I wanted to upload some photos from my SD card, and I accidentally put it in the cd/dvd slot instead of in the SD slot. Now it's stuck there, and I can't get it out - anyone knows if it's possible to get it out without harming the iMac, or do I have to go to the Apple Store to get help?
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 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.
I think i pushed my SD card back farther because i put a CD in it i cant feel the SD card, well i dont know what it feels like, i really need this out. i can fit my cd in all the way it pulls it in than it pushes it out please help me !!!!!
Don't keep putting the cd in there .... it doesn't help get it out .... turn the mac gently on it's side the use the L shaped paper clip ... it will definitely work the same thing happened with me ... I kept sticking the cd in thinking it would somehow push the sd card out but it doesn't! hope this helps!
After having just put up with this for weeks, and having tried everything from cardboard with double-sided tape to credit cards and rulers, an L-shaped piece of cardboard did the trick in about 30 seconds.
Just folded over a card I received in the mail, cut it into an L shape, manoeuvred it to catch the card (this was the tricky part) and gently, but firmly, pulled it out.
I just did the same thing and I got it out with a hat pin. I had my friend hold the computer so the the CD slot was facing the ground and I was below it, I bent the hat pin (you could do the same with a thin flexible piece of wire) into a long 'L' shape and fished in to pull the thing out, I found and removed it fairly easily. You would just need to work out where abouts it is and hook the shorter part of the 'L' around the top and pull down. 🙂
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
I think you will find that a pencil is significantly wider than a CD/DVD slot.
The cardboard cut in an l-shape worked!!! Saved me dragging my imac to the mall! Will be taping over the CD slot since we use the SD slot much more often. This is the second time it's happened at my house, but first time it wasn't pushed in all the way. Thank you! There is also a video that I found showing the same thing, but the folded cardboard seemed to catch the card best.
Having done the same thing 😊 ... hopefully for the first and very last time ... and following the comments here, I used a large paper clip, one that is about 2" long in its natural state ... unfolded it into an L. Inserted, as someone noted, about half-way up the slot so as to not push the SD card further in, then lowered it so the bottom of the L was behind the SD card on the inside. Pull out slowly, horizontally, and the SD card came right out ...
welllll my sd card went missing, then my cds were hard to insert into the cd drive, then it took in cd and ejected it out... hmmmmmmm found this post and tried tipping macbook pro on its side while on its side i got a bi of long folded card and started poking aroung and swiping it in there till it hit something then i just kept swiping at it till low and behold a missing sd card fell out!!! Bloody Kids ay!!!!!! lol saved me a heap of cash and time not having to go to the repair shop!!!! try it it works its amazing lol
hi try a long as bit of card folded over about 5inches long and when folded in half it measures about a inch in width then tip on side and start swiping it in there till u hit siomething, which is probebly the card. keep going with the swiping till it falls out!!!