Mac 101: Get that "stuck" disc out of your Mac

You guys forgot drutil tray open and hdiutil unmount -force /Volumes/Name of volume in drive

@mugczar

I had an iBook whose DVD drive just up and disappeared, but would spin up during a restart. Reinstalling OS X by way of Target Disk Mode made the drive reappear. In my case, I assumed the drivers just up and disappeared for some reason. You probably already tried an OS reinstall, but if not, give it a shot.

The few times I've had a non-responsive disk eject on my MDD, I go to iTunes and COMMAND-E.

That forces open both optical drives on the Mac.

YMMV.

On my wishlist for Snow Leopard: a "EJECT OPTICAL DISC NO MATTER WHAT!" system function.

If you're writing a blog entry for TUAW, "why not" read what you wrote for extraneous words. Or, "why not" have a TUAW editor?

Sheesh - even blogs should have some editorial standards. This sounds like a high schooler wrote it. Oh wait... "why not" have a high school kid blogging at TUAW?

I have used the shutter of an old 3,5" floppy disk to eject a physically stucked disk from my MacBook.


When pressing the eject button the disc is moved a tiny bit and was pulled back inside immediately afterwards. I saw tiny bit if it, but that part couldn't be caught by regular tweezers or other tools available in a typical household

I used the shutter of an old 3,5” floppy disc and bended both ends of the shutter slightly outwards, so that the disc could easily slip between.
Now I had a tool that was thin enough to go a bit deeper into my Mac’s slot-in drive. I pressed the eject button and catched a tiny part of the disc with the newly build tool. I had a fairly good grip on the disc and started to pull it out – slowly!

It worked and my MacBook’s drive hasn’t taken any damage. Warning: This can easily ruin your disc or drive. When in doubt contact your local Apple service provider!

Original blog post:
http://lipflip.org/blog/lipflip/2008/03/removing-a-stuck-cddvd-from-a-macbook

I've found the slot-loading drive in my plastic 24" iMac to be pretty good. Never had a mechanical problem with it, despite all the DVDs I watch (compared to the old tray-type in my old iBook). I was a bit wary of them at first with regards to scratches and stuff, but now I like them -- plus they make a cool sound. I guess now that I've said this, I'll get a stuck disk someday soon.

As for non-physically stuck disks, Disk Utilities usually works for me. And failing that (which is rare), reboot with the eject key.

I have had a problems with it not mounting some DVDs -- just spins them around a bit before spiting them back out, like another poster said. That's the downside of using laptop optical drive components in a desktop, I guess.

ppc users can boot to open firmware (cmd + option + "o" + "f") and type "eject cd"

Hey Cory,

One thing to remember with the slot loading disk drives is that memorex discs are thicker than other disks. Be wary of them. I've gotten a few stuck in my iBook and iMac before. I had to take my iBook to my local Apple Store to get it out. (Those are some great chaps at the Genius Bar)

Just be wary of the Memorex.

Disk utility. Done.