I want to install a 512 GB SSD, but I can't get the screws off of the back!!! Such an easy upgrade. Who can I pay to do this for me?

I would take it to an Apple Retail Store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP) for evaluation, or call your nearest Apple Contact Center. Visit the Genius Bar at the Apple Retail Store, make a reservation.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.6), 2.4GHz IntelCore i5 320 HD 8GB RAM

I stripped the head off a bottom screw on my 2010 17" MBP. I used a Dremel to carefully drill a slot in the damaged head to try to get a small (size 00) flathead screwdriver in there.

That ultimately didn't work because I couldn't apply enough torque before I ruined both the remaining screw head and the driver. That screw was in there *way* too tightly. Or had too much thread-locker compound. So I continued to carefully remove all the screw head material with a drill bit in the Dremel.

I managed to keep the damage to a minimum on the screw recess on the bottom plate. All that was left was a threaded stud in the hole. When I removed (carefully!) all the other screws (with a Phillips size 0) the bottom easily came off.

I put in a pair of OWC RAID SSDs and used a bit of double-sided servo tape (for RC models) to secure and cushion the bottom where the one screw was missing it's head. As for the other screws I removed the old thread-locker compound with a bit of heat and a scalpel, then reapplied *blue* Loctite. (I've noticed the bottom of unibody MBPs tends to get loose with time if you don't use some *blue* thread locker.)

This brings up a bigger discussion, of course about the 3G vs 6G SATA ports on the 2011 MBPs. I have an 8,3 with only one 6G port. I am using the same RAID-0 array in this machine with much improved performance than even 2010. However, I wonder if a single 6G OWC SSD drive would be even better. That way I could 1) increase storage to 480 GB (because the single 6G drive wouldn't need to be -RE overprovisioned) and, 2) I could put an older 512 GB SSD in the optical bay for media and not create a RAID. Choices… choices :-)

The reason you stripped the screws is that you most likely tried to use a phillips screwdriver. Problem is, Apple decided to use what's called 'Pentalobe' screws for the bottom panel on most new products. iFixit.com sells replacement screws (phillips) and the pentalobe screwdriver, for a reasonable cost, should you need to access the MBP again in the future. For now though, you will need to take it to the Store and have a 'Genius' work on it. At least you haven't voided the warranty.

You are wrong. The bottom screws on unibody 15" and 17" MacBook Pros are and have always been Phillips no. 0.

My apologies. You are correct. I thought since they used the new screws in the MacBook Airs, they used them throughout all new notebooks. I know my MBP 13 (mid-2009) has phillips-0 and I am very thankful for that 🙂

To be precise:

It would make a lot of sense to stripe two SSDs to double the speed. Theoretically.

Bare with me.

Second generation SATA interfaces running at 3.0 Gbit/s with a native transfer rate of 3.0 Gbit/s, and taking 8b/10b encoding into account, the maximum uncoded transfer rate is 2.4 Gbit/s (300 MB/s).

Third generation SATA interfaces running at 6.0 Gbit/s with a native transfer rate of 6.0 Gbit/s, and taking 8b/10b encoding into account, the maximum uncoded transfer rate is 4.8 Gbit/s (600 MB/s).

So:

In a computer with two SATA III (6Gbit/sec) interfaces connected to two SATA III SSDs (like the OCZ Vertex 3 MI) you would instead of 550MBytes/sec read 1100MBytes per second.

But (and here comes a big BUT)

Apple has decided to limit the speed on the superdrive bay to SATA II (3Gbit/sec) by connecting to the slower SATA II interface of the chipset (takes less power) instead of the second (existent!!!) SATA III interface !!!!!!

So back in the 2 SSD array but this time in a MBP 15/17 2011 (i5 or i7):

The one in the superdrive bay would read up to 300 MBytes per second, the one in the HDD bay "could" read up to 550MBytes per second so you would say "hey that is a 850MB/sec", right?

Wrong: as the faster has to wait for the slower you read kinda 2x300 so 600 MB/sec.

Wow that is soo much faster then 550 and it costs only double the price of a SSD ;-)

But in a computer with multiple SATA III interfaces it does make a lot of sense (given the need of speed and the cash to go for it).

But dont give up! You will be able to run the 4 SSD raid stripe soon: it will be in a thunderbolt attached enclosure!!! (Although you might be shocked to learn the price... your MBP might even look cheap when compared)

Greetz from Switzerland

You'll probably get better performance with a RAID-0 stripe setup. 6G ports on the 17" MBP are flaky to say the least. You're guaranteed blazing low-latency performance ~525MBytes/s Read & Write with the right drives in a RAID-0 setup. The 6G SATA ports... not so much.

BUT -- you'll lose a bit of flexibility and some Lion features with RAID-0: no recovery partition and no FileVault. But if you're willing to go for the performance option you probably already don't care about a recovery partition, although FileVault might be a deal breaker.

Definitely go with the best drives you can afford: OWC is what I recommend.

-- f9a