Chosen Solution

For no reason I ended up getting a music CD lodged in my CD/DVD drive (slot). It will not come out with the usual restarting while holding down the eject key. If I try to eject it by any of the desktop, menu or keyboard options, the icon will go away as if it is ejected but the disk will continue to make a clicking sound over and over again. It will not come out. If I restart, it will continue making that sound as well. It sound as if it is about to eject but won’t. I can stop the clicking by inserting a stiff piece of paper in the slot and moving it around until the disk stops clicking.

Open the Terminal in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder and run: drutil eject Alternatively, restart with the mouse button held down. You may have to open it up if all else fails and open the optical drive. Are you sure of how many disks are in it?

Use the double sticky tape trick . Get and old CD/DVD and some thin double sticky tape like they use to hold down window plastic or photos in an album. Put two strips of tape side by side on 1/2 the old cd/dvd (plull off the cover for the second side of adhesive). Slide the CD/DVD less than 1/2 way into the slot on top of the jammed disk, push down or angle down to snatch the jammed disk and pull it out. Good Luck, N.

Try the two card trick I have had some success with this on MacBooks and MacBook Pros. It works best if you can see the disc being prepared for ejection (It sort of lifts off a base and lines up with the loading slot) but failing and being put back in a park position. Insert two plastic cards (library, credit cards, or similar) into the slot and try to hold them as far apart as possible. The idea is to try and get one above the disc being ejected and one below it and, after pressing the eject button, you should be able to grip the disc with the two cards and slowly pull it out. It takes a fair bit of patience and an extra pair of eyes/hands make the process easier. Good luck.

When I inserted the CD, I could tell right away it just didn’t feel “right”. It did not show up on my desktop. I tried eject, “drutil eject” in Terminal, restart, paperclip and tried to push another CD in just a bit to see if it could work. None of these did. But double stick tape on both sides of a CD trick worked great. Also, my drive still seems fine. Thanks!

If you look on the front panel of the drive then you will see a pinhole sized hole. Insert a straightened paper clip or similar into the hole and the door will slide open. If it still fails to work after that then its time for a new drive. At least you can get whatever disk is in there out in the meantime.