Do you want to find out how to replace your Mac’s slow, old hard drive with a fast new
SSD?
In this video I’ll show you how to swap out your drive, install MacOS, and get all
your data moved onto it.
This is Dave’s Tech Rescue, where I solve your problems with computers, Internet and
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I have a Mac here that’s getting slower and slower.
It's over 6 years old, and it gets used a lot.
There are lots of reasons why it could be getting slower - it could be that it needs
a memory upgrade, or it could be that there are too many apps running at once.
But it’s incredibly slow, even when there’s nothing running, so I think the hard drive
might be failing.
In the past, you would simply replace your old hard drive with a new one .
Then the SSD arrived, doing the same job as your hard drive - storing all your files and
all the data your Mac needs to function, but much faster.
For a while they were really expensive, but now SSDs are almost as cheap as hard drives.
So it’s a no-brainer - if you want a cheap upgrade for your Mac that will make it work
even faster than when it was new, then you should replace your hard drive with an SSD.
Installing an SSD is not as straightforward as just taking out the hard drive and putting
an SSD in its place. You’ll need to install MacOS again, and transfer all your data over.
There's more than one way to upgrade to an SSD and bring all your data over to it, but
we're going to do what I think is the easiest way.
First we’re going to back up the Mac using Time Machine, and then we’re going to replace
the hard drive with the SSD.
Then we're going to put the Mac into Internet Recovery Mode, and download MacOS and install
it onto the SSD.
Finally we're going to restore the Time Machine backup and all your data will be back where
you expect it to be.
I’m going to be upgrading a Mid-2012 13 inch Macbook Pro, but if you have a different
kind of Mac don’t worry - the part where we swap out the drive will be different, but
what I really want to show you here are the parts where we back up your data, install
MacOS, and then restore your data.
So, unless you have a Macbook Pro like this, you’re going to need to find a guide to
replace the hard drive on your specific model of Mac, and you can find a guide on a website
such as iFixit.
Let’s take a look at what you’re going to need. First you’ll need an SSD. If you’re
not sure what capacity you’ll need, click on the Apple logo at the top of your screen,
and go to About This Mac. Then click on Storage. You’ll see how big your hard drive is, and
how much of that is free space. That should give you an idea of how big your SSD should
be.
Once you have your SSD, you’ll need a good screwdriver set. For this Macbook Pro, I’m
going to need a small Phillips screwdriver, and a T6 Torx screwdriver.
You’ll need your charger, because all the backing up and installing takes a long time.
And you’ll need a good Internet connection for when we download MacOS.
And you’ll need an external drive to back up all your data on. It should be capable
of storing the amount of Data you saw when you checked About This Mac.
You can use an external hard drive, but I have a USB stick with a huge capacity so I’m
going to use this.
Make sure you watch the whole video before you start to work on your Mac.
And if you’re not completely happy with what you’re about to do, then you should
probably take your Mac to a professional instead.
I don’t take any responsibility for anything that might happen with your computer.
Also don’t forget that if what I show you doesn’t work, you should still be able to
put your old hard drive back in and your Mac should work exactly as it did before you started.
When you work inside your Mac, you need to take some extra precautions so you don’t
damage the components with electro-static discharge.
You should work on a static-free surface, and you should be careful not to touch any
of the sensitive components inside.
Also, for your own safety, make sure you unplug your mains power supply from your Mac before
you open it up.
So let's get started. First we're going to backup the Mac, using Time Machine. Time Machine
copies all your files, apps, data and settings to your external drive.
So, plug in your backup drive, and open System Preferences and then Time Machine. If you
haven't set up Time Machine before, you can select your drive here. Be careful if you’re
setting up Time Machine for the first time on an external drive that already contains
data, because it will delete what’s on your drive.
Now let it do its first backup. This can take a really long time. If you have used Time
Machine before, it will start backing up on its own and it shouldn't take too long to
do the backup. You'll know it's finished because you'll see the time and date of the most recent
backup. Now you know the data's been backed up, you can eject the drive, unplug it, and
store it somewhere safe until it’s needed later in this video.
Now we're going to remove the hard drive and install the new SSD.
Unplug the charger and turn the Macbook upside down.
Remove all the screws from the base and then remove the base.
This is the hard drive.
Unplug the battery connector.
Loosen the 4 screws securing the hard drive. Then remove this bracket.
Now lift the hard drive out carefully by pulling on the clear plastic tab. The hard drive is
still connected to the computer by the drive cable, so pry this off. Then fully remove
the hard drive.
The hard drive has four metal posts that you need to remove with a hex screwdriver. Take
these out, and screw them into the matching holes in the new SSD. If you like, you should
be able to peel off the plastic tab, and stick it onto the SSD, too. But don't worry too
much about using the tab, if it won't stay stuck on.
Now fasten the drive cable onto the SSD, and secure the SSD with the 4 screws. And remember
to connect the battery again. Fit the base back onto the Macbook, and fasten the screws.
Turn the Macbook back the right way up, and plug in the charger.
From this point onwards, it doesn't matter what kind of Mac you have, it's the same procedure.
We’re going to start the Mac in Internet Recovery Mode. So, we're going to turn on
the Mac while holding 3 keys - Command, Option, R.
So, press the power button, and straight away, hold Command, Option, R. When you see the
spinning globe, you can let go of the keys.
Now you need to wait a few minutes while Internet Recovery Mode starts.
You'll be prompted to join your WiFi network, so click on your WiFi name and type in the
password.
Then there's another wait. Eventually you'll see MacOS Utilities. Now we need to check
our SSD is there, and get it ready. So click on Disk Utility, and click Continue.
Look on the left hand side for Internal drives. Here I can see what looks like my SSD. If
I click on it, I can see it's 240 GB, which is right, and it says the drive is Uninitialized.
I'm going to click on Erase, and here we need to set a few options. For Name, you normally
want to type Macintosh HD here.
For format, it's best to choose APFS. If APFS isn't available, just choose MacOS Extended
Journaled.
And if you get to choose the Scheme, you should choose GUID.
Click Erase, then click Done when it's finished.
Now you can close Disk Utility.
Now you need to connect to your WiFi network. So click on the WiFi icon at the top, and
join your WiFi.
Then click on Reinstall MacOS, and click Continue.
Now you can follow the on-screen instructions to install your version of MacOS. I'm installing
Mojave, so I'm going to click Continue.
Then I need to agree to the terms.
And then I need to click on Macintosh HD, which is my new SSD, and click Install.
Now you have a long wait. You need to wait for MacOS to be downloaded, and then you have
to wait while it gets installed. And it's normal for the screen to go black while you're
waiting.
Eventually, you'll see the Welcome screen, asking you to choose your region. Follow the
instructions on these setup screens, and you'll get to a screen that lets you transfer your
information to the Mac. Now you need to plug in your backup drive containing the Time Machine
backup, and select the option on the screen that includes your Time Machine backup. And
click Continue.
You'll see your backup drive appear, and you need to click on it. Then click Continue.
Below, you'll now see a list of any computers that have been backed up with the drive. If
you've only backed up the one Mac, you'll only see one listed. Click on this, and click
Continue.
Now you need to wait, while the Mac examines the backup. It can take some time.
Wait until these areas have stopped spinning.
Normally you want to leave all of these categories ticked, and click Continue.
On the next screen, you'll see the user names for each person who uses the computer. You
should choose a password for each user. It's a good idea to make it the same password as
you had before.
Then click Continue.
It's usually a good idea to turn on FileVault Encryption if you're asked to.
Now you can wait while your Time Machine backup is restored. This can take a long time, it
just depends on how much data you have.
Once that's finished, you can just log into your computer as normal, and all your files
and apps should be where you expect them to be.
Please let me know in the comments below how you got on, and if you found this video helpful
please give it the thumbs up.
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Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time.