How can I get rid off foreign object from my iMac's DVD/CD drive?

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Level 1

11 points

How can I get rid off foreign object from my iMac's DVD/CD drive?

Quite by accident a real thin straw got blown inside my iMac’s desktop dvd/cd drive. I was using one of those ‘air in a can’ trying to blow the dust out the inside of my dvd/cd drive when this happened. Now, every time just before my computer wakes up it makes a very annoying rattling. I keep my computer in the sleep mode most of the time, so the rattling even wakes me up during the night when my computer decides to wake up. I’m trying to extract the straw out, by prying the slot a little and vacuuming it out. My iMac desktop is 14 years old, is 27,” and heavy, but it still works very well. Besides taking it in to have it looked at, what other recourse do I have? Thank you for insight. -Ella

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Foreign object in my DVD/cd drive

Posted on Jun 2, 2025 6:41 PM

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Answer 1

den.thed

Level 10

86,458 points

Jun 2, 2025 7:49 PM in response to KDdid

Shut down and unplug the iMac.

Cut a hook out of a thin piece of plastic or ridge cardboard.

Have someone hold the iMac on it's side with slot facing down and probe the slot with the hook.

FWIW this is the preferred way to remove an SD card from the DVD/CD slot.

So I'm guessing that it will also work to remover the canned air straw as well.

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Answer 2

John Galt

Level 10

151,854 points

Jun 3, 2025 8:48 AM in response to KDdid

Among other techniques, a powerful vacuum or a piece of bent card stock have been known to successfully remove objects stuck in the optical drive.

Camera Card in CD port... HELP!!! - Apple Community

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Answer 3

rkaufmann87

Level 10

147,582 points

Jun 2, 2025 8:26 PM in response to KDdid

Ella,

None! Considering the advanced age of the computer if you don't want to spend money fixing it then you can replace the DVD drive with an external one. I'd recommend visiting MacSales.com, they have many to select from in all price ranges. I recall seeing some as low as $25. Remember to assess your needs and select one that fills those needs.

Good luck!

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Answer 4

KDdid Author

Level 1

11 points

Jun 3, 2025 10:08 PM in response to rkaufmann87

Hi there,

Thank you for your response. It isn’t the fact that I’d like a new external drive, since I already have one. The existing drive really hasn’t been working for quite sometime now. The thing that is driving me batty is the rattling noise which can occur at anytime during the middle of the night or day, when the computer awakens. -Ella

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Answer 5

KDdid Author

Level 1

11 points

Jun 6, 2025 7:33 PM in response to John Galt

Hi John,

You say a piece of bent card stock? Bent how? If you could tell me or put up an image to show me how it should be bent? I’d appreciate it. Thank you! -Ella

P.S. Thank you all for all the suggestions!

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Answer 6

John Galt

Level 10

151,854 points

Jun 7, 2025 5:50 AM in response to KDdid

It is not a technique I used personally. In one of them I specifically advised against it:

I would not recommend fishing around in there with anything. You could easily break the optical drive mechanism.

You would need to read those older, archived Discussions (click the blue text). One of them is 19 pages long. If Apple still used optical drives in their products those 15+ year old Discussions would now be hundreds of pages long.

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Answer 7

Rudegar

Level 10

177,612 points

Jun 4, 2025 12:14 AM in response to KDdid

suppose you could follow one of the ifixit guides to open up the imac enough for you to disconnect the power cable from the internal optical drive then it would no longer go bump in the night

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