How to remove the drive from your laptop

Getting rid of an old laptop? You only need to send us the drive. Here's how to find it and get it out — and what to do if your laptop won't let you.

First: can your drive come out at all?

Many thin laptops made in the last several years — including most MacBooks from roughly 2016 onward and plenty of ultrabooks — have storage soldered directly to the motherboard. There's no drive to remove. If that's you, skip to the end of this guide.

To check, search your laptop's exact model plus “SSD replacement.” If guides exist, your drive is removable.

What you'll need

• A small Phillips screwdriver (some laptops need Torx or pentalobe bits)
• A plastic pry tool or old guitar pick
• A small container for screws
• An anti-static bag for the drive (or the one your new drive came in)

Step by step

1. Back up anything you want to keep. Once the drive leaves, so does your data.
2. Shut the laptop down completely and unplug the charger. Don't just close the lid.
3. Remove the battery if it's removable. If it's internal, disconnect its cable once the back is open.
4. Touch something metal to discharge static before handling components.
5. Open the drive bay or bottom panel. Older laptops often have a small marked door; newer ones need the whole bottom cover removed. Keep track of which screw came from where.
6. Find the drive. It'll be either a 2.5-inch rectangle (a SATA hard drive or SSD) or a thin stick about the size of a stick of gum (an M.2 SSD).
7. Remove it. A 2.5-inch drive usually slides out of a connector, sometimes in a bracket. An M.2 drive is held by one small screw — remove it and the drive will tilt up; slide it out at an angle.
8. Put it in an anti-static bag and follow our shipping guide.

If your storage is soldered

You can't send just the drive, and a factory reset alone isn't something we'd stake a certificate on. Get in touch with the make and model and we'll walk you through your options.