MAC tech question

[chirurgeon]

My MacBook is 4 years old. How hard would it be for me to add ram and replace the hard drive myself? I am fairly competent at putting things together.

Kim

 

[k5jm]

There are plenty of "DIY" guides out on the Apple Website for doing this.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1651

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/MacBook_13inch_HardDrive_DIY.pdf

http://www.everymac.com/mac-upgrades/index-how-to-upgrade-my-mac.html

If it looks like something outside your comfort zone, get an appointment with a "Genius" other than John.

 

[cslittle999]

Replacing both are really straight forward to do. Getting the files from the original drive on to the new one can be a tricky.

If the current hard drive is working then I suggest you get an external USB hard drive enclosure for it. They are usually available for less than $20. This would allow you to boot from the old drive, connected via USB, and restore everything with a program like Carbon Copy Cloner. If you are already backing your computer up with Time Machine to an existing external drive then that's even easier.

 

[OKW Lover]

If you can do some fairly simple things like dealing with very small screws and being gentile with the parts, its certainly do-able. I've upgraded several MBP's for both memory and hard drives over the years, including the one I'm currently typing on. I buy my stuff from OWC Computer and they have a good section with step-by-step instructions.

 

[tjevans]

I replaced mine using the guide at ifixit.com. Pretty easy.

The hard part is keeping up with the little screws.