How do I remove a stuck Mini CD from the SuperDrive on a Macbook Pro?

Solution 1:

Do not stick anything else in the slot. Really.

The inject / eject mechanism is keyed for a full sized disc and you don't want to wedge it in the wrong direction or retract that delicate part any further by fishing around inside the narrow slot. There is no eject button so you will need either luck or finesse and skill to get the CD out.

Power down the Mac and hold it firmly with the Apple logo facing you at chest height with the CD slot pointing to your lap. Gently rock and shake it to see if the CD is loose and encourage it to peek out the felt skirt that is inside the unibody enclosure.

Your Mac when powered off is very strong and you gently start it down and then quite forcefully yank it back up vertically. One or two shakes is all it takes to get the mini CD poking out just a bit. At that point, the felt will hold it and you can return the Mac to a level table and use tweezers or needle nose pliers or nimble fingers to remove the CD.

If you can't get it out - take it in for service. Unless you work on these regularly, you don't know which model superdrive is in your Mac and how hard, deep, gentle you can be with tools to help dislodge the CD. Also, if you are comfortable popping the back off your Mac - you could use iFixit to get to the drive itself and the CD will likely fall out once you have that component out of the Mac and away from the felt skirt.

Again, have a good firm grip - if you are so nervous that your palms are sweaty, that's your signal to see about getting a technician to help or waiting a bit to convince yourself you can shake it loose. These computers are made to endure UPS and FedEx shipping, packing in luggage in a bumpy car and your shaking should be on that level of violence and no more. If it's lodged behind the eject mechanism, you'll need someone to get inside and clear things in most cases.

Solution 2:

Thankfully I haven't had to deal with this, but I did find a few suggestions on how to deal with this:

• Use gravity. Tilt the MBP (you'll probably want it turned off) and see if you can slide it out.
• Try to force-eject it by holding down the mouse button as it boots. Possibly combined with tilting it. I don't have great faith in this one (I believe discs are ingested/ejected using some sort of bands at the side, so they may not be able to make contact with the disc).
• Try a business card or other thin but stiff object with some sticky tape to try and grab the disk. With this one you'll obviously want to make sure the tape is securely attached to your grabber object so that it doesn't come off inside your drive, making things worse.