Terrifying repair

Il Mio Problema

I wanted to replace the stock hard drive with an SSD.

La Mia Riparazione

There were some difficulties:

1. Getting the Vsync connector removed was very difficult until I placed two levers on either side of the connector.

2. The display and glass cover are dust magnets.

3. The glass cover is held onto the case via magnets. I was very nervous about breaking the glass.

Otherwise — so far, so good. I have everything plugged back in and I am doing an Internet Recovery to put OS X on the new drive. After formatting the SSD, I am running the OS X Installer, which is currently downloading Mountain Lion.

Il Mio Consiglio

1. Use thin nitrile gloves to keep skin oils off the inside of the glass cover and front of the display — watch out for pinching the nitrile in tight corners.

2. Use two spungers to disconnect the fragile Vsync connector — be very careful here. In my case, I used one spunger from my previous Mac mini upgrade, and a very small flat-head screwdriver tip from my pocket knife.

3. Buy a stack of lint-free dust cloths and put them down on the table — use these as rests for the glass cover and the LCD display unit. Don't use bath or paper towels because they are covered in dust and lint.

4. When reassembling the unit, clean display and cover thoroughly with the lint-free dust cloths. Be meticulous, or get ready to use those suction cups again!