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I recently picked up an Asus Essentio CM6850 (click the link to see the case I'll be referencing) from Best Buy and really like it. I recently upgraded to a 650w power supply and a Asus Geforce GT 560 graphics card, both of which work really well.

The one thing I do want to do is move the DVD Drive to the lower 5.25 bay, but I can't figure out how to get the DVD drive out of the top bay (where it was factory installed). I tried removing the drive through the back of the drive bay, but the face plate on the drive gets hung about half way out of the bay (I gave it a decent tug to no avail). (Note: I have definitely removed all the screws holding the drive in the drive bay, so I'm sure it's not that.) I can't pull it out through the front of the case because the 5.25 drive bays have spring loaded covers that pop out when you open the drive. The picture below shows the drive open, and you can see the spring-loaded drive cover sticking out underneath the drive tray:

Image showing open dvd tray with spring-loaded flaps underneath

The covers make the front of the case too small for the drive to come out. So my questions are (answering any of which would solve my problem):

  1. Has anyone had any experience with removing a 5.25 drive from a CM6850 (or similiar Asus) case?
  2. Is there a non-destructive way to remove the drive bay covers? or
  3. How can I remove the entire front panel of the machine so that it will uncover the bays in the front so I can slide it out that way?
  4. Has anyone seen a service manual for this machine?

Any help would be appreciated. I will gladly provide more information if needed. Thanks!

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    You will probably have to pop off the front panel of the case (at least that's what I did with an HP tower that has a similar drive door). The front panel may be held in by tabs or latches (for quick assembly at the factory) rather than attached by screws. Inspect the front of the case from the inside for the tabs/latches. Don't force the panel off lest you break a tab.
    – sawdust
    May 17, 2012 at 1:27
  • You were right. The whole front came off. I took both the side panels off. Assuming you're facing the case, the there were four tabs on the left side that had to be dis-engaged. Once you did that, the front panel swung off to the right and came of, as the right side has holes that form free floating hinges. A very nice design once I quit looking for screws. Thanks!
    – Trav
    May 17, 2012 at 23:35
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    If you were able to find a solution, please post it as an answer so that other people can benefit. Photos or diagrams would be helpful too.
    – Ryan Gates
    Apr 23, 2013 at 23:24

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Here's a photo sent to me by ASUS. There are also pop out tabs if you want to add another hard drive. I haven't tried that yet.

An image
(source: staticflickr.com)

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