Ejecting Discs
Mac Tip#35/26-Dec-2001

In Tip #33 I wrote: The Trash can helps you dispose of documents and software you no longer need and it helps you eject CDs, floppy discs and other removable media such as Zip discs from your computer.

Tips 33 and 34 went on to talk about disposing of documents, but in this Tip I want to write about ejecting removable media.

Removable media are things like Zip discs, CDs and DVDs, floppies and other similar items. When you insert such an item into your Mac its icon automatically shows up on the desktop. When you want to get it out again though it’s not always easy to see what to do.

As usual, there are several ways, this Tip looks at just one or two.

If you have one of the most recent Macs you might find that the F12 key at the top right of your keyboard shows an icon of an upward pointing arrow. Press this button and any CD or DVD you have in your computer’s drive should be ejected.

Another way to do it is to click once on the icon for the CD or whatever and drag the icon to the Trash. Don’t worry, this won’t delete any information — it’s a good old-fashioned standard way to eject media on the Mac.