MacBook Core Duo Hard Drive Connector Replacement

Use a coin or spudger to rotate the battery-locking screw 90 degrees clockwise.

Lift the battery out of the computer.

Remove the three evenly-spaced Phillips screws from along the rear wall of the battery compartment.

Lift up on L-shaped memory cover, slide it to the right, and lift it out of the computer.

Remove the following 3 screws:

One 11 mm Phillips #00 in the middle of the case.

Two 14.5 mm Phillips #00.

Remove the following 3 screws from the rear wall of the battery compartment:

Two 3 mm Phillips #00. (A1181 has three 3 mm screws and one 4 mm.)

One 4 mm Phillips #00 on the right side.

Remove the two 6 mm Phillips #00 screws from either side of the right wall of the battery compartment (not the ones closest to the battery connector).

Remove the four 3 mm indicated Phillips #00 screws from the front wall of the battery compartment. When working from the left, remove the 2nd, 4th, 7th and 9th screw.

Remove the following 4 screws from the back of the computer:

Two 7 mm shouldered Phillips on the far sides.

Two 10.5 mm Phillips toward the center.

Remove the two 5.2 mm shouldered Phillips #00 screws from the optical side of the computer.

Starting near the display and working around to the front of the computer, pry up on the upper case. It is held with clips on the right above the optical drive. These will release with some firm lifting pressure.

Be careful when prying up the upper case. It's very easy to slice open a fingertip and thus provide the blood sacrifice the Mac gods sometimes require of those who insist on doing their own repairs.

While holding up the upper case (from the bottom or the top), use a spudger to pry up the orange trackpad and keyboard cable from its connector.

Use the white plastic pull-tab to slide the hard drive to the left and out of the computer.

Disconnect the orange optical drive ribbon cable from the logic board.

Disconnect the newly-revealed display data cable. If there is no pull-tab on the top of the connector, it may be helpful to use a spudger to disconnect this connector.

Disconnect the (once again) newly-revealed hard drive cable.

Deroute the hard drive connector cable from the four tabs along the edge of the optical drive.

Remove the two Phillips screws securing the hard drive connector to the lower case.

Carefully lift the hard drive connector out of the case slightly, and turn it over to reveal the IR sensor connector beneath. Use a spudger to flip up the tiny bar holding the cable in place.

Slide the orange IR sensor cable out of its connector, and lift the hard drive connector out of the computer.