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Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

17

Time Required

                          1 hour

Sections

5

  • Lower Case
  • 2 steps
  • Battery Connector
  • 2 steps
  • Optical Drive
  • 6 steps
  • Optical Drive Cable
  • 1 step
  • Dual Hard Drive
  • 6 steps

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Introduction

What you need

Step 1

              Lower Case
  • Remove the following ten screws securing the lower case to the upper case:
  • Three 13.5 mm (14.1 mm) Phillips screws.
  • Seven 3 mm Phillips screws.
  • When removing these screws, note how they come out at a slight angle. They must be reinstalled the same way.

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

Three 13.5 mm (14.1 mm) Phillips screws.

Seven 3 mm Phillips screws.

When removing these screws, note how they come out at a slight angle. They must be reinstalled the same way.

1024

Step 2

  • Using both hands, lift the lower case near the vent to pop it off two clips securing it to the upper case.
  • Remove the lower case and set it aside.

Using both hands, lift the lower case near the vent to pop it off two clips securing it to the upper case.

Remove the lower case and set it aside.

Step 3

              Battery Connector
  • For certain repairs (e.g. hard drive), disconnecting the battery connector is not necessary but is recommended as it prevents any accidental shorting of electronics on the motherboard. If you do not disconnect the battery connector, please be careful as parts of the motherboard might be electrified.
  • Use the edge of a spudger to pry the battery connector upwards from its socket on the logic board.
  • It is useful to pry upward on both short sides of the connector to “walk” it out of its socket.

For certain repairs (e.g. hard drive), disconnecting the battery connector is not necessary but is recommended as it prevents any accidental shorting of electronics on the motherboard. If you do not disconnect the battery connector, please be careful as parts of the motherboard might be electrified.

Use the edge of a spudger to pry the battery connector upwards from its socket on the logic board.

It is useful to pry upward on both short sides of the connector to “walk” it out of its socket.

Step 4

  • Bend the battery cable slightly away from its socket on the logic board so it does not accidentally connect itself while you work.

Bend the battery cable slightly away from its socket on the logic board so it does not accidentally connect itself while you work.

Step 5

              Optical Drive
  • Disconnect the camera cable connector from its socket on the logic board.
  • Do not lift up on the cable as you disconnect it from the logic board. Pull the cable parallel to the face of the logic board.

Disconnect the camera cable connector from its socket on the logic board.

Do not lift up on the cable as you disconnect it from the logic board. Pull the cable parallel to the face of the logic board.

Step 6

  • Use the flat end of a spudger to pry the AirPort/Bluetooth connector up from its socket on the logic board.

Use the flat end of a spudger to pry the AirPort/Bluetooth connector up from its socket on the logic board.

Step 7

  • Use the flat end of a spudger to pry the optical drive connector up from its socket on the logic board.

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

Step 8

Remove following two screws:

One 8.6 mm Phillips screw

One 3.9 mm Phillips screw

Carefully rotate the AirPort/Bluetooth board housing (with AirPort/Antenna cables still attached) out of the lower case.

Step 9

  • Remove the three 3.5 mm T6 Torx screws securing the optical drive to the upper case.

Remove the three 3.5 mm T6 Torx screws securing the optical drive to the upper case.

Step 10

  • Lift the optical drive near its connector and pull it away from the upper case to remove it from the computer.

Lift the optical drive near its connector and pull it away from the upper case to remove it from the computer.

Step 11

              Optical Drive Cable
  • Pull the optical drive cable out of the optical drive.
  • Be sure to pull by the edges of the connector, not by the cable itself.
  • Remove the two black Phillips #0 screws securing the small metal mounting bracket. Transfer this bracket to your new optical drive or hard drive enclosure.

Pull the optical drive cable out of the optical drive.

Be sure to pull by the edges of the connector, not by the cable itself.

Remove the two black Phillips #0 screws securing the small metal mounting bracket. Transfer this bracket to your new optical drive or hard drive enclosure.

Step 12

              Dual Hard Drive
  • Remove the plastic spacer from the optical bay hard drive enclosure by pressing in on one of the clips on either side and lifting it up and out of the enclosure.

Remove the plastic spacer from the optical bay hard drive enclosure by pressing in on one of the clips on either side and lifting it up and out of the enclosure.

Step 13

  • Make sure that the hard drive connectors are facing down before placing it into the enclosure.
  • Gently place the hard drive into the enclosure’s hard drive slot.
  • While firmly holding the enclosure in place with one hand, use your other hand to press the hard drive into the enclosure connectors.

Make sure that the hard drive connectors are facing down before placing it into the enclosure.

Gently place the hard drive into the enclosure’s hard drive slot.

While firmly holding the enclosure in place with one hand, use your other hand to press the hard drive into the enclosure connectors.

Step 14

  • Once the hard drive is snug, reinsert the plastic spacer while holding the hard drive against the bottom of the enclosure.

Once the hard drive is snug, reinsert the plastic spacer while holding the hard drive against the bottom of the enclosure.

Step 15

  • Use two Phillips #1 screws to secure the drive to its enclosure.

Use two Phillips #1 screws to secure the drive to its enclosure.

Step 16

  • Attach the optical drive bracket to the new enclosure with two Phillips #0 screws.
  • Reconnect any cables you have removed from the original optical drive onto the optical bay enclosure.

Attach the optical drive bracket to the new enclosure with two Phillips #0 screws.

Reconnect any cables you have removed from the original optical drive onto the optical bay enclosure.

Step 17

  • Don’t ditch that drive! You can still use your optical drive externally with the help of our SATA Optical Drive USB Cable.
  • Align the cable’s SATA connector with the drive’s port and plug in securely.
  • Plug the USB connector into your laptop and your optical drive is ready for use.

Don’t ditch that drive! You can still use your optical drive externally with the help of our SATA Optical Drive USB Cable.

Align the cable’s SATA connector with the drive’s port and plug in securely.

Plug the USB connector into your laptop and your optical drive is ready for use.

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

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anaxyd - Dec 13, 2012

Reply

Doesn’t this work with SSD’s?

dauffret - Sep 21, 2016

4 years later…. Yes, it would work exactly the same as the 2.5" SSDs are the exact same size and shape as the 2.5" HDD

Rosario - Jan 3, 2017

Reply

I have a Macbook Pro 15″ (late 2011) running OS Sierra with 128GB SSD in the main bay and a 1TB Toshiba MQ01ABD100 HDD Sata II (3Gb/s) in the optical bay. Both formated as Mac OS Extended Journaled. OS and apps are running fine from the SSD, however the HDD is behaving odd: I can’t write anything on it, even when permissions say “anyone can read and write”. I got error code -50. Sometimes, the drive icon takes a while to appear in my desktop. I already:

– Replaced the optical drive flex cable.

– Tested the HDD as external drive via USB connection. (It works)

– Relaunched the finder.

– Reset SMC and PRAM.

As the optical drive was “out of service” long before I made the dual drive setup, I begun to think it might be a problem with the computer hardware itself, but then I remembered my logic board was replaced by Apple only few months ago. And a friend told me he succesfully did the dual setup regardless his optical drive wasn’t working.

I don’t know what else to try. Help!

Rafal - Feb 12, 2017

I have same Macbook Pro 15" late 2011 with similar setup and the same problem. Unfortunately I haven’t found the solution yet… :(

Lorenzo G - Feb 22, 2017

Very similar problem here!

Macbook Pro13" late 2011 (8.1)

I removed the optical driver some years ago moving in it the HDD and using as my main system drive an SSD.

Now the HDD in the optical bay is very slow, repairing it with disk utility didn’t resolve the problem.

I read similar stories solved replacing the cable. Some one solved in that way?