I need advice on which is the best screwdriver to remove the back of my old early 2015 MacBook pro. The one that died. I just want to get the hard drive out before I take it to the electronics recycling center. Screwdriver

OWC computing has a number of how to videos for specific MacBook models including the tools needed to disassemble them. But since it is going to the recycling center I would just grab the first one that turns the screw. Note, it may take more than one type of screwdriver and/or more than one size.

Right. That's why I need to know which one to use. I don't know if I can tell by looking on eBay (free shipping so that's where I will buy it) which to buy even if someone described it on OWC.

Assuming that I've got the correct MBP, according to iFixit - <https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBoo...+Early+2015+Lower+Case+Replacement/38513> MacBook Pro 13" Retina Display Early 2015 Lower Case Replacement - iFixit Repair Guide - you'll need a P5 Pentalobe screwdriver to unscrew the case back.

You'll also need a T5 Torx screwdriver to unscrew the SSD. <https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Retina+Display+Early+2015+SSD+Replacement/38520> MacBook Pro 13" Retina Display Early 2015 SSD Replacement - iFixit Repair Guide

The second guide explains how to get at the SSD.

Thank you, Artie!!

Do you think this would do the trick? I also wonder why I have to remove the battery connector with a spudger (whatever that is). If this gets too complicated I might just have to smash it with a hammer like politicians seem fond of doing!

FYI a spudger is a purpose designed plastic stick for removing the and reconnecting the almost microscopic connectors without breaking something (ask me how I know). If you are removing the HD for security purposes, you could just use a hatchet or hammer and batter the whole thing to pieces. On high security DoD projects we used to use an electric grinder and finish with a dust broom and pan. If you want to reuse the drive, HDs are so cheap these days it may not be worth the time and effort to salvage the drive.

Oh man, you made me laugh. I may take a hatchet to it if I can't find the perfect screwdriver to undo it for cheaps. Thanks, Joe.

I'll try to pull all the pieces together...

Aside from facilitating working with connectors, a spudger is non-conducting to prevent shorting anything out as you work. Since your MBP is dead, though, you could use a butter knife with no ill effects.

The screws all look the same, but they differ in length.

As for the SSD, it depends on whether you want to save it for possible future use in an external enclosure or just yank it and trash it. If the former, you'll need the Torx, but if the latter, you can save the money and just pry it out with a screwdriver.

Here are the two cheapest 5Ps I found on eBay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/132149833276?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/295519126941?

Thank you. Now I know what to get. I had no idea the different screws were just the difference in length. Butter knife it is. And yanking out SSD and maybe stomping on it is perfect. Thanks of making it so simple. I wonder what in the world I would ever need that funny looking screwdriver for in the future. I looked at my new Mac and it uses totally different screws on the bottom panel. Go figure.

Stomping won't defeat the SSD's structural integrity. You'll need to do a bunch of hammer whacking and then bury it at the bottom of your garbage so it's not visible to curious eyes. I suggest that you break off any connectors that you can reach.

I've got no idea about the screws, but I doubt that you'll ever need the P5 again, because your RAM and SSD aren't user replaceable.

Right. I was just thinking down the road a few years when I have to ditch the M2!

I've got no idea about the screws, but I doubt that you'll ever need the P5 again, because your RAM and SSD aren't user replaceable. [/quote]

Given:

• SSDs store their data electronically rather than magnetically so there is no lingering trace for a deep recovery
• unlike HDs the data is scattered across the entire storage media and APFS intentionally distributes the data in a file all over the storage media means reassembling the data into comprehensible files would take centuries of supercomputer time
• I don't know what the drive capacity is but a new 256 GB NVME runs a little over $40
• an external NVME drive enclosure costs $90
• a 1TB external SSD runs around $140

Therefore:

• even a simple erase makes data recovery from an SSD virtually impossible so data security should be of little or no concern
• I would question whether the VALUE of the NVME is worth the time and effort to recover it.

I thought law enforcement recovered data all the time. That's why they take computers from the bad guys.

You've been watching too many old episodes of Hawaii Five O.

Data on rotating rust hard drives is stored as a MAGNETIC impression and for speed of access the data in each file is typically stored in easily identifiable sequential tracks and sectors. The mechanical read/write heads have an allowable tolerance (slop) so when the drive is overwritten a trace of the previous data may remain and can be recovered. For most DoD purposes overwriting the drive with alternating ones and zeros seven times is considered adequate protection. For deep black projects, used hard drives may be ground into fine powder as the ultimate safeguard.

SSDs store their data as on/off electrical switches and have no moving parts so there is no slop in over writing data and therfore no possibility of recovering traces of previously stored data. Additionaly as all data locations on an SSD can, for all practical purposes, be accessed equally fast and to reduce wear on the individual storage locations the data in a file is intentially scattered over the entire SSD rather than in nice neat consecutive locations. So only erasing the volume directory leaves you with literally billions if not trillions of unrelated characters, or in a 256GB SSD roughly 65,536.000,000,000,000 possible combinations. Given a multi-billion dollar quantum computer, and enough time it might be possible to recover such a drive. Do a full erase on that drive and all anyone would have to interpret would be an unbroken string of zeroes or ones and absolutely meaningless even with a quantum computer.

NOTE: add File Vault and it won't make much difference whether you erase the SSD or not and then turn on Advanced Data Protection and your data on iCloud is strongly protected as well.

OK, thanks. The only reason I was concerned is because my Credit Card information is on it.

I wonder if there's an easier answer that wouldn't require any screwdrivers or hammer - just a good power drill. If plantsower could determine where the drive is physically located (information that should be available), wouldn't it work just to take a metal bit and drill a hole right through the computer and, hence, the drive as well?

I'd call the credit card company, cancel that card, and get a new one.

Wow, now that never entered my head. If I can't get to the SSD after my screwdriver arrives, that is an option. Thanks. Of course there would be umpteen companies to contact. That would be a pain. I've had to do the at least twice because of identity theft.

If you have fully erased the SSD IT IS PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR ANYONE OR ANY AGENCY TO RECOVER YOUR CREDIT CARD NUMBER FROM THE DRIVE. Even a simple erase of the volume map puts recovering your data far beyond the reach of any government agency. But if you want to protect it from the reach of scientifically advanced extraterrestrial malefactors, find some heavy construction project and ask them to run over your macBook three or four times with a tracked bulldozer then leave it so it will end up buried under the new road, building, whatever.

Joe: It was never erased. It died before I could do that. It could only be the battery. That's why the concern.

To reiterate ...

I got that part. Thanks.

To reiterate ...

[/quote]

My best suggestion...

If you've got a drill, you don't even need to wait for the P5. Since your MBP is headed for the trash, you can/should be able to, anyhow simply drill out the screw heads to remove the case back.

The SSD will be immediately visible, and you can pry it out with a screwdriver or claw hammer. Then break off the connectors that mate with the logic board with a pair of pliers, and bury what's left in the middle of a bag of kitchen garbage.

I looked and none of my drill screw bits fit those tiny screws.

[quote=plantsower]I looked and none of my drill screw bits fit those tiny screws.

Who cares if the drill bits fit? You are just going to drill them out and the result will be an irreparable MacBook no matter whether the size of the holes! A 1/2" bit would easily do the job, but 1/8" bit would likely be faster and easier.

The MBP is already a dead issue, but under any circumstances, drilling out the screws would ruin only the case back, not the entire computer. (And if you're really careful, you can save the case back.)

I don't need to save anything. So full on destruction.

Since I am not mechanically savvy, I think it's a semantics thing. I was talking about the screw bits not fitting the tiny screws so no way to screw them out. Maybe you are talking about just drilling holes into the back at each screw and then removing the back? I'm so confused. Glad I ordered the little screwdriver for those screws afterall.

When I was young, my father repaired pre-transistor TVs ("tube jobs"), and he used to give me the dead ones to lay waste to.

It was like heaven!

There's also an old family story about how when someone gave me a new toy, and my mother would ask "What do you say," I'd answer "Now can I take it apart?"

LOL! Were you that kid that took things apart right and left but didn't/couldn't put them back together?


There's also an old family story about how when someone gave me a new toy, and my mother would ask "What do you say," I'd answer "Now can I take it apart?" [/quote]

That's more or less correct.

The drill doesn't know the difference between the screw and the case-back, so when you put its tip in the middle of the screw and start drilling, it begins its hole by drilling away the head of the screw leaving the threaded part intact.

When I'm done taking something apart, it's Humpty Dumptified!

Not that I was interested in the toys, anyhow. I loved the idea that people gave me stuff to destroy.

Once again, you know how to use Rita speak! Thanks, Artie.

The drill doesn't know the difference between the screw and the case-back, so when you put its tip in the middle of the screw and start drilling, it drills away the heads of the screws leaving their threaded parts intact. [/quote]

I never took anything apart. Maybe that's why I can't do it now!

You learn destruction as you go, progressing from crudely to eloquently.

Even if you can't put it back together, you can very often learn something about how it works as you take it apart.

In my case, the pieces were in pieces...no way anyone could have put them back together.

You must have been fun to raise. A challenge?