SD card in the cd slot

Is it stuck in the slot area and blocking optical discs? Or did it completely fall inside somewhere?

If it is not possible to see or reach the card, the back will probably need to be removed to get to it. And that should be done by an Apple-certified technician to maintain the warranty.

You can try gently shaking the computer with the optical drive slot facing the floor to see if that may dislodge it.

If it is all the way inside and not blocking use of the optical drive, maybe you should just do nothing. You lose use of that one SD card, but avoid the need to and cost of having a technician open up the iMac.

I cant imagine that I would be happy for an SD card rattling around inside. I would be surprised if there was space for it plus the CD - I'd be tempted to take it to apple

You're not the only one - a friend of mine did the same.

We removed the card by using a large unfolded paperclip, bent into an 'L' shape (so as to create a hook)

Gently insert the paperclip into the middle of the slot, as far as you can, then move the paperclip down until you feel the end of the hook hit the side/bottom of the optical drive.

Then pull the paperclip out slowly, and it will bring the SD card with it.

You may have to try a few times to snag the card, what with it being so thin.

Might have been better if Apple had put the card slot on the other side!

I just did the same thing too. A large paper clip, bent in an "L" shape did the trick.

A new location for the SD card would be a good thing.

I did that very same stupid thing! I imagine lots of people will - the slots are just too close together and they are not visible from the side you are typically looking at. Oh, well, it is a BEAUTIFUL and powerful machine, just not quite perfect, yet!

My husband fished out the card for me. Here is what he did:
I took a sheet of cereal-box cardboard (about .4 mm thick and folded it in half vertically and then horizontally to get a quadruple thickness. From this I cut an "L" shape 13cm tall, 6.5 cm across the base, and about 1.7 cm wide, with the second fold along the tall back of the L and the first fold along the base. This way, the base tends to spread out somewhat. (Previous sweeps with single thicknesses of cardboard had failed to catch the SD card.) Compressing tip
of the base with my fingers, I inserted it high into the CD slot (unit unplugged, by the way), hooked it downward until it felt as if it hit the bottom of the slot, and dragged it outward. It pushed the SD card out. At no point was any noteworthy amount of force required.

UGH!!!! I CAN'T GET IT OUT...I CAN'T EVEN FEEL THE DANG THING...

OK this happen to me too. I took it to the mac store and they tried to recover it and said they failed. This is not covered by warranty, so they were going to try and charge me to repair it/retrieve it and for a new optical drive. Stating that once retrieved that the original optical drive would be ruined.
I read this discussion and thank you to the person who stated using the paper clip.
I tilted the mac on it's side and used the L shape paper clip and it came right out. Just saved me $240!!
Apple really should start covering this under warranty, it's so common.
Good luck, use the trusty paper clip!

OK this happen to me too. I took it to the mac store and they tried to recover it and said they failed. This is not covered by warranty, so they were going to try and charge me to repair it/retrieve it and for a new optical drive. Stating that once retrieved that the original optical drive would be ruined.
I read this discussion and thank you to the person who stated using the paper clip.
I tilted the mac on it's side and used the L shape paper clip and it came right out. Just saved me $240!!
Apple really should start covering this under warranty, it's so common.
Good luck, use the trusty paper clip!

If you can see it a trick I've used to recover items is a pencil with a piece of scotch tape stuck to the eraser end using the raw tape end to attempt to get the item to stick to the tape..(this worked to retreive a credit card from between car dash and windsheild)

Message was edited by: msbeezy

The paperclip thing worked for me too! Thanks for that TIP! On top of it all the SD card was my brand new eye-fi!