Disabling/Removing Optical Drive

[FearoftheNight]

My macbook pro has a broken optical drive with a disc inside. This thing spins up and down frequently and cancels my restart with detecting the disc. I can't eject the thing since I think it's stuck. How can I disable this thing?

 

[TheStu]

Oof, pre-unibody MBP, you are going to have a heck of a time pulling that drive out of there. Pre-unibody MBPs were a real pain in the ass to open up and work in side.

On the bright side if you do decide to crack that sucker open you can either replace the optical drive, or pull it altogether and put a drive cage in its place, giving you additional space, or an SSD.

 

[umrigar]

it's not really THAT bad... a bunch of little screws and a couple Torx T6 screws.

http://www.ifixit.com/Device/MacBook_Pro_15"_Core_2_Duo_Models_A1226_and_A1260

 

[pcgeek11]

Doesn't it have the mechanical override hole to eject the tray or is it a slotted drive?

 

[TheStu]

it's not really THAT bad... a bunch of little screws and a couple Torx T6 screws.

http://www.ifixit.com/Device/MacBook_Pro_15"_Core_2_Duo_Models_A1226_and_A1260

A whole bunch of tiny screws, in many different sizes, plus the torx thing, plus all the tape and routed cables. Contrast that with a unibody MBP...

Doesn't it have the mechanical override hole to eject the tray or is it a slotted drive?

Apple has used slot-load drives for the last... 8-10 years?

OP, another thing that you can try that has worked for me in the past is to slip something adhesive and stiff in there. Maybe a piece of a cereal box with some double stick tape on the end. Try and stick to the disc and then pull it out that way.

 

[FearoftheNight]

well if i take it out...will the weight be really noticeably off center and will that part over the now missing drive be more vulnerable to caving in?

 

[umrigar]

i repair Macs for a living.

it's really not that hard, compared to some repairs i've done.

i'm not saying it's easy like a unibody. different computer.

 

[TheStu]

i repair Macs for a living.

it's really not that hard, compared to some repairs i've done.

i'm not saying it's easy like a unibody. different computer.

Fair enough, at least he isn't replacing the hard drive in a G3/4 iBook! Ugh, I had to tear one of those down once, just to cannibalize the DC board, that took quite some time. Thankfully I didn't have to put it back together again when i was done.