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Mac Laptop SSD Replacement

What you need

  1. Mac Laptop SSD Replacement, Buy the OWC Aura Pro X2 SSD / 480 GB drive: step 1, image 1 of 1
    • Don't take the back cover off until you finish a full back up. It may take a while but you will thank me later. Use a SSD back up drive at least once a week. You can use that same back up external drive to conduct this back up and restore later onto the new SSD drive. Suggesting the 2TB SSD from WD (Amazon) for $59.

    • My old SSD was only 250gb and has a Virtual machine on one partition of it.

  2. Mac Laptop SSD Replacement, Ensure you make a current back up.: step 3, image 1 of 1
    • Failure to make a back up will make it impossible to restore recent files/programs. My back up took 20 minutes to complete as I got a week behind and had to rebuild a virtual drive that VMware Fusion uses. I can make a tutorial for it if you need. Just ask here.

  3. Mac Laptop SSD Replacement, Verify you have the drive: step 4, image 1 of 1
    • Don't remove from package until we are ready to install it. The lease amount of handling possible ensures no static discharge or other damage can occur.

  4. Mac Laptop SSD Replacement, Ensure you have the proper tools.: step 5, image 1 of 1
    • I got this took kit from ifixit and its been a great kit.

  5. Mac Laptop SSD Replacement: step 6, image 1 of 3 Mac Laptop SSD Replacement: step 6, image 2 of 3 Mac Laptop SSD Replacement: step 6, image 3 of 3
    • Shut computer down and flip over to remove back. Use the P5 star tip to remove screws. Place them in a safe, none slip container. These screws are really tiny. Also, the screws closest to the monitor are the shortest and must be separated to ensure they go back in same slot. Otherwise you will have screws stick out in these slots.

  6. Mac Laptop SSD Replacement: step 7, image 1 of 3 Mac Laptop SSD Replacement: step 7, image 2 of 3 Mac Laptop SSD Replacement: step 7, image 3 of 3
    • A Torx T4 bit is needed to remove the screw holding the current SSD card in. Only pry the SSD up this much to remove it. It will be harder to put the new one in vs taking the old one out. Don't worry, it is the right part. Also, be sure to fully seat the new SSD. Failure to do so will cause the drive not to show up in the next step. See pic.

  7. Mac Laptop SSD Replacement: step 8, image 1 of 1
    • Booting up will look like this. Hold down command key and R and press power button. This will force the OS to install on new drive from the wifi. If you don't have your password handy, get it now.

  8. Mac Laptop SSD Replacement: step 9, image 1 of 1
    • I had to format the new SSD via terminal because I didn't have a special install kit. Disconnect all other external drives, In Terminal type the following command, then press the Return key: diskutil list

    • When using terminal it is important to type all the commands exactly as they appear in this guide. Making a typo could result in lost data and time.

    • A long list of disks will appear; we need to find our target disk from this list. An internal drive should be the very first or second drive in the list (see image below). The majority of the list is going to be ignorable disk images. To find the internal SSD, look for the following: ‘(internal, physical)’ which is disk1 in the image, second entry.

  9. Mac Laptop SSD Replacement: step 10, image 1 of 1
    • In Terminal type the following command using the identifier found in the previous step and hit the Return key. diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+ MacOS /dev/disk1 The process normally takes a minute or two to complete.

    • If your internal, physical disk isn't disk1 then use the identifier as appropriate to your computer. Mine is disk1 here in this example.

    • The process normally takes a minute or two to complete. When the process is complete, you will see the following message: “Finished erase on identifier” where identifier was the number you previously identified.

    • The SSD has now been formatted as a Mac OS Extended (journaled) volume named ‘MacOS’. Continue using this guide to format the disk as an AFPS volume, however if a Mac OS Extended (journaled) volume is desired you may now stop.

  10. Mac Laptop SSD Replacement: step 11, image 1 of 1
    • From the previous step we need to note the identifier of the new volume (red outlined box). It’ll be mentioned in the “Formatting identifier as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with name MacOS.”

    • In Terminal type the following command and hit the Return key: diskutil apfs createContainer /dev/identifier The process normally takes a minute or two to complete. You’ll see the following message when done: “Finished APFS operation on identifier MacOS”

  11. Mac Laptop SSD Replacement: step 12, image 1 of 1
    • From the previous step, note the identifier from the newly created APFS Container (shown in the red box below) and use it in place of ‘identifier’ in the final Terminal command, shown below the screenshot.

    • In Terminal type the following command and hit the Return key: diskutil apfs addVolume identifier APFS MacOS The process normally takes a minute or two to complete. When the process is complete, you’ll see the following message: “Finished APFS operation on identifier.” The SSD is now formatted as APFS and is ready to use.

  12. Mac Laptop SSD Replacement: step 13, image 1 of 1
    • Here you install macOS Mojave as though it was a fresh install. It took my machine about 20 minutes to fully install and set up.

  13. Mac Laptop SSD Replacement: step 14, image 1 of 3 Mac Laptop SSD Replacement: step 14, image 2 of 3 Mac Laptop SSD Replacement: step 14, image 3 of 3
    • For your viewing verification.

  14. Mac Laptop SSD Replacement: step 15, image 1 of 1
    • This is how you know your done with the upgrade and migration! Enjoy.

Conclusion

To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order. Ensure that you have firmly installed the new SSD drive and that you have a solid wifi connection.

5 other people completed this guide.

Bobby Terrell

Member since: 11/19/2016

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