MacBook Pro Mid-2012 Hard Drive Cable Broken So I had a problem few days ago. My MacBook was freezing all the time without any obvious reason. Googled for some time and figured out that HD cable was acting funny. So I bought a new one, but my new one came with no brackets. Tried to replace it and broke this little cable


I'm not really sure why but I decided to give it a try and booted it as it is. MacBook runs fine so far. I understand that it needs to be replace and all but can anyone tell me what that cable for and what consequences I can face?
That yellow cable is a IR sensor cable, connected to a ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) connector. If you don't use or plan to use IR for anything you should be fine in my experience.

As an additional reference this guide at the site ifixit.com describes replacing the hard-drive cable on what is most likely your model. Step 14 in the guide describes the yellow sensor cable: iFixit, replace HD-cable on Macbook Pro 13" Unibody mid 2012, Step 14