Small CD's in macbook?

[thesnowman16]

Before I go and stick this tiny little dvd I have into my macbook and get it stuck in there...what size dvds/cds does the macbook superdrive take? I know the nintendo wii will take the smaller cds/dvds but does the macbook take them?

I know not all slot loading drivers are created equal, but will they work the same way?

 

[CanadaRAM]

Don't do it. These are not safe in any slot load drive.

 

[fivetoadsloth]

Yes, Sadly it is a bad idea.

 

[spork183]

on the plus side, it is probably easier to turn the macbook upside down and shake it than it was my friend's 20in imac. "but my brother really wanted that ringtone on the triangular mini disk..."

 

[dornoforpyros]

Don't do it. These are not safe in any slot load drive.

Second! My local computer store even has a note posted by the mini disc that says "These disc are not recommend for slot loading (aka: Apple) CD/DVD drives as they will cause damage to your computer"

Don't try it

 

[SkyBell]

on the plus side, it is probably easier to turn the macbook upside down and shake it than it was my friend's 20in imac. "but my brother really wanted that ringtone on the triangular mini disk..."

Oddly enough, I had no problem with my camera mini disc.

Of course I wouldn't have done it if I didn't know what could happen.

 

[The General]

Don't do it. These are not safe in any slot load drive.

Not true! They work just fine in the Wii drive!

 

[Cameront9]

Not true! They work just fine in the Wii drive!

Yes, but the Wii's drive mechanism was specifically designed to handle the smaller disks as well as the large ones. The Macbook's (and ALL of Apple's current slot-loading drives) are NOT.

So DON'T stick that small CD in there.

 

[iBecks]

Don't do it, its not worth it getting stuck.

I know this to have happened on at least a dozen drives.

 

[mkrishnan]

Yes, but the Wii's drive mechanism was specifically designed to handle the smaller disks as well as the large ones. The Macbook's (and ALL of Apple's current slot-loading drives) are NOT.

I was thinking about this the other day... it's the first time I've heard of a device that can do this. I wonder who owns the patent? Not that I come across mini discs that much, but this would be a nice feature on my Macs. I know that the slot loader is generally one of the little things I like the most.

 

[Cameront9]

I was thinking about this the other day... it's the first time I've heard of a device that can do this. I wonder who owns the patent? Not that I come across mini discs that much, but this would be a nice feature on my Macs. I know that the slot loader is generally one of the little things I like the most.

I can't remember what the mechanism looks like, but I would think that the trade-off would be that the drive would have to be thicker, which would make the laptop thicker if implemented in a laptop.

 

[Hummer]

Any tray loading laptop or desktop would probably be able to handle them.

 

[mkrishnan]

Any tray loading laptop or desktop would probably be able to handle them.

I think, even if you have access to a Windows PC, you can use something like Alcohol 120% to make an image you can put on the Mac.

However, is this disc from a firewire camcorder you own? If so, just plug the camcorder into the Macbook via FW.

 

[synth3tik]

Do not

 

[Sherman Homan]

The tray loading CD's will physically handle them. Any slot load is just asking for trouble.

 

[scott9999]

re:

well, I (very stupidely in my opnion)
decided it would probably work to just put in a small disc
which leads me to how I found this page, franticly googling for
"HELP THERES A SMALL CD IN MY MAC"
anyone got hints?
could I maybe take it to the genius bar?
or should i just unscrew the covers and take it out?
My warranty is plenty long, but I could screw that up by taking it apart so, what should I do?

 

[Cameront9]

well, I (very stupidely in my opnion)
decided it would probably work to just put in a small disc
which leads me to how I found this page, franticly googling for
"HELP THERES A SMALL CD IN MY MAC"
anyone got hints?
could I maybe take it to the genius bar?
or should i just unscrew the covers and take it out?
My warranty is plenty long, but I could screw that up by taking it apart so, what should I do?

Have you tried:
-Booting the mac with the mouse key held down?
-Picking it up (with the machine OFF) and gently trying to shake it out (Believe it or not, this has worked for some people).

 

[janey]

...These disc are not recommend for slot loading (aka: Apple) CD/DVD drives...

Not necessarily. Slot load drives are just more expensive and less worth using, so nobody who'd build their own computer would be crazy enough to spend the money on one. I certainly didn't, and never will.


e.g. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827131352 is almost $150. Why bother with that when a $30 tray-load dvd burner can burn faster and more reliably, and can handle multiple disk types?

 

[juanm]

Okay...
I dit it once (but as I had an idea of wha could happen, I didn't push it too far, just in case ) and -of course- it got stuck.

First, shut it off (completly, no tjust sleep), turn it upside down, and shake it (gently!). Maybe it'll come out.
If it doesn't, do what I did (I skipped the shaking step myself) take a pair of long tweezers and use them.

If it doesn't work, The only thing I could imagine would be this:
In photography, there was, once upon a time, when film still ruled everything and digital didn't even exist, a small accessory to get the end of the film outside when it had been rolled into the roll by the camera. It consisted in two very thin metallic parts (like long super-thin tweezers) and a third that you used then to press the first two together. I don't know the name in english, so if you need it, ask in the photography forum.

Good luck

 

[juanm]

Now I'm thinking...
Since there's more than one user who tries this, Apple should put a removable sticker on the slot-in, like they do with the iPod ("Don't steal the music") reading "Use only full-sized discs".

 

[janey]

...Apple should put a removable sticker...

Warning: Inserting a nonstandard-sized or -shaped disc into a drive that is not designed to accommodate it may damage the drive. Some slot-loading drives may be able to accomodate 80 mm round discs, but their use is not supported and any damage caused will not be covered under your Apple warranty or applicable extended service contract.

Apple has the warning plastered all over manuals and applicable documents, IIRC.

My warranty is plenty long, but I could screw that up by taking it apart so, what should I do?

Well, warranty doesn't cover this
although i do believe they just disregard all slot-load-disk issues and will fix anything else covered by the warranty.

 

[juanm]

Originally Posted by http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58641
Warning: Inserting a nonstandard-sized or -shaped disc into a drive that is not designed to accommodate it may damage the drive. Some slot-loading drives may be able to accomodate 80 mm round discs, but their use is not supported and any damage caused will not be covered under your Apple warranty or applicable extended service contract.

Wow. I can't read the manuals, it goes against my beliefs!
Usually I only read them when everything else has failed.
I prefer clear warning stickers!
Thanks anyway for the correction.

 

[0098386]

It's a shame. I bought a stack of 20 mini-DVD's for college about 4 years ago. I wanted to invent a small card packaging system for distributing games, it was all sorted, then my laptop packed in and I bought a PowerBook. Bye bye mini-DVD's Shame they haven't come up with a way to use mini discs in slot drives, hell, Nintendo have done it with the Wii.

Think they're now floating around in some dusty cupboard somewhere alongside the Zip Drive and Vista Home upgrade DVD.

 

[mkrishnan]

Think they're now floating around in some dusty cupboard somewhere alongside the Zip Drive and Vista Home upgrade DVD.

Good riddance to zip drives, at least!

 

[janey]

Wow. I can't read the manuals, it goes against my beliefs!

Well, it's not a bad idea to read just to be in-the-know about what voids a warranty

...I bought a PowerBook. Bye bye mini-DVD's

internal DVD burners are $30ish (not to mention significantly faster at burning dvd+/-rs (16x vs. 8x))...to get an external one add about $30. Splurge another $30 to get a slim external.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136112
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827248003

slim: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827131043

you get the idea..