Tonight I just replaced my hard drive in my old 17″ MacBook Pro. Actually for a guy like me this was fun as hell!
Thanks to otherworldcomputing.com and their handy dandy instruction videos it was a cinch! I ordered my drive through them as well as all the tools, along with an empty chassis to use for my old drive. I watched their video then loaded it onto my iDisk so I could watch it on my iPhone while I did the deed. Super simple.
For me taking apart this computer was exhilarating. I know, that sounds strange, but keep in mind for the past 3 and a half years this computer has been my communication line to the world; the extension of my mind, the heart and soul of my production. I know where this thing gets hot, where it feels flimsy, and have touched the keys thousands and thousands of times. I’ve used this machine for many an iChat with my wife in LA, and my clients around the country. Wow, as I write this I realize this thing is a part of my family!
I know what is inside of computers, in fact some of my earliest memories this lifetime are of me watching my Dad open up our Apple II Plus. Seeing where the fans are, where the keyboard plugs in, and how incredibly small the motherboard is blew me away.
What really shocked me was seeing where the hard drive attached to the motherboard. It’s literally about 2.5 millimeters square! Okay now seriously- when I think of all the data, every song I’ve mixed every video I’ve edited, heck every thing I’ve watched on YouTube going through this teeny weeny passage for the past 3.5 years— DANG! What a head trip!
The mechanics of taking apart this box with it’s almost 30 individual screws was fun. Putting in the new drive was easy. Closing it all up and making everyhing fit back together was a bit of a challenge. Sitting here while Time Machine restores my data from it’s backup is just exciting, knowing that I’m finally not going to have to worry about hard drive space!!!! Also I’ve been stuck with the stupid 5400 rpm drive since I bought this- now I’m going to have something (?) super fast and super huge. Thank God!!
I’m only 9 minutes away from having my old friend back, it’s 89.4% done… Soon I’ll be writing these blog posts from a computer keyboard and not from an iPhone!
Life is a fantastic adventure, I tell ya!
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Yay for doing it yourself! Funny you should post about this, because just yesterday, my boss replaced the hard drive in his 17″ PowerBook G4 (7 years old and still going strong.)
We used the excellent free repair manual from ifixit.com. I highly recommend ifixit!
Eventually I’m going to crack open my 15″ MacBook Pro and replace the wireless card.
M