Use caution. I had to apply a lot of squeezing pressure to get the cover to come loose and when it did it flipped in my fingers and those pointy little clips stabbed into my thumb. Not pleasant. I suggest using just enough pressure to allow you to use a tool to pry the cover loose.

I found when putting this back in that I had to use a spudger to work the mesh/foam into the slot where the memory cards are so the bracket would lay flat again when screwed back in.

Thought I had a hard drive problem when computer wouldn't boot up. Took out HDD and connected with SATA cable to USB and the drive is fine. So I'm guessing the problem is the cable (which looks fine) or on the board. Was considering using this fix to put original HDD in optical drive slot but I see people remark that it will be slower than it was. Question is, how much slower? Too slow for a college student who doesn't use it for much other than internet browsing? Would I be better off getting a case for the original HDD, or just a new external drive, and continuing to use it via USB? Is that slower or faster than the optical drive connection? Thanks.