Thanks for the useful guide. I often change watch batteries for family members and myself. The only things I'll add are that there is some variation amongst different brands of watch, so use this guide as a starting point and apply your own common sense. Some watch backs have a flange instead of a groove. Some have nothing at all. I've got myself a special watch-opening tool, a sturdy knife with curved edge on a handle, which works better than a screwdriver for opening. I've had it for years. I think I got it off dx.com. Often there's some sort of catch that needs to be released (by small screwdriver or spudger) in order to get the battery to pop out. Most backs have a cut-out to accommodate the winder shaft, so you need to line that up on re-assembly. Many have a fine gasket for better water-resistance. These often break, but you can do without them for most usage. Thanks especially for tip about stopping the watch when not in use, to save the battery. I hadn't thought of that.

Mine were also T5 Torx screws. Maybe some manufacturing variation.

Yes, thank you! My MBP DVD drive wasn't working, so I'd taped up the slot to prevent accidentally using it. Today, while I had the case open to do some work on the SSD (following another iFixit guide), I thought I might as well take out the DVD drive, and open it up, to see what was happening. Broken pieces of plastic inside. So I'm treating the drive as unrepairable. I put it back in, in case the void affected the airflow for cooling. But I decided to leave it disconnected from the mainboard. All good. Now when I boot up, I don't get that annoying noise as it tried the not-working-anyway DVD drive. So, with SSD, now totally silent boot (aside from the chime). Mine one of the later 2006 models, so getting on 17 years old. Still a usable machine running up-to-date software with Debian Linux.

Thanks, iRobot, and other contributors. I followed this guide a few years back to install an SSD. I had to do it again today to temporarily take out the drive to plug into another machine to fix some lost passwords. The DVD drive is broken, and this Macbook is too old to boot off USB, so taking out the drive was the only option. This is now a 17-year-old machine, still going strong, running up-to-date software through Debian Linux.

In case anybody reads this: My tip for keeping track of screws is to use a tiny ball of Blu-Tack to stick each screw close to where it came from. It doesn't work in all situations, like if you're taking screws out of a bottom plate, and then need to turn the laptop over to rest on that plate. (Sometimes you can work around this by sticking the screws nearby on the side of the case.) But it's very handy in many situations.

Correction: That was a Thinkpad X200.

Thanks Walter Galan (and other contributors). With this guide I was able to upgrade my Unibody Macbook A1278 to 8GB RAM (2 times 4GB). Very nice!

Next job is some LVM surgery to expand my swap partition from 4GB to at least 8GB (taking the space from my /home partition) so I can still have hibernation working. I'm running Debian Linux on this machine. Not only is it liberating, but it's the only way of keeping such an old machine running up-to-date software.

I originally bought the RAM sticks from iFixit intending to upgrade my old Lenovo Thinkpad X20 from 4GB RAM to 8GB. But that didn't work. Not having time to diagnose the problem, I found a home for the RAM by using it to upgrade this Macbook.

I followed my usual process of putting in all the screws loosely, then tightening them gradually in distributed pattern, to help ensure that the panel settles in place evenly. But maybe some orders are better.

I used the Phillips #00 tip from my Pro Tech Toolkit, and it worked well enough. But yes, maybe #000 might have been better on the lower row of screws. Note to myself: Always read the comments first.

Thanks for the guide!

It's implicit in the two photos, but worth mentioning because it blocked my progress in this step for a bit: You have to put the release latch back into its horizontal, closed position before you can lift off the lower-case panel.

Thanks! Even so, I had to get the drive aligned just right, so that the sliding bar could mate with the matching slot in the case.