Eject a CD From Your Mac

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It seems straightforward to eject a disc from the disc drive in your Mac, but what happens when the eject button doesn't work? If you have a disc stuck in your Mac's disc drive, try one of the methods below to force-eject the disc from your computer.

Steps

Trying the Basic Commands

  1. Press the eject button on the top right-hand of the keyboard. Be patient if the disc does not pop out immediately. Try pressing the button a few times or waiting a few seconds and then press the button again. If it doesn't eject, tilt the computer with the disc drive facing down and shake it gently as you press eject.[1]
  2. Drag the disc icon into the trash. If the eject button isn't working, locate the disc icon on your computer's Desktop and drag it to the trash can. The trash can is located on the far right end of the Application Dock on the bottom of the computer screen.
  3. Press and hold "Command" while simultaneously pressing "E."
  4. Find the disc in the Finder. Open the Finder, located on the bottom left of the applications dock. Look on the left-hand side of the pop-up window under "Devices" for the name of the disc in your drive. Locate the eject button directly to the right of the disc name and click on it.
  5. Eject the disc through an application if it is not in the Finder. In iTunes or DVD Player, click on the "Controls" drop-down menu located on the top toolbar and click "Eject Disc." You can also open iTunes and click on "Playlists" so that the left side bar pops up. Look for the CD icon with the appropriate name. Click the eject button directly to the left of the CD name.

Ejecting a Stuck Disc

  1. Press the search icon located in top right hand-corner of your screen. Type "Terminal" into the search bar. Open the Terminal and try typing either "drutil eject" or "drutil tray eject" and see if either command works. To close the tray, type "drutil close" or "drutil tray close."
  2. Open Disk Utility. Type "Disk Utility" into your computer's search bar. Open the application and locate the appropriate disc in the left sidebar. Right-click on the disc and select "Eject," or select the disc and then click on the blue "Eject" button on the top toolbar of the application window.
  3. Restart your Mac while holding down the mouse or trackpad button. Make sure you hold it down until your computer has fully restarted. The disc should pop out.
    • If this doesn't work, try restarting your Mac while holding the Option key located two buttons to the left of the space bar. This will open up the Startup Manager.
    • When the pop up of "bootable volumes" appears, release the Option key and press the Eject button in the top right-hand corner of your keyboard. The disc should then eject.
  4. Shut down your computer completely for at least ten minutes. When you turn your computer back on, work your way through the methods above a second time to see if any of them work after allowing the computer to rest.[2]
  5. Download DiscEject for Mac. DiscEject is a utility for Mac OS X that ejects stuck discs. Download the utility and follow the extremely simple prompts to eject your disc. You will need to be operating on Mac OS X 10.4 or later and no application can be using the disc in order for DiscEject to work.

Ejecting a Physically Stuck Disc

  1. Slide a business card thin piece of paper into the disc drive. Be careful when sticking foreign objects into your computer, as doing so can cause damage. However, if your disc is physically stuck, you can try pushing it into the drive with a business card. There is a possibility that the disc is not being read by your computer because it got stuck before fully inserting into the disc drive.
  2. If your Mac has a tray style drive, shut down the computer and look for a small hole next to your disc drive. Straighten out a paper clip and push it into this hole to force the disc to eject. Another option for tray style drives is to restart your computer and push a piece of thick paper against the disc for about one minute. Doing so causes the disc to stop spinning and forces the computer to eject it. Be very careful when inserting anything into the disc drive. Doing so may cause damage to your computer.[3]
  3. Take your computer to a professional. If none of the above methods work, take your computer to a computer repair store or an Apple store and allow a professional to physically remove the disc.

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://www.macyourself.com/2009/05/01/the-ultimate-guide-to-ejecting-a-stuck-disc-from-mac-superdrive/
  2. ↑ http://mac.tutsplus.com/tutorials/tips-shortcuts/quick-tip-how-to-force-eject-a-stuck-disc/
  3. ↑ http://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/force-cd-eject-macbook-19783.html
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