I agree with the comment above. When you’re putting everything back together, take time to see the connector properly before you push the logic board all the way in. It saves a lot of hassle.

I paid the five bucks and I am really not sorry I did. Yes, I probably could’ve made my own or fiddled it out with a couple of screwdrivers, but without having done it before, knowing how much leverage to apply and in which direction was made much easier by using a proper tool.

My mini came with only a PCIe SSD on it. When I got to this point, I discovered that because it was never shipped with a hard drive, there was no securing screw, no cable connector bracket, no cable connector, and no hardware for securing the drive. Fortunately, there is still a hole in the logic board where the SATA cable is supposed to pass through, and the logic board does have the appropriate connector. if you buy an OEM SATA cable, you can actually secure the SSD in place using a little bit of electricians tape. Because it has no moving parts, it’s not going to rattle itself loose. I am more concerned about not having a cover for the place where the SATA cable clips to the logic board, but I put a little electricians tape over it to hold it in place and I will see how that works.

this was the most fiddly part of the reassembly operation for me too. Old eyes, despite good lighting, led me to try this multiple times before I finally got that satisfying click. I am surprised that people find securing the screw first to be helpful, as I didn’t have nearly enough room to move the cable around if I tried that. Also, while it is theoretically possible to do this entire operation without removing the cable, I would never chance it… It’s way too easy to damage something by yanking on the plate. I had a lot of peace of mind when I was able to set the entire antenna plate aside.

I can recommend the Tekprem tools for this. That %#*@ security dimple foiled me until I got these. check Amazon ratings before you buy any tools, a lot of them that come from China are made with cheap pot metal rather than properly hardened alloys and will strip out very quickly. (Don’t ask me how I know this.)