The hard drive cable extend my MBP's life

Mijn probleem

The hard drive start to have several issues after 4.5 years use:

1. The system start to freeze more and more frequently during normal load, need a hard reboot to get it back to work.

2. Reboot could freeze. The only workaround I found is to hold down option key to let the system stay in boot drive selection screen for more than 1 minute, then press enter to continue booting.

3. Upgrade MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.7 will more the system freeze even more frequently. I ended up downgrade the firmware to 1.6. As a result the SATA speed stuccoed at 1.5Gb, instead of 3.0Gb of the 1.7 version.

4. Tried upgrade the built-in 250GB hard drive to a bigger one several times (500GB, 1TB), only to get a more unstable system. Ended up come back to use the old built-in drive.

Mijn oplossing

I searched around and found someone who had the similar issue fixed it by replacing the hard drive cable. I felt it kind of intimidating, thought it could turn my unstable machine to a complete dead one. Until recently I decided to give it a shot, worst case is I will by a new MBP and kiss goodbye to the old buddy. Guess what? The system works like a dream under heavy load for more than 24 hours! And I can finally use a 1TB drive in my MBP. Thanks ifixit!

Mijn advies

Just follow the ifixit instruction, you won't get it wrong.