Good tip... I recently had to insert and remove a bunch of sleds and my knuckles were beginning to take a beating. I'll try this out today! Thanks!

I'll have to remember this as well. I still have scars on my fingers from a previous attempt at removing a drive sled on one our Mac Pros.
Despite the fact that they can be a little hard to pull out, I'll take them any day over the older G5 tower drives. Those were even worse.

Not graphite! That's conductive!

Silicone would be the way to go if you need to lubricate the sled.

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EMOJO: mojo no longer workin'

I use another empty sled, clasp or hook the front ends together and pull. That's the best way. I borrowed the technique from Apple's takeapart of the Mac Pro, to shimmy the front fans, you are actually supposed to use a PCI slot cover much in the same way.

Don't ever EVER EVER use graphite to lubricate parts that are near electronics. Graphite is an electrical conductor, albeit weak and with a high resistance. You do not want graphite dust getting into electronic components, it could cause shorts or other electronic damage.