Simple Methods to Eject CD from Macbook Pro | Easy Steps

Kaushal Malkan

Apple Mac is one of the popular desktop options out there, which last saw a refresh back in 2013. Though it is long overdue for an upgraded successor, they are still in use, and for the right reasons. Thus, you must know about how to Eject CD from Macbook Pro now!

Some models, like the 2012 ones, had an optical drive where you can insert some CDs and DVDs and use them to read from them or burn data to them.

Even the portable Macbooks had optical drives up until 2015, I believe.

But regardless of why Apple decided to remove it, just like they are removing every single one of the useful ports and jacks from their devices after you insert a CD, you might be wondering how to get it out!

Being a noob that you are, you are possibly freaking out right about now. Well, calm down Mr. Noob! Here are some simple steps to eject CD from Macbook Pro. Just follow along, and you will figure it out.

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How to Eject CD from Macbook Pro Easily

The following are some of the best ways to eject CD from Macbook Pro. So let’s follow these steps to find which works for you.

Pressing F12

Press and hold the F12 of the function keys from the keyboard until the CD drive pops out. This is supported on some Mac keyboards and also on some of the MacBook models.

Eject on Mac

On your desktop, it shows an icon for the DVD drive. Right click on it, and it will show you an Eject option, right?

Well go ahead and click it then!

Eject Using Trash

Press and hold the icon that represents the DVD drive and drag it all the way to the trash icon. You will notice that the trash symbol will transform into an eject symbol.

Drag your icon over it and release it. Your disc should eject in a few seconds after that.

Eject Menu Applet

In the menu bar of your Macbook or Mac, you will usually see an Eject menu applet. Clicking on it will bring out your CD. If you don’t see any applets for ejecting CDs on your Mac menu, you can add that item to your menu using these simple steps:

Open a finder window and navigate to this path: /System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras.
In the Menu extras folder, click on Eject.menu item.

That’s all! Now there should be an applet named eject on your menu bar. If clicked upon, it will show the list of all the external devices connected to your system, including USB drives, external hard drives, and of course, the CDs in the drive. Click on the CD/DVD name you want to eject, and it will pop out quickly.

Eject from iTunes and Disk Utility

A few applications, for example, iTunes and Disk Utility, have an option in their menus or toolbar. You can fire up the app and click on the Eject option there to pop out your CD or DVD.

Eject Forcefully

If the above methods did not help for some reason, and your drive seems to be unresponsive, you can try to eject the CD from MacBook forcefully.

Now by ‘forcefully,’ I mean by pressing down the mouse button while shutting down the MacBook, so put down your pry tools and screwdrivers.

How to Eject CD from Macbook Pro External Drive

If you are using an external drive connected to your shiny, new, expensive MacBook Pro which can’t even read a puny SD card on its own, then there are some other things you can try out.

Using Power Switch

Some of the external optical drive readers will have a dedicated power switch, in which case, just power them down when you are done reading/writing from it and restart it. Then press down on its eject button to (hopefully) bring out the CD tray.

Dedicated Eject Button

Sometimes, manufacturers will not provide a dedicated eject button for some reason. Instead, they provide a pinhole with a latch at the end of it.

This is used to manually eject the CD tray out if you can’t seem to eject it from the system. You just have to grab a pencil with a narrow tip, or maybe a paperclip or something, and push it slowly inside that tiny pinhole.

You will touch something that can be pushed in. Push it, and the CD tray will immediately pop out.

Sometimes, your intelligent Apple computer will assume that the drive is still in use because you might have left one of its content open in a window. Close it first and then try to eject it using any one of the above methods.