Will the "Genius" people replace my HDD?

Can the "Genius" people replace my HDD for a new one that has been purchased from say amazon

I want to replace the drive on my MBP (pre-unibody) with a "Western Digital Scorpio Blue 500GB" which I intend to buy from amazon.
I still have 2more years of warranty and I don't want to void it by installing it myself
I don't know if the rules may vary depending on country but I'm currently in London.

 

I dont see why they wouldnt

 

will they install it for free?

 

as wobble points out: will it cost me, cause there is nothing really in it for them? ...and Apple being Apple they might (over)charge me.

I just want to hear if anyone else has gone through this process

 

Older pre-uni MBPs require extensive teardown to put in a new HDD; as such I'm not sure that is something that the store Genius staff would be able/willing to do or whether the unit would have to be shipped out to the regional Apple service center for work.

Also, whether the service center would even install an aftermarket HDD purchased by the end-user is a good question (this is different from replacing a defective component, which is obviously done if the notebook is still under warranty)... as I recall, the warranty on the older MBPs was explicitly *void* if the HDD was replaced directly by the end-user.

Best to ring up the Apple store and get the answers before you buy the HDD and drag the both of them down to the store.

 

I doubt they would install it for free - I'm sure they perform services for their machines other than just warranty repair.

 

But what if his computer breaks down another day and they replace his machine, will they transfer the hard disk to the new machine?

 

Well then it would be up to the end user to say "Hey, you guys replaced my hard drive (here is my receipt showing you performed the work). Please transfer it to the new machine." Not that difficult. Now my only question would be - if they install it, would it then fall under the AppleCare warranty? I doubt it, but it might be something that you'd want to ask the techs at the shop.

 

Assuming the OP puts in a new hard drive, which is provided by the end user -- that will be explicitly excluded from AppleCare's warranty as that only provides coverage for all originally installed components (same thing with end user replaced RAM, AppleCare just covers the RAM that ships with the notebook originally). Warranty on the new HDD would be provided by the manufacturer (WD, etc) while the remainder of the machine would still be covered by AppleCare.

The exceptions to this is if the original HDD or RAM breaks and is replaced by Apple with a new one through AppleCare, then the replacement would be covered under AppleCare rather than manufacturer.