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Ok, how the HELL do you eject a cd from a Mac

moopet said:
That's the emergency eject button, not the normal use eject button. Yes, I can see the hole, and I know what it is. Read the rest of the thread for discussion of why they're different.
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The point is that if you need (or stubbornly insist on) a hardware-based eject mechanism, it's there. You just need to use a piece of paperclip wire or a similar tool to use it.

There is a very, very good reason why the Macintosh prefers software-based ejection of removable media. If a floppy disk, or other writable media is ejected at the wrong time, its contents can become corrupted. This is equally true of Windows-based systems, and of other systems as well. By using a software-controlled ejection system, the Macintosh is able to avoid this problem. The medium isn't ejected until the system has flushed all the write buffers and made sure that it is in a proper, consistent state.

The hardware eject is there, if you really need it, but the system is wisely designed specifically to discourage you from using it unnecessarily.
 
The bottom line: if you don't like Macs, don't use them (if you think they're overpriced, or pretentious, or if you feel Apple dumbs things down or whatever). If you think the iMac or Mac Mini is swell, you won't get an eject button (you will get an eject button on the keyboard, and you can eject discs with the OS, but you won't get a "physical" eject button by the optical drive), but it's not a significant problem.

For those who like Macs, I highly doubt the lack of an eject button by the optical drive is an issue at all. I've owned many Macs, and would consider myself an advanced computer user. I've owned both tray and slot loading Macs. Very rarely I've had problems with discs getting stuck, but I highly doubt the occurrence is any greater with Macs than with PCs. And usually a restart is all that's needed. The slot-loading drives are great--I don't know how else you could pull off an iMac, where the computer is inside what looks like only a monitor, pretty much, with a big tray loading drive with button.

There are advantages and disadvantages to having a mechanical tray-eject button. If it's important to you, then don't get a slot-loading computer. If you think slot-loading optical drives are more elegant, that might be what you want, even if there might be a trade off--you can't mechanically eject the disc.

eta: Take a look at the latest iMac--look at the side with the optical drive slot. Do you really want a button there?
 
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jimtron said:
eta: Take a look at the latest iMac--look at the side with the optical drive slot. Do you really want a button there?
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Well.... now that you say it with that tone... I can't resist the temptation to say "No" :)
 
This thread is quite ironic because just last week I was on a job and the PMs printer was broken so I brought mine along, but we had to install drivers to get it to work with her mac laptop, which was fine - I brought the CD as well. Except we couldn't put the CD in the laptop - there was something already in there. And we couldn't get it out. I tried all of the tricks suggested in this thread - at least all the ones that could be achieved in the circumstances.

Didn't work.

So we had to give up, and ask the hotel to print out our documents.

The PM began to wonder why I was giggling at the situation, but I decided it would take too long to explain.
 
moopet said:
Again, I understand the concept - my post was answering gumboot.
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The ones like that we had at school, the disc stuck out a little bit. You could just yank it out, if you really wanted to.

For what its worth the mac laptop my PM was using didn't even have the emergency pin hole eject button, so God only knows how she's going to get the disc out that is in it.
 
ddt said:
However, the CD-drives in PC's can be blocked too from opening! The software can instruct the drive to ignore a push on the "open" button.
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The software block is no match for the paper clip. the little hole in front of the drive, right below the drive door pushes up against a mechanical lever. If the software fights the lever all you have to do is shut off the computer.
 
gumboot said:
For what its worth the mac laptop my PM was using didn't even have the emergency pin hole eject button, so God only knows how she's going to get the disc out that is in it.
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By violating the warranty with extreme predjudice!
 
uruk said:
The software block is no match for the paper clip. the little hole in front of the drive, right below the drive door pushes up against a mechanical lever. If the software fights the lever all you have to do is shut off the computer.
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You're absolutely right. But the paper clip is an emergency procedure which you'll only do if all else fails. My point was that the normal way - pushing the normal eject button - can be blocked by software, and vice versa, the software (the OS) can detect you've pushed the button and give an on-screen warning why it was blocked.
 
This might sounds crazy, but once in an old PC I had, the CD drive was making these crazy sounds, the kind that make you think "oh no this can't be good". I couldn't read the CD or anything. So I ejected it. It wouldn't come out at first, but after a couple of presses of the eject button the trap opens, and a spinning CD comes flying out and whizzes past me!

That was so, so weird.
 
gumboot said:
This might sounds crazy, but once in an old PC I had, the CD drive was making these crazy sounds, the kind that make you think "oh no this can't be good". I couldn't read the CD or anything. So I ejected it. It wouldn't come out at first, but after a couple of presses of the eject button the trap opens, and a spinning CD comes flying out and whizzes past me!

That was so, so weird.
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IFO dude.
 
gumboot said:
This might sounds crazy, but once in an old PC I had, the CD drive was making these crazy sounds, the kind that make you think "oh no this can't be good". I couldn't read the CD or anything. So I ejected it. It wouldn't come out at first, but after a couple of presses of the eject button the trap opens, and a spinning CD comes flying out and whizzes past me!

That was so, so weird.
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That has happend to me also. I'm not sure exactly what is going on but either the driver or the firmware locks up and the spindle motor just takes off at top speed. It ruined my disc by causing circumfrential scratches when I ejected the tray. The disc just spun there grinding to a halt.
 
uruk said:
That has happend to me also. I'm not sure exactly what is going on but either the driver or the firmware locks up and the spindle motor just takes off at top speed. It ruined my disc by causing circumfrential scratches when I ejected the tray. The disc just spun there grinding to a halt.
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Is there any evidence that Macs have a higher incidence of disc trouble (discs getting stuck, or something like the above) than PCs?
 
Diogenes said:
If they don't have a mechanical eject option ( paper clip hole ) - then there is a 100% chance they have a higher eject failure than PC drives with the hole..
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I said "disc trouble" including the PC example above. My point is that I haven't seen evidence that slot-loading Macs have more disc problems in general as compared to non-slot-loading PCs.

And I disagree with your statement above. What is the evidence that Macs have a higher eject failure rate than PCs? Does the eject button on PCs work 100% of the time? And you realize that there are several different methods for ejecting discs from slot-loading, Macs, right?
 
jimtron said:
Is there any evidence that Macs have a higher incidence of disc trouble (discs getting stuck, or something like the above) than PCs?
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I don't know. That kind of statistic might be hard to locate.

I did a google search using the string "problems with ejecting the CD on a mac" and found 738,000 hits in .26 seconds.

I found 2,020,000 hits in .33 seconds with "problems with ejecting the CD on a PC".

I don't know if that means anything considering factors such as that there are more PCs in use than Macs, etc..
 
uruk said:
I don't know. That kind of statistic might be hard to locate.

I did a google search using the string "problems with ejecting the CD on a mac" and found 738,000 hits in .26 seconds.

I found 2,020,000 hits in .33 seconds with "problems with ejecting the CD on a PC".

I don't know if that means anything considering factors such as that there are more PCs in use than Macs, etc..
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I agree that those numbers aren't that helpful because Macs have a much smaller market share. However, it does appear to prove that eject problems (let's call it "E.D." from now on) are not unique to slot-loading Mac owners (why does this sound so dirty all of a sudden?).

I still don't buy that slot-loading Macs have more optical disc malfunctions as compared to tray loading PCs. Just because most PCs have mechanical eject buttons doesn't mean that they are less prone to eject or other problems. But if anyone has evidence showing otherwise, please present it.
 
jimtron said:
Just because most PCs have mechanical eject buttons doesn't mean that they are less prone to eject or other problems.
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PCs do not necessarily have mechanical eject buttons any more than Macs do. Just because a button is located in proximity to the tray does not make it mechanical. Any CD eject button that does not function when the power is turned off is not mechanical. I think that discounts virtually all CD eject buttons.
 
jeremyp said:
PCs do not necessarily have mechanical eject buttons any more than Macs do. Just because a button is located in proximity to the tray does not make it mechanical. Any CD eject button that does not function when the power is turned off is not mechanical. I think that discounts virtually all CD eject buttons.
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The reference "mechanical eject button" referred to the pinhole eject hole, which does work when the power is turned off, and as I once found out, even works when the CD drive is removed from the computer and half disassembled. It is an entirely mechanical override that will always work, unless the mechanism has been physically damaged in some way.

Some Macs do not have the pinhole eject feature.
 
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