Replacing HD in a brand-new MBP

[dogtanian]

Hi people,

I have read up on everything regarding replacing a MBP hard drive and instead of wasting £80/$160 on getting someone else to do it, I'm confident to do the swap myself. I'll be swapping out the basic stock 160GB 5400RPM Hitatchi drive and replacing it with a brand new WD Scorpio 250GB 5400RPM drive (eBuyer @ £90).

The questions I have are:

1. Will the replacement void my warranty IF I replace the original drive back into the computer should anything go wrong? Would Apple know I've been in there?

2. I'll be doing the switch on a brand new MBP (2.4GHZ Stock) next week so Leopard will be pre-installed on the internal drive awaiting setup. Should I go through the set-up process on the MBP first and then swap the drives or does it not really matter what I do? I'm under the impression that when I've put the new drive in, the computer will ask me to put the installation CD/DVD in and it will install OS X as normal from that point provided I 'erase' the drive from the menu bar at installation. Please tell me I'm on the right track!

Any words of wisdom are appreciated and I have searched the forums for these specific questions as I obviously won't need anything like Carbon Copy Cloner or anything as it is brand new.

 

[dogtanian]

Well I was going to be using the internal drive as my Airdisk with the AEBS and use it to back up via Time Machine but I've just found out Apple couldn't sort that out in time so scrapped Time Machine backup via Airdisk, even with the delay for Leopard... me no happy...

 

[Ilovemygeek]

From my understanding, swapping the harddrive will void the warranty.

 

[dogtanian]

What if they didn't know I'd swapped it ? There aren't any "VOID IF REMOVED" stickers from the videos I saw... hmm

 

[Pressure]

There are different statements on this ranging from "if you do not break anything, you haven't voided your warranty" to "swapping the harddrive will void the warranty".

Some have even asked Apple and the response were, as long as you don't break anything...

 

[lancestraz]

What if they didn't know I'd swapped it ? There aren't any "VOID IF REMOVED" stickers from the videos I saw... hmm

Can you post the link to the video?

 

[Ilovemygeek]

From what I've heard, swapping memory ok, harddrive voids.

 

[dogtanian]

Can you post the link to the video?

Yeah of course. Hope it helps:

http://media.macsales.com/highres.html

It took a while to d/l but I saved it to my hard drive once it had as a guide.

 

[Cerebrum]

I think they would know you swapped it. Your laptop's serial will state it came with certain specs, and hard drives don't magically increase in size and change brand. So it would void it, I asked that to a friend of mine who is a mac genius.

 

[comacnut]

They (Apple) would have to prove that the new hard drive caused the defect in question. Of course they won't warranty your new hard drive.

Google Magnuson Moss Warranty Act

edit: Sorry, I see you're not in the US.

 

[webgoat]

I think they would know you swapped it. Your laptop's serial will state it came with certain specs, and hard drives don't magically increase in size and change brand. So it would void it, I asked that to a friend of mine who is a mac genius.

he was asking if they would know if he swapped the original back in before sending to applecare

 

[mavherzog]

It's your MBP, do what you want with it. If YOU break something, don't expect Apple to repair it under warranty. If there is a hardware failure not due to your actions, Apple should fix under warranty.

Aside from the whole "covering your tracks" philosophy, it is good to retain the original hard drive as they may end up just replacing your MBP if the issue is significant enough. You don't want to lose your new, beefy drive in that case.

 

[iBecks]

As most have said if there is a problem and you damage anything whilst doing this your warranty is voided.

However, you only have to remove the battery and the top casing, so should be fairly easy to do.

Be careful not to damage the screws and make sure the top case sits back on squarely before tightening back up.

If you put the original drive back in, should you need to send it away for repair, then Apple might not be able to tell that its been open.

 

[dogtanian]

Thanks for the help everyone. I'm willing to take the risk and I will be SO careful when I'm in there. I'll be patient. Don't wanna wreck a £1600 laptop preferably...

I'm assuming it will manage to install Leopard from the recovery disc OK with a blank Hard drive installed.

 

[Cybergypsy]

HD Voids!!!

 

[dogtanian]

I think the consensus is that if you don't break anything they don't mind...I'm hoping thats the case. Otherwise it would be covered under my house insurance anyway.