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I have had 2 MacBook Pro Unibody laptops, an early 2011, and currently a mid 2012 which I purchased in Sept 2015. Both have had the main hard drive cable fail. The 2011 waited about 2 years before it went and the 2012 went in just over a year. I bought a replacement cable from iFixit and installed it. It lasted a few weeks and died also. I contacted iFixit and found out that somehow the battery being loose affects the integrity of the cable, yet from what I can tell, there is no way for the battery to come even close to the cable. I spent several hours researching and browsing the web and forums to see what this might have to do with it. I found nothing!! The most I could find was that Apple quietly updated the cable. But, that hasnt helped at all. I did read that their might be sharp edges that are cutting the insulation on the cable. I heard that the putting extra insulation around the cable might help. Does anyone have any insight as to why this cable fails, why the battery might be involved, and what can be done to prevent this from getting worse? Thanks all in Advance Edit: The 2011 has been fixed and sold. it was actually that machine that introduced me to the world of failed SATA cables. Edit 2: This is what my computer looks like inside. I do not see the metal tab that @danj is talking about. I would agree that the optical drive is probably more of an issue than the battery. I did insulate the edges around the step yesterday when I installed the warranty cable too.
Apple will replace the cable on the 2012 13" for free. Best to go to an ASP for this rather than an Apple outlet as Apple pays them to do the repair. The battery has nothing to do with it. Look at the cable where it comes over the last step. The bottom hit it and damages it. When you take the 2012 in for the free replacement, ask to buy another one and put it in your 2011. Put some kind of pads on either side of the cable so the bottom will not hit it.
@dchargerfan - Mike, You appear not to be using the primary HD bay which was the cable we’ve been speaking about. In addition the tab I was speaking about is the right across the battery pull in your image, and if you scan up you’ll find the HD mount bracket which is the location the cable gets damaged (HD not optical) and is the location point I pad the lid (not the clip). But you have another issue here which you may have missed. If you review the OWC Data Doubler notes at the bottom you’ll see this: “MacBook Pro 13” models: Apple does not support the use of 6Gb/s drives in the optical bay. While we have observed a high rate of success using SATA 3.0 6Gb/s drives in Apple 13" bays where 6Gb/s link is present, some systems may not operate properly with this setup. For guaranteed reliability/compatibility, we suggest 6Gb/s drives be used in the main drive bay only, and 3Gb/s hard drives or SSDs be used in the optical bay when a two-drive configuration is desired. We cannot guarantee proper or successful 6Gb/s drive operation in the Apple MacBook Pro 13" optical bay." While the Samsung SSD is a great SSD it won’t work in the optical bay. You see, it is not a FIXED SATA II (3.0 Gb/s) drive which is what you require here. Auto speed sense technology used by the HD & SSD makers can’t match up with the systems SATA speed as the controller chip in this series is in-between SATA II & SATA III. You’ll need to find a FIXED SATA II (3.0 Gb/s) SSD to go into the optical bay. In addition I should point out the optical bay does not have HD crash guard protection (only the HD bay does) so if you are thinking on putting in a HD here you’ll need to be careful! As moving the system while the disk is still spinning can crash it. Update (12/06/2016) MacBook Pro 13" “Mid 2009” “Early 2010” “Early 2011” “Late 2011” and “Mid 2012” Model ID / Info: Learn how to find your Mac’s Model IDMacBookPro5,5 | 2.26GHz, 2.53GHzMacBookPro7,1 | 2.4GHz, 2.66GHzMacBookPro8,1 | 2.3GHz, 2.7GHz (See special notes for details)MacBookPro8,1 | 2.4GHz, 2.8GHz (See special notes for details)MacBookPro9,2 | 2.5GHz, 2.9GHz As you can see the MacBookPro9,2 is listed as having issues with SATA III devices in the optical drive bay. Yes, I paste the foam on the lid just across the black HD frame to protect the HD cable. That bracket is the most for the drive not the cable it just sneaks between it and the optical drive (your OWC adapter now). Review this IFIXIT guide: MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Mid 2012 Hard Drive Replacement jump to Step 5 for reference.
I have a question, it’s kind of weird and basically the same issue. I own a Macbook Pro ‘13 mid. 2012 A1278, I repleaced the SATA cable a few months ago (the original cable failed), and today I’m trying to install an SSD; everything works flawless when I start the computer with an external SATA adaptor to USB, but when I put the SSD in the internal SATA, it just doesn’t work, but with the native HDD it does work. What do you guys recommend, should I change the SATA cable again? Same model (821-1780a), or an upgraded model (821-2049)?
In my experience you need to insulate the hard drive cable from the case, you can use insulating tape, in many cases you dont need a new cable, in case you have to change it you can insulate it before you put the new one to prevent the problem from appearing in the future.
I’m seeing people with 2011 and 2012 ribbon cable issues. Anyone here having issues with a mid 2010 13” MBP. Mine started acting up and I heard several mentions in other forums that the issue is likely a bad ribbon cable. I can’t enter ADT. I get an error code -3403D. I also was having trouble with an SSD installing and updating on the initial boot but failing to boot thereafter and instead sending my to a page to save the installer log.. It booted my regular non SSD fine. This sounds the signs of ribbon cable failure I read about but does the 2010 have the same issues as the 2011 and 2012 as far as replacing the cable goes? Do I also need to insulate the ribbon from the case? Thanks
