Can I safely open an optical drive to retrieve a CD?

I have a dead MBP with a cd stuck in the optical drive.  I saw a few video tutorials on ifixit.com that show how to open the drive to retrieve the cd and it looks really simple.  It's just a matter of taking out the drive then taking out the 4 screws on the top of the drive which will open it.  But will this damage the drive or gears in any way? 

If you have to open a drive to remove a disc from it, the chances are good that there is already a mechanical failure of some kind in the drive. The only other real possibility is that the drive's cable connection to the logic board has worked loose and just needs to be reseated. Check that before opening up the drive -- firming up the connection may enable you to eject the disc and keep using the drive normally.
If you do go ahead and remove the disc manually and then you find that the drive doesn't work right afterward, it's probably not because of anything you did. Chances are that the drive has simply failed. It's a relatively complicated mechanism with tight tolerances, and failures are pretty common -- not just in MBPs, but in all computers with slot-loading optical drives. The relatively high drive failure rate is one of several reasons why Apple is moving away from optical discs and drives.

Similar Messages

  • How can I purchase an extra optical drive retaining bracket for my IdeaCentre K330?

    How can I purchase an extra optical drive retaining bracket for my IdeaCentre K330? There was one retaining bracket that came with the DVD optical drive, but I bought a Blu-Ray burner as my second optical drive, and I would like to install it using the tool-less retaining bracket that came with the first drive. I couldn't find a part number for it online.

    hey johnnyc,
    i suggest getting in contact with our sales team about this
    http://www.lenovo.com/contact/us/en/
    WW Social Media
    Important Note: If you need help, post your question in the forum, and include your system type, model number and OS. Do not post your serial number.
    Did someone help you today? Press the star on the left to thank them with a Kudo!
    If you find a post helpful and it answers your question, please mark it as an "Accepted Solution"!
    Follow @LenovoForums on Twitter!
    Have you checked out the Community Knowledgebase yet?!
    How to send a private message? --> Check out this article.

  • Can I install Windows without optical Driver

    Hi!
    I have a Macbook pro Early 2008 - MB134LL/A but its optical driver cannot read any disc. Now I want to install Windows via BootCamp but it cannot. Anybody know how can I install Windows without optical Driver? I tried to boot by USBflash, USB DVD Driver but it cannot boot.
    I think that does external optical drivers via firewire work?
    Thanks alot!

    Thank you for your reply, and the information.  This is what I came up with:
    I added the strings as instructed, however when I went to sign the script in terminal, I was told:
    /Applications/Utilities/Boot Camp Assistant.app: replacing existing signature
    /Applications/Utilities/Boot Camp Assistant.app: code object is not signed at all
    In subcomponent: /Applications/Utilities/Boot Camp Assistant.app/Contents/info.plist
    Also, here are screen captures of the lines that I added.  Mine are the top string entries:
    Thank you for your help, thus far!

  • How do I open my optical drive without a keyboard

    I'm running a Quicksilver Dual 800 G4, without monitor, keyboard, or mouse. I can access it using my MacBook Pro, and view it using Screen Sharing. I want to install software from a DVD onto the dual 800, but how do I open the drive to insert the DVD?
    I have another Quicksilver (Dual 867 MDD) which has two optical drives, and on the status bar amidst the airport signal indicator, bluetooth indicator, etc is an eject symbol, which allows me to choose the optical drive I want to open. I have a keyboard connected to this machine, but as the facility exists in OS X to provide that functionality, how can I hack OS X to provide this option in the dual 800 with only one drive?

    Thank you for replying. Malcolm (above) managed to provide the exact solution I was looking for at the same time as you were typing your reply, judging from the time.
    I'm accessing the QS from my MacBook Pro (OS X 10.5), using a wired/wireless connection - the QS is wired, the MBPro wireless. At the moment they are about twelve inches apart, and I do have a keyboard to plug into the QS, but I'm hoping to set it up as a headless unit to take time lapse photos (using an iSight) and a clever script available here: http://gawker.sourceforge.net/Gawker.html
    Once set up, I hope to access the QS remotely, as it will live in Birmingham, and I live in Bristol! So thinking as far ahead as possible, I wanted to set it up to be controlled as much as possible by me, even if my caretaker in Birmingham has to put a disc in the tray from time to time.
    Again, many thanks!
    kind regards
    Andrew McDermott

  • Can I connect an external Optical drive to Omni 10

    I am thinking to buy an Omni 10 tab. I want to confirm thad does it support external Optical Drives via USB OTG.
    I have found from other threads on HP Support that it supports External HDD bt I am not sure about External ODD.
    I asume that External ODD Requires more power than External HDD.
    This question was solved.
    View Solution.

    @ Ritaban: The micro-USB port on an Omni 10 is capable of supplying only a limited amount of power to operate attached devices (500 mA maximum). Most USB devices which contain motors (hard drives, scanners, optical drives) require substantially more sustained power than an Omni tablet can deliver. (for example, HP-branded portable DVD drives require 2 Amps — that's 4x what an Omni can deliver.) 
    However, there is a straightforward solution to attaching a wide variety of high-power USB peripherals to an Omni tablet, if they are connected via a Powered USB Hub. Although the Omni micro-USB port limits data transfers to USB 2.0 speeds, I recommend employing a USB 3.0 hub, because they typically are bundled with higher-output power supplies than their USB 2.0 counterparts.
    Most low-power USB devices — keyboard, mouse, flash stick, card reader — can usually be connected directly to an Omni tablet, via a micro-usb adapter cable, and won't require any supplemental operating power. However, if you intend to operate an Omni tablet for sustained periods with any USB devices attached, time between charges will be substantially reduced, so attach the supplied charger as well, whenever possible ...
    I hope to see you back here at some point, to tell us about how-much you're enjoying your new Omni 10 tablet! Your questions are welcome as well...
    Enjoy!

  • Can I use the 2nd Optical Drive Bay on my Mac Pro for an SSD?

    Since I have no plans to add a second Optical Drive to my Mac Pro in the Second Optical Drive bay, I was wondering if I could put an SSD in that bay using a 2.5' to 3.5" drive carriage. Is this possible? Would it work? Would I be able to use it as my boot drive? Never tried this, so not sure if it would work.
    Thanks in advance.

    Your 2010 model has SATA wiring in that bay, so the SSD plugs right in.
    Macs can boot from the drive specified in System preferences > Startup Disk.
    You would need an adapter from 2.5 size of the drive to the 5.25 (CD drive) size expected, but since there are no moving parts, most folks just dump the drive in there without a bracket.
    The biggest payback comes from establishing a Boot Drive with only System, Library, Applications, and the hidden Unix files including Paging/Swap. Putting the boot drive on an SSD is frosting -- it provides an incremental improvement over a spinning Boot drive.
    A caution when establishing your drive -- some users have killed brand new SSD drives by cloning onto them. The manufacturers have not been helpful in telling us why this happens, but a clean Install may be a better way to proceed.

  • Can I add a SATA optical drive to my G5?

    I want to replace the optical drive on my G5 (PPC 1.6 GHz) with the latest dual-layer Pioneer DVR-115D (IDE) or 216 (SATA)
    The 115D is not widely available any more, most shops only seem to have the 216.
    Can I add this drive to my G5? I already have 2 SATA hard drives in place, so is it possible to add another SATA device? If so, how do I add a 3rd SATA cable and where would it plug into?
    Thanks.

    Hi Japamac and everyone else,
    I'm a new Mac user and received a used G5 from a friend. I made a very stupid mistake and purchased the Pioneer Dvr-216 instead of the 116. So now I have a SATA burner with an IDE interface. Unfortunately, NewEgg won't refund this particular product.
    So I've thought of two options:
    1.) Turn it to an external burner and have two optical drives (although the original is about to crap out soon). But I'm not sure what enclosures are compatible. I've looked into the NexStar DX NST-530S2 but the tech rep said that they haven't tested that enclosure with the DVR 216.
    2.) Try to find a SATA controller. But since I'm really new to Macs and this computer is slightly older, I'm not sure which controller to buy. It says on the side panel of the G5 that it has a PCI-X slot.
    Any help/suggestions would be greatly greatly appreciated (I've spent the last three days researching, but I'm still not completely confident in what I've found)
    Thanks.

  • Can I still use the Optical Drive if I install a SSD in my MacBook Pro?

    Hello,
    I'm looking to replace the standard hard drive in my MacBook Pro with a 240GB SSD, my question is, does this effect the usage of the DVD/CD Drive? As i've seen in some videos people taking that out and putting the exsisting hard drive there.
    I don't want to do that I will turn that in to an extra external hard drive.
    Any information would be very welcome.
    Thank you,
    James

    Yes you can still use your optical drive just as you do now if you don't remove it.

  • Can I replace the intern optical drive in my Power Mac G4 by one of other G4

    Can I replace the optical drive in my powermac G4(sernr.CK135JGJL4Y) (Sony CD-RW  CRX155E) 16 speed write by the one off a two year older model power mac G4 mirrored drive doors (sernr.CK3380F1PC4) with has a combo drive ( dvd rom read 8x,cd-r write 16x)? At the motherboard is notated IDE near connection of my mac.My optical drive is defect. External drives are not for sale, compatibel to OS 9.2.1 The operating system of the other one is OS 9.2.2

    there was a way to add support for some later Opticals in OS9, but I can't rember just how now.
    There are modified device plugins here.

  • Can I Use My iMac Optical Drive In Place Of Macbook Drive?

    So I have a Macbook (late 2008 model), and the optical drive essentially went bye bye. If I put a disc in, it will have trouble recognizing it and then it will eject out. Anyways, last night, I did some maintenance on OnyX and it said that my volume needs to be repaired. Even Disc Utility failed to finish and said that the "filesystem verify or repair failed."
    The short of it, I need to put the Leopard disc in there and do a disc repair. However, is there a way, via firewire, where I could actually use my iMac's optical disc drive in place of the Macbook and connect via firewire, then do the disc repair? If so, what would be the specific way to do this?
    Your help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

    Connect the two with a Firewire cable. Boot the MB into Target Disk Mode. It's drive should mount on your iMac's Desktop. You can then run Disk Utility and try repairing the drive in the MB.
    You don't need to use the iMac's optical drive unless you have to install OS X onto the MB.

  • Can't start up from optical drive

    I can't get my MacBook to start up from the optical dis drive, It does not get recognised either when I start up and hold 'C' or when I select it under Start Up Disk in the System Preferences. Any suggestions? Thanx.

    are u using the Efi password protection utility? youll have to bypass/disable/turn off that first. Its got a feature that will disable the startup keys

  • Can no longer open BOTH DVD drives after upgrade

    OK...I have a Mac Pro, and pre Lion I had NO PROBLEM using F12 and opt-F12 to open both of my Superdrive trays. However, after Lion, F12 AND opt-F12 BOTH OPEN THE BOTTOM SUPERDRIVE ONLY, and I cannot access my upper superdrive.
    Am I missing some sort of preference setting that needs to be changed? If so, I haven't been able to find it. If this is a known bug I have not been able to find any info on it.
    Thanks in advance...

    Anybody got this?
    I've got 2 drives, and  only the bottom one works after the 10.7 rollout? Doesn't appear that the other one is even recognized in the system profiler anymore.
    Surely there's someone that  knows wth is going on here...?

  • Where can I safely download a twain driver for my canoscan 4700F?

    driver for my canoscan 4700F

    Hi Thesignguy!
    So that the Community can help you better, we will need to know the computer operating system you're using (Windows XP/Vista/7/8 or Mac 10.x). Any error messages or other details you'd like to give will also help the Community better understand your issue.
    Thanks and have a great day!

  • Optical drive won't open

    How can I manually open the optical drive on my Mac Pro? There is no paperclip hole that I can see. Thanks in advance.
    (I searched for this and found nothing. It's hard to believe it hasn't been asked.)

    Hmm, that's interesting. I'll have to try the "...eject" next time I have a burn session freeze on me. (You know, where it's supposed to be burning a DVD, but the burning application sits there and churns with the beach ball, but it's not really doing anything, and it never comes out of it.) Had to resort to rebooting in the past. Happens a few times per year, which isn't much considering how many I burn, but it's annoying when it happens.
    I was searching for this stuff because I used to use option-F12 (Logitech keyboard) to open the second drive, but it stopped working, possibly because of the latest Logitech software update I installed. I have the previous Logitech update if I need to revert, but the new version has some other nice features, so this workaround isn't bad. I always (literally, always) have a terminal window open anyway, so I just did a few quick aliases for my drive open/close/eject functions. I'd still rather have a quick single key-combo, but this isn't bad.
    It's tempting to write a little script-application that would figure out if it was open or closed and then do the opposite, but looks like the only drutil bit that might tell me that information is the "poll" option, and that keeps polling, so it doesn't self-terminate, so things get messy from a coding standpoint. It's probably not worth that much work to me.
    Thanks for the tip!

  • How can I get my optical drive to open?

    For no reason I can think of, suddenly I can't open my optical drive. Any suggestions?

    On the Mac, you can add an Eject button to your menu bar so that you can ejects CDs and DVDs easily. To add this, open a Finder window and select your hard drive under the "Devices" section on the left. Then navigate to the System -> Library -> CoreServices -> Menu Extras directory. You'll see a file called Eject.menu. If you double click on this file, it'll add an Eject button to your menu bar. Then you can open or close the disc drive using the menu control. (It's a small upward pointing triangle with an underline)
    Or you can close it manually.
     Cheers, Tom

Maybe you are looking for

  • Deskjet 3050 wireless works then doesn't

    My Deskjet 3050 wireless problem cycle  includes 1) light blinking 2) after I re-set up the wireless...it works 3) day later, when I try to print HP message says unable to communicate w/ printer BUT wireless light is SOLID and Network Config page sho

  • I can't update or reinstall adobe flash player on my mac 10.9.5.

    I am having trouble updating or re-installing my adobe flash player on apple laptop. I checked preference on safari to ensure there were block on plug-in. The update says it has failed or keeps asking me to close safari.

  • Adobe Photoshop CC Error After Windows Update

    Hi. My Windows 8 automatically updated today and since then my Adobe Photoshop CC had been crashing. Everytime I try to edit a new work, the project flickers to black making it difficult to edit layers. When I choose to transform the layer, that is w

  • Another dual-SATA Firewire 400/800 case that is Leopard compatible?

    Looks like OWC is out of stock for 9 days, and I need to get one sooner than that. I'm look for a non-RAID configuration allowing me to have two 500 GB SATA hard drives which I already have and place them inside a single case that has both Firewire 8

  • Groups not showing up in Planning

    I have created groups in Shared Services and provisioned the groups. I can see the users and groups in Essbase using the administration services console. In Planning, when I try to assign access to a form or dimension, I do not see any users or group