSDs require updated storage drivers not found in versions of macOS prior to High Sierra.

What you need

Step 1

              Lower Case
  • Remove the following ten screws securing the lower case to the upper case:
  • Two 2.3 mm P5 Pentalobe screws
  • Eight 3.0 mm P5 Pentalobe screws
  • Throughout this repair, keep track of each screw and make sure it goes back exactly where it came from to avoid damaging your device.

Remove the following ten screws securing the lower case to the upper case:

Two 2.3 mm P5 Pentalobe screws

Eight 3.0 mm P5 Pentalobe screws

Throughout this repair, keep track of each screw and make sure it goes back exactly where it came from to avoid damaging your device.

1024

Step 2

  • Wedge your fingers between the upper case and the lower case.
  • Gently pull the lower case away from the upper case.
  • Remove the lower case and set it aside.

Wedge your fingers between the upper case and the lower case.

Gently pull the lower case away from the upper case.

Remove the lower case and set it aside.

Step 3

  • During reassembly, gently push down the center of the lower case to reattach the two plastic clips.
  • The lower case is connected to the upper case at the center, with two plastic clips.

During reassembly, gently push down the center of the lower case to reattach the two plastic clips.

The lower case is connected to the upper case at the center, with two plastic clips.

Step 4

              Battery Connector
  • Remove the plastic cover adhered to the battery contact board.

Remove the plastic cover adhered to the battery contact board.

Step 5

  • Remove the following screws securing the battery connector board to the logic board:
  • Two 2.8 mm T6 Torx screws
  • One 7.0 mm T6 Torx shouldered screw

Remove the following screws securing the battery connector board to the logic board:

Two 2.8 mm T6 Torx screws

One 7.0 mm T6 Torx shouldered screw

Step 6

  • Use tweezers to remove the small plastic cover located near the bottom right of the battery connector board.

Use tweezers to remove the small plastic cover located near the bottom right of the battery connector board.

Step 7

  • Remove the wide head 6.4 mm T6 Torx screw securing the battery connector to the logic board assembly.

Remove the wide head 6.4 mm T6 Torx screw securing the battery connector to the logic board assembly.

Step 8

  • Carefully lift the battery connector board up off the logic board.
  • It is recommended to bend the battery cables just slightly, to keep the board suspended up above the logic board and out of the way.
  • Do not fold the board completely over, or crease the cables, as this may damage the battery.

Carefully lift the battery connector board up off the logic board.

It is recommended to bend the battery cables just slightly, to keep the board suspended up above the logic board and out of the way.

Do not fold the board completely over, or crease the cables, as this may damage the battery.

Step 9

              Battery Contact Board
  • Grasp the Interposer with tweezers.
  • An interposer is the name for an interface that links one electrical connection to another. In this repair, it is the board connecting the battery to logic board.
  • Lift the Interposer off the logic board and remove it.
  • Removing this board will ensure that the battery remains disconnected throughout your repair, preventing your computer from accidentally powering on. It’s also a good idea to take it out so it doesn’t fall out unexpectedly.

Grasp the Interposer with tweezers.

An interposer is the name for an interface that links one electrical connection to another. In this repair, it is the board connecting the battery to logic board.

Lift the Interposer off the logic board and remove it.

Removing this board will ensure that the battery remains disconnected throughout your repair, preventing your computer from accidentally powering on. It’s also a good idea to take it out so it doesn’t fall out unexpectedly.

Step 10

              SSD Assembly
  • Use the flat end of a spudger to pry the SSD cable connector up from its socket on the logic board.

Use the flat end of a spudger to pry the SSD cable connector up from its socket on the logic board.

Step 11

  • Use your thumb or finger to bend the plastic spring bar on the SSD tray, freeing the two clips at the front side of the device.
  • While holding the spring bar depressed, tilt the SSD assembly up out of its cavity.

Use your thumb or finger to bend the plastic spring bar on the SSD tray, freeing the two clips at the front side of the device.

While holding the spring bar depressed, tilt the SSD assembly up out of its cavity.

Step 12

  • Remove the SSD assembly from the upper case.

Remove the SSD assembly from the upper case.

Step 13

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

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

Step 14

  • Insert the edge of plastic opening tool between the SSD and the SSD tray, opposite to the socket side of SSD tray.
  • Pry the side of the SSD opposite the SSD tray socket out of the SSD tray.
  • Only lift the SSD up far enough to grab the sides of it with your fingers. Lifting it any more may damage the card or socket.

Insert the edge of plastic opening tool between the SSD and the SSD tray, opposite to the socket side of SSD tray.

Pry the side of the SSD opposite the SSD tray socket out of the SSD tray.

Only lift the SSD up far enough to grab the sides of it with your fingers. Lifting it any more may damage the card or socket.

Step 15

  • Carefully pull the SSD straight out of its socket on the SSD tray.

Carefully pull the SSD straight out of its socket on the SSD tray.

Step 16

              SSD
  • SSD remains.

SSD remains.

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

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                    Walter Galan

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dazifixit - Aug 19, 2015

Reply

I followed the guide and was able to upgrade my wife’s MacBook from 128GB to 240 GB!

One thing I noticed was that when I removed the plastic clip in step 6, it left behind a glue dot on the screw head I had to remove in step 7. I wasn’t sure why my screwdriver kept rotating until I realized the clear dot was covering the screwed! Then I tweeze the dot off, and put it in the recess on the underside of the clip and all was good.

Everything went to the letter after, until it came time to restart and initialize the new disk. It turns out the old disk had some directory damage, so when it was copied to the new internal SSD, then the Mac wouldn’t boot from it until I did a couple FSCK and Repair Disk fixes.

david - Feb 18, 2017

Reply

Vignesh,

Here is an option to recover your data and get a tiny speedy external SSD drive for 28.85

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MAU3…

Sam,

The 2012 MacBook Pro uses an PCI Express Mini Card connection between the logic board and the SSD.

“Some notebooks (notably the Asus Eee PC, the MacBook Air, and the Dell mini9 and mini10) use a variant of the PCI Express Mini Card as an SSD. This variant uses the reserved and several non-reserved pins to implement SATA and IDE interface passthrough, keeping only USB, ground lines, and sometimes the core PCIe 1x bus intact.[11] This makes the ‘miniPCIe’ flash and solid state drives sold for netbooks largely incompatible with true PCI Express Mini implementations.”

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express…

Timpetou - Jul 13, 2022

I fully agree, Especially as it turned out to be a little tricky to get the connector back in his position properly. Don’t think there is a higher risk of damage through electric shock or so. Next time I will for sure skip it ;-)

Wade Murdock - Jul 12, 2021

Reply

Aren’t steps 4-10 completely unnecessary?