
How to forcibly eject a CD/DVD from a MacBook Air USB SuperDrive - jgrahamc
http://blog.jgc.org/2011/11/how-to-forcibly-eject-cddvd-from.html
======
ender7
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.

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petenixey
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.

~~~
gravitronic
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.

~~~
dextorious
""""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.

~~~
code_duck
By 'PC', do you mean Windows?

~~~
eloisius
Probably also referring to the inferior quality hardware in most PC laptops.

~~~
Legion
This. For me, the comparison is _never_ between a $1000 Apple laptop and a
$400 Gateway one.

The comparison is between a $1000 Apple laptop and an $800-$1000 Lenovo
T-series or X-series Thinkpad (or, as I call them, the "real" Thinkpads).

For something that I use for hours every single day, an overly-heavy and
shoddily built piece of junk is not an acceptable option. Apple isn't the only
manufacturer that makes quality hardware, but the quality non-Apple machines
cost much closer to the Apples than the junky Gateway does.

~~~
dfc
As a linux user I can be fairly hardware agnostic. I used to consider apple
laptops when purchasing a laptop. After I purchased my first thinkpad it was a
no brainer, the real thinkpads are the perfect linux laptop. The ideapads are
not so bad for a cheap tiny netbook thingie. They obviously don't compare to
the thinkpad line but they are okay for what they cost...

PS I have the W500 and I'm curious why you do not include it among the real
thinkpads.

~~~
Legion
Those big desktop replacement sort of laptops aren't what I think of when I
think of "Thinkpad".

But you're right, those big W-series machines maintain the Thinkpad build
quality.

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buyx
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.

~~~
ceejayoz
iOS5 removes the iTunes requirement to activate a device.

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

~~~
buyx
_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...](http://www.thyon.com/blog-entry/items/apples-lack-of-games-music-
movies-tv-in-south-africa.html)

~~~
ceejayoz
I'm still seeing that as an issue with South African regulation. Apple
presumably sees Australia as a big enough market to navigate the regulation
pitfalls there, but they can't be entirely blamed if they feel that South
Africa isn't worth the negotiations.

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nodata
"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
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
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.

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ryannielsen
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-...](http://www.macyourself.com/2009/05/01/the-ultimate-guide-to-ejecting-
a-stuck-disc-from-mac-superdrive/)

~~~
nickolai
> 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.

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protomyth
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
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.

~~~
incandenza
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.

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sambeau
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
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...

~~~
iaskwhy
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.

~~~
shinratdr
I have to wonder if there was actually a problem with your disc or drive.
Everyone assumes an eject button is the magic elixir, but in 5-10 years of
supporting Macs I've yet to have a working drive not spit out a disc using one
of the regular methods like holding down the mouse button while booting.

~~~
iaskwhy
I believe they replaced the drive. My problem is that I wouldn't need the
drive if I didn't have one by the time but with the CD inside it would make a
lot of noise trying to do something to it...

------
program
"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...](http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/hvuhg/apple_why/c1yuah6)

it is a design choice.

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brimpa
Did you try holding the trackpad button during boot?

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

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kstenerud
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.

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antidaily
It's defective. Take it back.

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

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steverb
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.

~~~
hvs
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.)

~~~
mikeryan
_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

~~~
hvs
I guess I was referring to a _physical_ eject button (i.e. the kind you would
find on a PC). The button on the keyboard just triggers the same call that
dropping the CD into the trash does.

~~~
jrockway
My original iMac had one. So did my Performa 6112CD.

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

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

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ErrantX
Ah yes... fond memories.

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

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fluidcruft
Engineer different

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

