I mistakenly put my SD camera memory card in the dvd slot on my iMac. Any ideas on how to get it out??

It must be said, this made me laugh...

Dont try sticking other objects in the "CD/DVD slot", you will have to remove the back/screen (depending on what mac you have) to get to the drive.

You can then take it a part to remove the SD card, but I wouldnt recommend doing it if you've never done it before.

The drive is sealed, your method needs extra steps or it won't work.

OP

Get a strong thin piece of card long enough to reach inside the drive (laminated card works well) and fish it out.

Do not follow DMR123's advice.

I did say I wouldn't recommend doing it...

However, I would still strongly suggest against sticking anything in there (other than CDs)

Then you should do a little research, start with a search of this forum, you will find many successful removals of the SD card using this method. It's easy to find them, just look on the right side of your screen for the heading 'More Like This'

Here is a link to the first one. Memory card & how to retrieve from inside iMac!!

The fact that the optical drive is a sealed unit means that your solution will not help with removing the SD card from the drive, unless you were going to suggest breaking the drive open, after dismantling the iMac. Which is a very difficult task.

Bad advice I would say.

I still wouldn't recommend sticking other objects in there...

I'm not saying not to do it, if s/he doesn't want to take the mac to an apple store then so be it.

Also, it's difficult if you've never done it before, and I did say I wouldn't recommend doing so.

Anyway, I hope you've managed to remove the SD card grandmacheryl

Hopefully you've resolved this by now, but it not, this video shows how simple it can be to remove it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpwDfpH4hR0

(Turn off and unplug the Mac before attempting it).

DMR123 wrote:

I still wouldn't recommend sticking other objects in there...

Well I would

So I don't agree with you.

For whomever this may help - and it's true, MANY people end up putting the SD card into the CD/DVD slot of an iMac, as it's just so simple and normal to do, sitting in front of the screen and looking for the side slot by feel. Worse, the SD slot is less than an inch from the much larger Superdrive slot and for anyone who has often used the DVD slot it's like automatic to assume the slot you're looking for is right there, and the SD card easily fits, and when you notice a second later that it went all-in rather than stopping... whoops!

This happened to me about 3 months ago, and I researched "here" and general Google search, and saw several YouTube videos, some helpful, some not so much. But the gist is, get a 6-8 inch or so cardboard or similar stiffness cutout of a stem and a little inch-or-so "hook" at the end, and go fishing.

I failed on first try, and second. I'm not about to take the glass off myself. Yes, it's true that it's tough to see anything, given the felt dust protectors obscuring any view inside. I don't want to lug this huge thing to an Apple store unless necessary. So I tried again, failed, and tried a third time, powered off and placed on its side so maybe gravity would help. It didn't. I fished and occasionally hit the release mechanism, but nothing came out. I gave up and - as I rarely use DVD/CD now - I resigned to using my (USB) SuperDrive or other computers when I need to burn or load a disk. So I dug in, and thought someday, maybe... although I'd really like to see what's on that SD card too, as that was the original idea when putting it in the slot.

Upshot: I got the urge to try again after seeing a few more vids with the same solution, and having pretty much written off the drive, thinking the disk or my prodding must have unaligned something. But nope, surprise surprise.... Success! So I want to share how it is indeed possible, even for an amateur "blind fisherman" into an IMac innards, like myself. I used a basic writing pad cardboard, as described, cutting out a handle and "hook", and went for it yet again. This time I was pretty sure it's at least possible, seeing so many videos. No tilting necessary, just my growing faith that the tiny card actually sits at the bottom of a compartment and hasn't floated off into the guts of the computer. I hit obstacles (by feel only), occasionally triggering a momentary ejection effort (whirring of the gears), but no luck there, it won't eject an SD disk. But... after another 5-10 minutes of trying to keep the hook towards the bottom and past the first thing it hit against, I felt like I was witnessing a live birth - suddenly I saw a tiny piece of SD card emerge. I immediately pincer-gripped it - I used my nails but a tweezers would have done nicely too. I got my card back, with precious images I'd saved, and a few I hadn't yet, as the card took a wrong turn first.

TAKE-AWAY - and this is the good part. Both the SD card - after months in the Mac - and the iMac itself (with months of SD card swallowed inside) are
perfect! I downloaded the few last images I'd not yet done when the slot swallowed my card, and tested the card in-camera. No ill effects! As for the iMac, I also tested, by reading from/writing to DVD, and it is as if the SD-card-swallow never happened. No need to lug it in to Apple, problem fixed. And lesson learned also: to be careful in the first place when putting an SD card in an iMac - visual confirmation for sure, as it's so easy to make this mistake.

It can be retrieved without damage, even by a manual-dexterity challenged person like me. Yes, the cardboard hook works, even when the card has moved further and further inside. Your mileage may vary, of course, but I wanted to add this here (rather than a YouTube comment) for others in this position.
Good luck!

hi i just wanted to share my current experience regarding this problem. i was about to upload my photos from my memory card to my macbook pro but then i realized, after almost of my sd card was inside the slot, that i was putting on the wrong place. the tip of it still emerged just a little but and i tried grabbing it using pinset, the tip of my headset and it just become more worse, i cannot see the tip of it anymore. i got very frustrated and im about to go to the nearest apple store. but while searching for this answer on internet, i stumbled an answer that said they might charge you and might have to dismantled your macbook. i was very anxious and sad. so i keep on trying using an L shape paperclip but i cannot reached it still. so i changed using a more thick paper and make an L shape. it was so hard, and i feel that there was no presence of my sd card, my worse thought is that it might went too far in the mainbot that i cannot reach it. i prayed and hope for the best and i try it again and again hoping some miracle would pop out. and here i am feeling so blessed and wanted to share, that i managed to get my sd card out using the L shape of thick paper. the key is you gotta try and try and carefully without damaging any internal parts of the cd drive (i was very scared that i might add some cost to my cd drive if it was broken). when you feel that you have reached something hard just try to hook it and pull it through. really, when i feel the hard surface and when the L had hooked to the sd card, my heart just burst with happiness. the L shape made with thick paper really works. and goodluck for all you out there who might experience this kind of case. cheers & God bless

Thank you for encouraging me to try again. I got it!!