A Complete SSD Upgrade Kit for MacBook Pro (Early 2011)

Installation Process

Opening up the Apple MacBook Pro 15″ Early 2011 Model

1. Turn off your MacBook Pro, close it and turn it upside down
2. There are 10 small Phillips screws that need to be removed, three longer Phillips screws on the top right hand side of the MacBook Pro.
3. Remove all the screws starting with the longer screws.
4. Gently lift the cover off the MacBook Pro.

Replacing the Hitachi 500GB 7200RPM Hard Drive with the OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G SSD

1. Disconnect the battery connector from the motherboard (logic board) with the nylon tool.
2. Remove the retainer bar held in place by two black screws that is holding the installed hard drive in place.
3. Use the transparent strip on the Hard drive to pull out the hard drive from the hard drive area.
4. Make sure to detach the SATA Power and Data connector carefully.
5. Use the Torx T6 tool included with the Data Doubler to remove the 4 Torx T6 screws on the side of the hard drives.
6. Also remove the transparent plastic tab.
7. Now attach the plastic tab to the SSD you will be installing.
8. Also screw in the four Torx T6 screws for your SSD just like they were screwed in for the hard drive.
9. Line up the SATA connector with the SSD and the MacBook Pro, and attach them together.
10. Start by placing the SSD into the rubber grommets on the edge of the MacBook Pro followed by gently letting the SSD fall into its place in the bay.
11. Replace the retaining bar and tighten the two black screws.

Removing the DVD player from the MacBook Pro

1. Using your nylon pry tool, detach the two cables, one going to the AirPort (Wi-Fi) network card and the other being the SATA connector for the optical DVD drive.
2. Use either your Phillips screw driver or the Torx T6 screw driver (depending on what screws used) to detach the 3 screws that hold the optical drive in place.
3. You might have to detach a tiny cable right by the fan to get at the right screw.
4. One of the screws is located right by one of the fans in between two other small black screws.
5. To get to the 2nd screw, you need to loosen the Wi-Fi network card.
6. Remove the two black screws at the top left hand side corner and at the end of the Wi-Fi network cards V shaped end to loosen your Wi-Fi network card.
7. Pull the network card to the side to reveal the hidden screw at the left top corner of the MacBook Pro.
8. Unscrew the 2nd screw.
9. The last Optical screw is located at the bottom left had side of the optical DVD drive.
10. Once all screws are removed, the DVD player will easily come out.

Installing the Hitachi 500GB 7200RPM Hard Drive into the Data Doubler

1. First the SATA Power and Data cable adapter needs to be removed from the DVD drive.
2. Then two screws need to be removed to take off the mounting bracket from the optical drive.
3. Place mounting bracket onto the Data Doubler the same way it was removed from the optical drive.
4. You can also go ahead and attach the SATA Power and Data cable adapter onto the Data Doubler.
5. Take your hard drive and align it with the SATA connector and gently push it into the connector.
6. Secure the hard drive to the Data Doubler with the two screws that came with the Data Doubler.

Installing the Data Doubler into the Macbook Pro

1. Place the Data Doubler inside the chassis of the Macbook Pro in the appropriate location where the optical drive was removed from.
2. Make sure to not place it on any cables.
3. Install the three screws to secure the Data Doubler to the MacBook Pro.
4. Screw in the two screws you removed from the Network Card.
5. Attach the SATA cable to the motherboard (logic board).
6. Attach the rest of the cables that were detached at the beginning to their appropriate locations.

Finishing the Installation and closing the MacBook Pro

1. If not yet done, connect the battery power cable to the motherboard.
2. Place the top of the MacBook Pro’s cover on and install thed 10 screws removed earlier.
3. The three long screws are installed at the top 3 right hand side screw holes.
4. The rest of the 7 screws are screwed in around the edges of the MacBook Pro.

Installation videos straight from OWC’s Youtube Channel. If you are afraid to experiment and replace your hardware, please take a look at these videos to give you a better idea on how to replace your drives and install the Data Doubler.

Replacing your Hard Drive with SSD

Installing the Data Doubler into your MacBook Pro