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Right now I have a DVD in my laptop drive and the computer is hard at work trying to pry some readable bits from it. Judging by the sound of it, it is utterly failing.

But while I realize the futility of this current endeavor, my computer does not an will happily continue to inspect the disk for the rest of the week.

Now I would like to lift this burden from his metaphorical shoulders by just ejecting the DVD. However, the laptop sports a flashy slot-in DVD drive which sadly lacks an eject button. I know I could eject the DVD using the explorer but selecting the DVD in explorer will crash explorer. I also have a keyboard button that is supposed to eject disks, but right now it is not accomplishing anything.

So, is there any way of relieving the poor laptop of this thankless task or is my only option a restart?

Edit: Just waiting solved the issue. After about 20 minutes of dedicated concentration, the laptop finally gave up on the disk and disgustedly spat it out.

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  • See - superuser.com/questions/132087/…
    – ChrisF
    Jul 10, 2010 at 17:01
  • 1
    Doesn't help answer this question, there is no eject hole thus this is not a duplicate question. Jul 10, 2010 at 17:16
  • @Tom - are you sure? The same point was raised on that question, but the image I found showed an eject hole.
    – ChrisF
    Jul 10, 2010 at 17:19
  • +1 for caring for your poor laptop's thankless endevors.
    – Chris Nava
    Jul 10, 2010 at 17:23
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    [fanboy] Here I thought Macs just worked... [/fanboy]
    – Ivo Flipse
    Jul 11, 2010 at 10:02

4 Answers 4

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Solution for Linux or Mac OS X users:

Go to a terminal and execute:

drutil tray open
drutil tray eject

This seems to just work in a lot of cases.

Easy Attempt for Windows users:

I also have a keyboard button that is supposed to eject disks,
but right now it is not accomplishing anything.

  • Put the laptop to sleep.
  • Wait for the disc to stop rotating.
  • Wake the laptop up.
  • The EJECT key should now work.

This suggestion came from: http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20060814211608242

It could be possible that the button only works in OS X though.

Harder Attempt for Windows users:

  • Put the laptop to sleep.
  • Use something that can't make scratches and try to lift the CD up through the hole.
  • Now try to pull the CD out of it.

Maybe it's just better to reboot, and if that doesn't help you will need support or you could try to repair it.

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  • Yeah, maybe try a Linux LiveCD. Puppy Linux is small.
    – Nathaniel
    Jul 10, 2010 at 23:19
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    Very late to the party, but I just read this and had to point out that @Nathaniel's suggestion isn't going to work so well when there's already a disk in the drive. Maybe a thumb drive though ;)
    – Shinrai
    Apr 29, 2011 at 22:09
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Hibernate windows. This will safely save state, but completely power off the macbook. When you power it back on hold the trackpad button and the disc should eject before Windows is restored.

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There is usually a small hole in the front of the drive. If you insert a paper clip into it, it should manually eject the CD/DVD, even with the machine turned off.

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  • I am using a MacBook Pro. There is no emergency eject (that I know of).
    – bastibe
    Jul 10, 2010 at 17:03
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    Most slot-in DVD drives sadly don't have such eject hole. :-( Jul 10, 2010 at 17:07
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In Windows, Right click on Start, left click on Explorer and then right click on your cd drive and left click eject.

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  • 1
    Surely you mean "Left click on Start"? May 4, 2011 at 14:51
  • @hippietrail no I'm pretty sure he means right click he just left out that in windows 7 the option is called "open windows explorer". This answer is also irrelevant since the OP stated right clicking on it in explorer causes it to crash... May 4, 2011 at 17:52

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