How to Upgrade the Hard Drive in Your 2009 Mac Mini

These are instructions on how to upgrade the hard drive in your 2009 Mac mini. The mini takes a 2.5" sata drive such as the WD Scorpio Black 320 GB 2.5 Inch SATA II Hard Drive.

To perform these steps you will need a putty knife and a #00 Philips Screwdriver.




Step One
Unplug the Mac mini and place it upside down on a static free work surface.

Step Two
Insert the putty knife between the upper and lower case and work your way around while prying outward. You will hear a series of pops as the clips that hold the cover in place detach.


Step Three
Once all the clips have been loosened you can flip over the Mac mini and pull the top cover off.


Step Four
Inside the cover you will see three antennas labeled with orange stickers. There is one at the bottom left, top left, and top right of the device.


Remove the top left antenna by gently pulling up and setting it to the side. Remove the spring under it and place it to the side as well.




Do the same for the bottom left antenna.


To remove the top right antenna you must squeeze clip under it then pull up on the antennae to release it. Don't forget to remove its spring as well.


Step Five
Gently disconnect the ribbon cable from the back of the disc assembly. The connection is located at the top left of the assembly.


Step Six
Next we will remove the four screws holding the disc drive assembly in place. There is one screw at each corner of the device. Please note the bottom right screw is slightly longer then the rest.








Set the screws to the side then lift up on the disc assembly to remove it.


Step Seven
Turn the disk assembly upside down and remove the four screws holding the hard drive in place.






Gently remove the temperature sensor that is taped and glued onto the drive.


You can then slide the disk drive forward to unplug it from the sata and power connectors.


Remove the anti-static cushions from the old drive and affix them to the new drive in the same location.


Next place the new drive into the assembly and slide it onto the sata and power connectors.


Gently reattach the temperature sensor to the new hard drive.


Finally replace the four screws that hold the hard drive in place.


Step Eight
Once you have installed the new hard drive you can set the disc assembly back in place.


Step Nine
Replace the screws you removed from each corner earlier. Remember the slightly longer one goes at the bottom right.








Step Ten
Reattach the ribbon cable to the back of the disc assembly at the top left of the assembly.


Step Eleven
Place the three springs on top of the antenna posts at the bottom left, top left, and top right of the device.


Next put the antennas back in place on top of the posts. Remember to squeeze the clip on the top right post when putting the antenna in place.






Step Twelve
Put the top cover onto the bottom of the Mac mini and press down to reattach the clips.





NOTES***: If you want to replace your old hard drive with a larger duplicate drive you can find those instructions here