MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2011)

[beekiebeck]

I have a MacBook Pro 13-inch late 2011 or whatever year they made the last MacBook with a DVD slot. I made 2 dumb mistakes (hey I'm nearly 64 and not born with a mouse in my hand or a touch pad at my finger tips. I couldn't find my user manual after having moved twice. Anyway, I stupidly put one of those mini-DVDs that came with a beauty product, into my DVD slot. Now I can't get it out. My poor MacBook tries to eject it multiple times a day, but it won't come out. The MacBook can't read the tiny DVD either- no icon for it shows on the screen.
Any suggestions out there? Or will I really have to take it in for some expensive repair and have my MacBook in the hospital for who knows how long? There's no Mac Store for at least 50 miles from here. Any tricks or secrets for getting the darn thing out? It seems to be slowing my poor MacBook down and causing it to do a lot of thinking between functions. Driving me nuts and I'm afraid of potential damage in might cause.

 

[DeltaMac]

Last MBPro with DVD is late 2012 (?)

Not too many options for you...
you can try (turn power off first) holding the MBPro DVD slot down, and attempt to move the disk toward the slot with a thin (long) object of some kind. A credit card, or similar size might be helpful, maybe even something like a table knife. If you have one of those silicon spatulas, that might be even better.
The idea is to push that object up into the slot, hopefully guiding the errant disk down and out of the slot. Or, far enough so you can grab the edge (watch the opening for your chance!)
But, sometimes you just have a disk stuck in the drive, floating around, and your attempts to remove it through the slot prove to be fruitless.
Then, the only way out (to get the disk out, I mean), is to open the case, remove the drive, take the top panel off the drive, where the disk will simply be laying, waiting for your special touch
The poking around, and digging through the slot is NOT particularly safe for the internals - you do have to be cautious about doing that.
The task of removing the drive is not particularly hard, check here for Late 2012 model steps to do that - https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Unibody+Mid+2012+Optical+Drive+Replacement/10373
Once the drive is removed, then about 5 or 6 teeny screws open to drive itself.
remove the disk, and reassemble. easy-peasy!

I am nearing 70, so the small screws don't work as well for me now, but I just did that exact task a couple of months ago for a friend.

Or, all else fails, a local computer shop (the ones that work on PCs) if you have any close to you, might take on the task.
You might try taking it somewhere that seems promising. Tell your sad tale, and find out what they may suggest. You may end up with a better place to go, or a better idea than mine

 

[majurg]

DeltaMac is correct; The only way at this point is to open the MacBook Pro's bottom panel and remove the CD drive. Once it is out of the machine, you can open the CD drive up and physically remove the mini-dvd that has been stuck there.

Removing the drive itself is fairly straightforward if following the guide linked in the post above. If you have never done something like this, I will concede that apple does not make it easy for newbies to service their machines. But, if you are persistent and good at following directions, there should be no problem.

Luckily its just the DVD drive. In fact, if you don't really plan on using it, you can just unplug the thing from the logic board. Then, the disk will still be in there, but your Mac won't repeatedly try to eject the disk. You could also just remove the drive entirely and save some weight or put in an external drive bay in lieu of a DVD drive.

But, if you take it to any shop, they should be able to do this quickly for a small fee. This is ~20min tops for someone experienced, no honest shop will charge more than $50 to do this (I would hope).

 

[beekiebeck]

Last MBPro with DVD is late 2012 (?)

Not too many options for you...
you can try (turn power off first) holding the MBPro DVD slot down, and attempt to move the disk toward the slot with a thin (long) object of some kind. A credit card, or similar size might be helpful, maybe even something like a table knife. If you have one of those silicon spatulas, that might be even better.
The idea is to push that object up into the slot, hopefully guiding the errant disk down and out of the slot. Or, far enough so you can grab the edge (watch the opening for your chance!)
But, sometimes you just have a disk stuck in the drive, floating around, and your attempts to remove it through the slot prove to be fruitless.
Then, the only way out (to get the disk out, I mean), is to open the case, remove the drive, take the top panel off the drive, where the disk will simply be laying, waiting for your special touch
The poking around, and digging through the slot is NOT particularly safe for the internals - you do have to be cautious about doing that.
The task of removing the drive is not particularly hard, check here for Late 2012 model steps to do that - https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Unibody+Mid+2012+Optical+Drive+Replacement/10373
Once the drive is removed, then about 5 or 6 teeny screws open to drive itself.
remove the disk, and reassemble. easy-peasy!

I am nearing 70, so the small screws don't work as well for me now, but I just did that exact task a couple of months ago for a friend.

Or, all else fails, a local computer shop (the ones that work on PCs) if you have any close to you, might take on the task.
You might try taking it somewhere that seems promising. Tell your sad tale, and find out what they may suggest. You may end up with a better place to go, or a better idea than mine

[doublepost=1515366366][/doublepost]What a sweet guy. I wrote in the starting thread that I made 2 stupid mistakes but only wrote about one. When I got the little one stuck, my next bright idea was to try to put a full size DVD in because I thought maybe the little one was not in far enough. I know, I know- sometimes I seem driven to make matters worse before I give up on an idea. I got the standard size DVD out using 2 credit cards so at least there was some goods news. The slit could barely handle to two credit type cards. I couldn't find anything narrow enough and long enough to reach the little one and from what you said above I'm gad I didn't. What are those little sized DVDs actually called? I'm impressed with your command of the computer nomenclature! I tend to call thing do-hickies and thingamajigs. They love me at Home Depot type places where I find myself visualizing what I want without the correct words to ask for assistance. But I love wandering the giant hardware stores while missing the real hardware stores of my childhood and youth. The opening is too narrow for everything I can think of and you kindly suggested, so I'm gonna read and print out the info from the link above and decide if I dare open it. Again, thanks for your time, your suggestions, and your humor. I'll let you know if I dare do it and report to you my results.
[doublepost=1515367141][/doublepost]tions, there should be no problem.

Luckily its just the DVD drive. In fact, if you don't really plan on using it, you can just unplug the thing from the logic board. Then, the disk will still be in there, but your Mac won't repeatedly t

DeltaMac is correct; The only way at this point is to open the MacBook Pro's bottom panel and remove the CD drive. Once it is out of the machine, you can open the CD drive up and physically remove the mini-dvd that has been stuck there.

Removing the drive itself is fairly straightforward if following the guide linked in the post above. If you have never done something like this, I will concede that apple does not make it easy for newbies to service their machines. But, if you are persistent and good at following direcry to eject the disk. You could also just remove the drive entirely and save some weight or put in an external drive bay in lieu of a DVD drive.

But, if you take it to any shop, they should be able to do this quickly for a small fee. This is ~20min tops for someone experienced, no honest shop will charge more than $50 to do this (I would hope).

Thanks so much. You helped me visualize the problem. I'll read and print out that link. And you really soothed my anxiety about the expense it might cost and am hopeful that you are correct about it being affordable.

 

[DeltaMac]

...
What are those little sized DVDs actually called?... I tend to call thing do-hickies and thingamajigs. ...

The little DVDs are, in fact, called "do-hickies" --- I mean "miniDVDs"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MiniDVD
Note in that article, miniDVDs typically can't be used in slot-loading drives. But, you didn't know that. Most of those DVDs don't have any kind of warning label, telling you not to try to use them in slot-loading drives.
Tech life can sometimes come at you pretty fast!