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imac superdrive not accepting discs

iMac 2011 27” SuperDrive not accepting discs

iMac 27″, macOS 10.12

Posted on Feb 15, 2021 8:27 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Feb 15, 2021 8:39 AM

What exactly happens? Do the disks fully insert and then eject, or does it feel like the slot is blocked when you try to insert? Big difference in the possible causes.


If the disk full inserts and then the drive ejects it after a few seconds of unhappy noises, one of two things is at play:


1) the disk is damaged or incompatible

2) the opticsal drive is dirty.


Slot-load drives get gloriously dirty with time and stop working. About 90 percent of those respond well to a drive-cleaning disk.


If it feels like the slot is blocked and you cannot insert any disk more than a fraction of an inch, the drive has failed and must be replaced. In iMacs of that vintage, Apple used optical drives with a fail-safe gate. If the drive failed, this gate would deploy to keep impatient people from continuing to insert more disks.



1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 15, 2021 8:39 AM in response to Muzwaz

What exactly happens? Do the disks fully insert and then eject, or does it feel like the slot is blocked when you try to insert? Big difference in the possible causes.


If the disk full inserts and then the drive ejects it after a few seconds of unhappy noises, one of two things is at play:


1) the disk is damaged or incompatible

2) the opticsal drive is dirty.


Slot-load drives get gloriously dirty with time and stop working. About 90 percent of those respond well to a drive-cleaning disk.


If it feels like the slot is blocked and you cannot insert any disk more than a fraction of an inch, the drive has failed and must be replaced. In iMacs of that vintage, Apple used optical drives with a fail-safe gate. If the drive failed, this gate would deploy to keep impatient people from continuing to insert more disks.



imac superdrive not accepting discs

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