Jan "Jenkings" Škoda - blog

As I wrote in a previous article about this notebook, the cover for the hard drive was missing, leaving a hole in the bottom of the case, but that was not the biggest problem. With the cover missing, the HDD was held only by the SATA connector, and when there was plenty of space underneath it, it would swing and possibly slowly destroy the port.

So I decided to make a temporary solution until I could find a replacement cover or 3D print a new one that would fit perfectly. And yes, I am a bit afraid that this temporary solution might be the permanent solution. We know...

However, I have been going through my storage of model railway material, and I still have some plastic sheets in 1mm and 3mm thickness that I got and stored many years ago when I was working in an advertising/printing company during school.

So I used a knife to cut the approximate shape of a 1mm board and tried to fit it over the hole. As it was not just smooth, but a bit rounded, I took a lighter, heated the corners a bit and gently formed the rounded shape.

The end result is not very nice, and it is really ugly tinkering, but for now it covers the function and keeps the SATA port and HDD safe. So maybe I could give it a bit of black paint and it would be fine for now, and I would wait for a better piece solution.