Surgery on DVR-S606 - Safe removal of drive from casing/laser tweak

So I had this problem with an external DVD+/-RW drive, it is in a thread about ten posts previous. After speaking with many people about it, I've come to the conclusion that the optical components were knocked out of alignment (Or something!) during shipping by USPS. I doubt I'll get any money for repairs out of them, so I'm trying it myself first, VERY CAREFULLY!
A very knowledgable friend of mine told me about the frequent adjustments he needed to make on laser/optical components in game consoles (They get kicked accidentally, etc.). He described it as being fairly simple, the big problem for me is getting at this part of the device, he can help me out from there.
Under sterile conditions, I got the outer casing off easily (It's just a plastic box). The thing is the cables connecting the power supply and IDE ribbon to the casing ports. They seem to be permanently attached on the port side, but it looks like they may be able to detatch from the drive unit. The question: IS THIS SO? Is it likely they have been welded or glued in? I haven't tried pulling them out, just in case that's the way it's put together.
If I can solve that, I'll be one step closer.
Another question: The manual mentions radiation danger. This is just talking about when the laser is active, right? No problems if the power's off?
Thanks a whole heap!