Ejecting a Stuck CD in Mac OSX

Before You Pay for a Repair, Try These Fixes Yourself

Maybe you were in the middle of burning a disc, and had to cancel halfway through. Maybe you put a CD that was formatted using an obscure version of Windows into your computer, and now you can't get your machine to let go. Maybe that last CD-RW just wasn't as clean as it should have been. Or maybe your beloved Apple has simply decided to act goofy.

At some point, almost everyone experiences getting a disc stuck in a CD drive. Sending your machine in to Apple can be a costly solution-their flat rate service charges around $400 to fix a single part of your machine. Before you resort to paid service, be sure you've exhausted this list of "at home" remedies.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN: back up your important files. I cannot stress this enough. It's wise to back up any irreplaceable items you have on your computer on a regular basis, even when everything is working perfectly. It's more important when something is amiss.

An exhaustive list of what and how to back up is outside the scope of this article, but if you have only a few precious files, an inexpensive "keychain" USB drive will hold a few pictures, some essential emails, and a couple of essays or reports.

1. The iTunes eject button

It doesn't always work, but I've ejected my fair share of stuck CD's by simply opening up iTunes and clicking the eject button in the lower right hand corner. It may sound silly, but if you get the disc out this way, you're done without having to restart or go hunting for rarely seen applications. It's worth a try.

2. Disk Utility

Disk Utility is a handy tool that you can find by opening the Applications folder and then the Utilities folder, assuming you have a standard OSX installation. It has many uses, like running disk first aid, or partitioning a drive, but the function of most concern here is the eject feature. When you open up Disk Utility, a list of disks currently available to your computer appears on the left. Probably, you'll see two entries for your hard drive, and one for the stuck CD. If it's there, click on the name of the CD and then click the "Eject" button that's near the top of the window.

3. Hold down mouse button at startup