How to forcibly eject a CD/DVD from a MacBook Air USB SuperDrive

http://blog.jgc.org/2011/11/how-to-forcibly-eject-cddvd-from.html

by jgrahamc • 15 years ago

119 111 15 years ago

blog.jgc.org

sambeau• 15 years ago

In the olden days some macs used to have a hidden eject lever inside and to the side of the actual slot that you could push with a long thin screwdriver. Has that now gone?

mootymoots• 15 years ago

yeah the slot loading iMacs from 1999 ish had it on the right hand side. You could press it in with a paperclip. Not sure about now...

iaskwhy2• 15 years ago

The first aluminum iMac didn't, had to send it to the store[1] for almost one month to get my CD back. Will never buy an iMac again.

[1] Country without official Apple stores, that's what you get.

kalleboo• 15 years ago

I'm pretty sure they still do (last time I used one was on a white plastic MacBook). I think it's that white piece of plastic in the bottom of his picture of the opened drive http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZXGivS3ZQHk/TsPQFirsZBI/AAAAAAAAA-...

jonhendry11• 15 years ago

Apparently yes. The manual says ejecting is only possible when connected to a Macbook Air.

ErrantX• 15 years ago

Ah yes... fond memories.

I think I got part way through pulling apart and gave up in disgust. :)

protomyth2• 15 years ago

I would recommend not buying the Apple USB SuperDrive and instead buy one of these http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/optical-drives/ (have no clue why firewire is in the url when most are usb). The works with one machine and not another turned me off to the Apple product. Plus, actual ejection mechanisms are kinda a necessity in this imperfect world.

muyuu• 15 years ago

Do they work on MBA's single USB without external power? I guess they don't. Sadly they have cornered the market on this one. If I'm going to use a drive that isn't portable, then I can use my desktop computer instead 99% of the time.

protomyth2• 15 years ago

Look down the list an their are a couple that work on USB without external power. This one http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MRSSBD6X/ was tested on a MacBook Air by http://www.macnews.com/2011/10/21/blu-ray-player-owc-drive-l...

simcop2387• 15 years ago

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Lacie/301486/

Looks like this one does it with two usb ports.

incandenza• 15 years ago

I bought a generic one, pretty much the first hit on Amazon, and it works fine on the Air. It never occurred to me that this was a difficult requirement to meet anymore.

They come with those dual-headed connectors, but I've never encountered any situation where you had to use both.

Also, the Air's USB ports put out the higher current that the iPad needs to charge faster, hence are even more likely to be able to handle this.

icebraining• 15 years ago

My cheap HP came with one of those: http://www.notebookreview.com/shared/picture.asp?f=42394 Really light and small, and it even supports Lightscribe, for those who care.

They also sell another model with USB power only separately, but it's pricey: http://www.shopping.hp.com/store/product/product_detail/VV82...

buyx3• 15 years ago

Lately, I've also been getting frustrated with Apple:

I was setting up someone's iPad for them last night. Installed a couple of apps, then did a jailbreak. Started testing the apps, and found that there was no sound. Battled for a few minutes and thought it had to do with the jailbreak. After some Googling I realised that the side switch was in mute-mode, rather than rotation lock mode.

Why did I have to set someone elses iPad up in the first place? Because in a bandwidth-constrained country, downloading iTunes is a difficult problem - the stupid iTunes switch-on requirement has sunk many people (I've had to set up 3 iPads for other people because of it).

As a South African, I'm forced to create a Kenya iTunes account to buy games, since Apple hasn't bothered, like most other manufacturers have, to get a simple clearance from our Home Affairs department to self-rate games. At least creating a Kenya account is easier than the other "workaround": creating a US account with a fake address, and then buying iTunes vouchers. Of course, there is the risk that Apple will deactivate my account and screw me out of the apps I paid for.

Talking about having a Kenya account, I made the mistake of creating a South Africa account first - ever tried updating apps when you have multiple iTunes accounts? It's a nightmare.

Ein2015• 15 years ago

Why does your country require clearance to let people rate apps?

larrik• 15 years ago

I believe he means the iTunes version of ESRB ratings, which are designated by the developer of the app and not by an "interdependent" review agency.

buyx3• 15 years ago

I meant rating for age restrictions by the App Store, not end-user ratings.

This is done on a game-by-game basis by a government agency in South Africa, and requires an additional fee, but, based on what I've read, other manufacturers have gotten their internal rating systems approved, so this fee is not applicable. Apple hasn't bothered. They just don't let South Africans buy games.

jasonlotito2• 15 years ago

Yes. I have a lot of apps from when I lived in Canada. Now that I'm in the US, it's fun updating apps.

kstenerud2• 15 years ago

Ditto. I tried calling Apple to ask them to move my account over to a US account, but they said it can't be done, then proceeded to tell me matter-of-factly that the best solution is to abandon my Canadian account (along with all my purchases), start a new US account, and then re-buy all of my apps again (and all this while implying that it was somehow my fault for moving to a different country).

Apple is like the bitchy beauty queen who gets a pass due to her looks. Everything's peaches-and-cream until you hit a bump. Then the claws come out.

Personally, I prefer Betty to Veronica.

ceejayoz2• 15 years ago

iOS5 removes the iTunes requirement to activate a device.

These mostly sound more like issues with South Africa than Apple.

buyx3• 15 years ago

These mostly sound more like issues with South Africa than Apple.

Not really. People in countries like Australia can buy games, even through they have a similar classifications regime. Based on what I've read, Apple hasn't even bothered to approach the South African Film and Publications Board to apply for self-rating:

http://www.thyon.com/blog-entry/items/apples-lack-of-games-m...

sgt• 15 years ago

The main problem with South Africa is the bandwidth issue. The fact that you pay per GB is ridiculous. I'm on "uncapped" ADSL myself, downloading hundreds of gigabytes on a monthly basis, but they have their ways of throttling you to discourage you from doing this.

Gmo• 15 years ago

I feel you ... I have French, Dutch and American accounts and having to log in/log out is a real pain ...

epo2• 15 years ago

"ever tried updating apps when you have multiple iTunes accounts? It's a nightmare."

I have 2 iTunes accounts, one for free apps and one for paid apps (it seemed like a good idea at the time to not expose credit card info unnecessarily). In iTunes I have to log in separately to update my paid and free apps, it's a nuisance but hardly the stuff of nightmares.

jonhendry11• 15 years ago

App developers don't get your credit card info, so I don't really think there's a point to this.

shinratdr4• 15 years ago

I don't really see how your first issue is a reason to get frustrated with Apple. The first thing novice users do when something core like sound isn't working is to start randomly flipping all available buttons and switches, they would have caught that just fine. You just panicked and assumed it was because of the jailbreak. That's hardly Apple's fault.

Also, I don't buy the iTunes thing. Downloading apps on the iPad, using it on the net, and updating iOS isn't a problem but downloading the 80mb iTunes is a killer? I just don't get it. If downloading iTunes really is that brutal, seems like the experience on an iPad would be very disappointing in general. Either way, no company should be catering their core experience towards a situation where downloading an 80mb file is a big hassle. The problem is infrastructure, not iTunes.

It must be hell to set up a printer in South Africa. I grumble about a 300mb download from HP here but if 80mb is so brutal I'm surprised anyone in South Africa even owns a printer.

Finally in regards to games, IMO this is SA's fault. Plenty of countries have ridiculous gaming laws. It's not Bethesda's fault that there are no nukes in the Japanese Fallout 3, it's not Valve's fault that L4D2 is neutered in Australia, and it's not Apple's fault that they have to go out of their way to get a special exemption to rate games themselves in South Africa. Blame your ridiculous laws, every other country manages it with no problem.

fluidcruft• 15 years ago

Engineer different

nodata• 15 years ago

"Of course, you stop worrying about that and wonder how the cable has managed to fray on this barely used drive"

Because it makes the cable look nicer. Seriously.

regularfry• 15 years ago

This is what white sugru is for.

You want to make it look nice and it breaks quicker? FINE. Just don't complain when I bulk it up with gobs of putty to make sure I get my money's worth out of it.

nmcfarl• 15 years ago

And black is for the little pads under the keyboard. Orange is for my iPhone bumpers. And so on….

But really sugru is for everything! There’s a product I’m a fan of.

steverb4• 15 years ago

Reminds me of my first experience with an OS-X Macbook and how I began to hate Apple. I was creating a web site for the company I was employed by at the time, and being the gung-ho developer I am thought that we should test the site out on one of the new OS-X Macs. Fortunately, one of the techs there had just purchased one and offered to bring it in and leave it on my desk for the day.

So I was poking around the machine (website looked okay), and decided to try out the video playback. I slipped a DVD in, watched whatever the heck it was, and then spent the next thirty minutes trying to figure out how to eject the damned thing since there was no eject button.

If memory serves, there was a paperclip slot for emergency eject. Which is what I ended up doing. Later, the owner came by and showed me the drag to trash thing. I thought (and still do) that not having a physical eject button is a horrible design.

hvs2• 15 years ago

When you begin dragging a mounted disk in OS X now, the trash can image on the dock turns into an eject image, although I'm pretty sure that it hasn't always done that.

That said, I agree. I think the Apple designers could come up with a cool way to include an eject button.

Side note, no Mac (as far as I know) has ever had an eject button. Even the original floppy drives were electronic eject (which was really awesome back in the 80's.)

steverb4• 15 years ago

Fortunately, my Apple II GS (Woz Edition!) had a physical disk eject button.

I understand the dislike of physical buttons, but I don't understand why Apple doesn't at least put a capacitance button on there (like the 360 has).

mikeryan• 15 years ago

Side note, no Mac (as far as I know) has ever had an eject button

My MacBook Pro and most MacBooks have an eject button on the keyboard right next to F12

Anechoic• 15 years ago

>the trash can image on the dock turns into an eject image, although I'm pretty sure that it hasn't always done that.

It's always done that in Mac OS X, but not in Mac OS 9 or older

pndmnm• 15 years ago

Many did -- e.g. the original G4 Towers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Mac_G4

The gray oval in the center of the drive door cover is the load of a class 3 lever that pushes the eject button on a relatively commodity optical drive. It was eliminated once the Quicksilver generation came out.

Those early G4s could also be purchased with a ZIP drive, the coverplate to which infuriatingly had a thin section of plastic covering the ZIP eject button, such that you could see the LED in it but not push it. Now that's just mean.

jonhendry11• 15 years ago

There are several ways of ejecting. Drag to trash. Select the disk icon and choose File->eject, or hit command-E. Use Disk Utility. Use the command line. If all else fails (such as if the screen is borked and you can't see what you're doing and you can't use the network to get in) the disk will eject if you hold down the mouse/trackpad button when the computer reboots. (Not sure how that works with bluetooth mice/trackpads.)

That said, yeah, stupid to not expose access to the eject button on the DVD mechanism.

lukeschlather• 15 years ago

Sounds like Linux/Windows. Apple is supposed to have one, consistent way to do something.

I think it's pretty clear someone dropped the ball when they decided that "drag the disk to the trash" was the best metaphor. Even if it reassures you that you know what you're doing at the last second as you hold the disc over the trash can.

TechStuff• 15 years ago

There's also an Eject command in the File menu. But yes, it's different from a PC, where you normally push a physical button on the optical drive.

mikeash• 15 years ago

Did you look in the help? I can't say for sure that it was in there then, but searching the help for "eject" on my Mac today gives several different ways to eject a DVD, and I would think that this would have been available before as well.

ender7• 15 years ago

There was a similar issue with older Macbook (and Powerbook) laptops, where certain drives would occasionally refuse to eject a disk. The solution at the time was to insert a piece of folded-up paper into the slot, jamming the disk in place. When you booted the machine, the drive would try to spin the disk up, fail, and then eject it. The timing was hard, since you had to get your makeshift paper jam out of the way as well.

petenixey2• 15 years ago

Slight deviation but I'm seeing a telling pattern among my friends which is that after making the jump to a Macbook two or three years ago because of their great experience with the iPod they've now reached the time when it starts needing new parts.

Because the batteries and hard drives are so crazily expensive I see them making the decision that it's cheaper to buy a new PC (possibly even a nice light netbook) then replace the battery / hard drive on their Apple.

Before they'd made the jump I'd encourage them to switch because they hadn't yet "experienced" Apple. Now that they're making an informed decision I can't argue with their reasoning for switching back.

Apple's upfront premium pricing is defensible and sensible but their aftersales costs are doing everyone including them a lot of damage.

steverb4• 15 years ago

Well, to be fair, replacement batteries for Dells are crazy expensive too. When the batteries in my wife's laptop start going bad (which they inevitably do because of her usage pattern) she usually just limps along until we can buy a new machine and hand the old one down.

underwater• 15 years ago

You can buy generic replacement batteries for about a third of the price.

adamio• 15 years ago

What are the new parts this Macbook is requiring? Batteries will need to be replaced and Apple's prices are around market for these. What specific aftersales costs are you referring to?

petenixey2• 15 years ago

Generally it's batteries and hard drives with occasional RAM upgrades too. None of these people have the knowledge or confidence to change these themselves so they see the Apple store as the only option. This of course only multiplies parts and labour costs.

andrewcooke• 15 years ago

fans are what i have had to replace on each macbook my partner has owned. that and power cables fraying (they do not replace those for free in chile, so we've been through one expensive power brick after another...).

by the way, for power cables, i have, finally, found a solution: use silicone sealant (the stuff you use around the bath) to make a cable strain relief. it doesn't look that great, but it works. splodge sealant on the cable where it leaves the plug and smooth it out along the cable. the sealant should join the end of the plug and taper out over a few inches of cable.

calloc• 15 years ago

When you coil up the power cord, make a little loop then wrap it around the poles rather than pulling tight and around the poles.

This helps with strain relief and helps the power adapter stay perfectly in shape longer. I've had my MacBook Pro for 5 years now, same power adapter, haven't had to replace it yet.

gravitronic2• 15 years ago

My theory is that you are going to need a new laptop every five years, minimum.

If you choose the Apple experience (or a high-class PC laptop for that matter), that will be at least $1000/five years. If you choose a Gateway laptop that will be $400/five years.

From mine and my friend's experiences I would not say that a more expensive laptop will last longer than a cheaper laptop. Most of my friends who are Apple users have had their laptops replaced at least once due to hardware failure. They had AppleCare and usually ended up with a new laptop for free. After seeing their rate of replacement I would never own an Apple laptop without AppleCare because the difference between being stuck with a brick and having Apple replace it with a newer model free of charge is worth the money.

dextorious2• 15 years ago

""""After seeing their rate of replacement I would never own an Apple laptop without AppleCare because the difference between being stuck with a brick and having Apple replace it with a newer model free of charge is worth the money.""""

Yeah, but for me the difference between not having to use a PC is worth even more money.

If you're casual about computing, buy whatever, but if you are professional buy what fits your work needs best, be it Mac or PC, not what is cheaper. If $1000 or $2000 / 5 years seem a lot to you as a professional, then you are in the wrong business.

billpatrianakos2• 15 years ago

I'd agree that you'd need a new one every 5 years. I'd also add that there's a difference between a Mac and Windows over those 5 years (I haven't used Linux very long so I can't speak for that OS). Windows becomes so slow that it might as well just be a brick whereas my Macs stay peppy throughout the entire 5 years. The Mac does slow a tad but it's really not much to complain about. My most recent one came with Leopard and I've gone from 10.5 to 10.6 to 10.7 Lion now and she still purrs. All I use is Onyx for occasional maintenance.

I really don't want to start a Mac v. Windows argument as I despise those but it's something I've just noticed as I've replaced my machines over the last 10 or so years. My real point is that in my experience I get my money's worth to the very end with the Macs I've owned.

ugh3• 15 years ago

You don’t buy a laptop from Apple to save money. That’s a lame talking point.

Sometimes people are willing to pay more for reasons that have not much to do with durability or specs.

jonhendry11• 15 years ago

Hard drives? Any laptop hard drive will do. I put a 500GB Seagate hybrid drive in my 2010 Macbook Pro. The installation is much easier on the plastic MacBooks of recent years, where the hard drive is accessible through the battery compartment.

If they're using MacBook Airs the disks are expensive because they're flash, not because of Apple.

rhizome• 15 years ago

Apple's upfront premium pricing

Uh, not so much anymore.

Macha• 15 years ago

I'm going to pick Apple's cheapest laptop with a non-Intel graphics card here for comparison, as I do like to play games and modern Intel cards still seem to suck.

Apple: http://www.apple.com/ie/macbookpro/specs-compare.html €1800 Asus: http://komplett.ie/Komplett/product/ZKB_02PC/02_NOTEBOO/21_1... - €900

Not entirely comparable, the mbp has a potientially better graphics card (its definitely faster, but having a quarter of the graphics RAM does limit its future proofing), the asus has a higher resolution screen, more RAM, more storage space etc.

On balance, they probably balance out technically. This is pretty clear premium pricing. Whether you consider it worth the premium or not is another matter.

As to the usual claim that this is because Apple products are better built and more durable, Apple are big on planned obselence, so let's say that mbp has a 5 year lifespan. It'll work for five years, probably, but you will want to replace it then.

The Asus is more likely to fail before its obselete, but by the wonders of consumer protection law (n/a for US people, unfortunately), the minimum time before hardware failure forces you to buy a new one is two years. Put your €900 you saved in the bank and buy another one in when it fails (which more realistically is in 3-4 years). It'll be much better than either of these laptops are now.

antidaily• 15 years ago

It's defective. Take it back.

program• 15 years ago

"Of course, you stop worrying about that and wonder how the cable has managed to fray on this barely used drive:"

This is because Apple cables miss the so called "strain relief".

http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/hvuhg/apple_why/c1yuah...

it is a design choice.

brimpa• 15 years ago

Did you try holding the trackpad button during boot?

sgdesign• 15 years ago

My superdrive has been collecting dust on a shelf for 6 months now, with a DVD stuck inside…

geuis• 15 years ago

I've been able to use this nifty terminal command in the past to eject problem disks, "drutil tray eject"

soapdog• 15 years ago

hold the mouse button down (trackpad button in your case) while booting, it should eject the disc

ryannielsen• 15 years ago

This is a fun but somewhat misleading narrative.

Assuming you have a working Mac which can power the external Superdrive (all MacBook Airs, I believe most of the recent MacBook Pros and MacBooks, and possibly recent iMacs as well) then you can eject media simply by booting the machine and holding down the trackpad or main USB mouse button. This is triggered by the Mac's firmware and thus will work even if you OS is hosed.

Searching for "eject stuck dvd" on support.apple.com has a knowledge base article covering this tip as its first hit.

Even the first google hit (for me)[1] covers this as a part of its how to guide.

Of course, if for some reason none of your Macs will even POST or you happen to be Mac-less, and you're nowhere within driving distance of someone with a working Mac or an Apple Store the, yes, disassembling the drive is probably a reasonable option.

[1] http://www.macyourself.com/2009/05/01/the-ultimate-guide-to-...

nickolai• 15 years ago

> Of course, if for some reason none of your Macs will even POST or you happen to be Mac-less, and you're nowhere within driving distance of someone with a working Mac or an Apple Store the, yes, disassembling the drive is probably a reasonable option.

You forget the part about the damaged cable like what can be seen on a few pictures. If the link between the MacBook and the drive is severed, there is no way a firmware on the laptop could cause the disk to eject. And with no forcible eject trigger you're left with the 'cracking the case open' solution.

Shouldn't happen more than once per drive though, so I guess this is why Apple couldn't be bothered with an actual forcible reject button.

EDIT : he seems to claim that the reboot trick does work, so apparently the cable is still at least partially functional in his case.

jonhendry11• 15 years ago

The problem is if the disk is stuck mechanically.

brudgers• 15 years ago

Your primary solution, i.e. a complete redundant computer system, seems likely to be a bit more expensive than just buying another drive and another copy of the disk's content.

kstenerud2• 15 years ago

Ditch your superdrive and get a Zalman ZM-VE200.

http://www.zalman.com/eng/product/Product_Read.asp?idx=431

I bought one a few months ago, then got rid of all my CD drives except for one big 5.25" internal CD/DVD drive with USB adaptor that I take out of the closet whenever I get a new CD that I may need in future. I convert the CD to an ISO, load the ISO onto the Zalman, then put the drive and CD in the closet.

starwed• 15 years ago

Heh, I bought one of these recently and went through exactly the same process, looking over it for a physical eject mechanism.

Tichy• 15 years ago

The proper way is to not use CDs/DVDs anymore :-)

How to forcibly eject a CD/DVD from a MacBook Air USB SuperDrive

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