Chosen Solution
MacBook Pro 17" early 2009 What can I replace this with? I don’t see one on your site. Is there a brand or model no. I can search for? I wonder if it is fixable. I tried some of the posted fixes from Apple, nothing worked. The drive will not let me insert a disc at all. There is no disc in the drive but it feels like something is stopping it. Electrical glitch?
The drive is stuck in the wrong mode (play) which is why you can’t install the disk. Best to just replace the optical drive. Here’s the part you need: Unibody 8x SATA SuperDrive (Pre-Mid 2009). Update I fixed my response for the correct model now that we know you have a unibody model. As for the Hard Drive you can use any 2.5" 9.5mm high SATA II (3.0 Gb/s) unit. I would recommend a hybrid drive (SSHD). Seagate makes a 1TB drive that would work for you. Before you open your system make sure your firmware is upto date. Follow this Apple TN EFI & SMC firmware updates for Intel-based Macs
