How can I force my Mac Mini to eject a DVD

Question

Today I put a movie DVD into my Mac Mini, but the Finder doesn't show it => the Mac doesn't seem to know it is there.

How can I force an eject?

Note: Booting with all kinds of keys CMD, ALT, Apple or Mouse pressed didn't help either (found that on the net).

ONE MONTH LATER

Today I tried to install Snow Leopard on my Mac Mini.

I inserted the DVD, answered lot's of questions, then, when I expected it to copy files, it gave me the beach ball.

Two hours and a boot later, I noticed that once again the DVD was not recognized/detected in the drive and could not be ejected until I nudged it with my pen knife...

I guess I'll be upgrading some other way ... (the mini is by now solidly out of warranty)

Solution

There are a few methods depending on how "stuck" it is:

Method 1 : Use Disk Utility to eject The first and simplest method, if you only want to unmount a single volume on the disk, is to use Disk Utility, located in Applications/Utilities. In Disk Utility, simply select the volume you want to unmount and click Eject.

Method 2 : Hold Down the mouse button at startup In some cases holding down a connected mouse button at startup will cause a misbehaving optical drive to eject its media.

Method 3: Boot into Open Firmware and eject If you have a Mac that will not startup properly and has a stuck disc, try booting into Open Firmware by holding down Command, Option, O key and F key during startup. After booting into Open Firmware, type the command eject-cd.

Method 4: Using the Terminal. There are two commands that can be used in the Terminal (located in Applications/Utilities) which can be used to force disk ejection:

drutil tray eject.

Simply type in the above command and press return.

Last resort method (Danger, Will Robinson!):

Also knwon as, Ye olde screwdriver method.

1. Turn the CPU upside down and lay it flat on a desk or table. Use a flat-edged knife or small pry bar to gently and carefully lift the bottom panel off the unit.
2. Use a small Phillips-head screwdriver to remove the four screws at the corners of the large, flat, shiny metal panel directly below the bottom panel. Lift off the panel to expose the CD drive and remove the CD carefully with your fingers.
3. Replace the metal panel and its screws, then snap the bottom cover back into place. Reattach all of the cables and boot up the computer.

If you still can't it out using the last method, then you a really, ahem, stuck. Call the fruit company.

;-)

Comments

[Assembler]

Booting with the mouse button pressed should always work. Sounds like something is quite broken.

[GeneQ]

Unless still under warranty, when all else fails...go for the screwdriver.

[lexu]

the machine does not see the disk ..

[GeneQ]

Your welcome. Btw, MacGyver would be proud with what you did with your knife. ;-)

[lexu]

There is one more method (that wouldn't have worked for me, but might help someone else), I read in a TUAW article. An eject button can be placed on the menu bar: tuaw.com/2009/11/02/mac-101-how-to-manually-enable-menu-extr‌​as

[Zac Thompson]

Method 4 seems simplest and most reliable

[Jaime M.]

about Method 2, note that even in the case of wire mouse, I have tested some mouse can not work, so try with other if doesn't work.