MDD DVD Drive Open Command

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Is there a special command to open the DVD drive on the MDD M8570?  I've tried F12 and Eject (upper-right on keyboard) without a response.  Since there's no media in there now, it does not show up on the desktop.  Operating Tiger and OS 9 dual boot.  No response in either OS.  It's been a while, but I don't recall having any problem with this drive in the past, but I can't remember what I've since forgotten as to how I operated it...heh. 

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Addendum: I was able to get the DVD drive to open when I mounted a .dmg in OS X Disk Utility and clicked "Burn", then it retracted on Cancel, so I know the drive is functional.  I just can't figure out how to make it open on keyboard command.

[robespierre]

In OSX, at least, you can use "drutil tray eject" in Terminal to open the optical drive.
In OS9, you might have to use a burning program like Astarte/Roxio/Adaptec Toast, where there is a menu command to open the tray.

These commands can both be scripted using AppleScript or Automator, and bound to keyboard gestures. There might already be a disabled item in System Preferences->Keyboard->Keyboard Shortcuts for that.

[IIO]

eject will always work, but i think it only works for the upper drive. so when you have only one drive but mount it in the second slot, there is no keyboard command for that.

do you find keyboard commands handy for that? i dont, i prefer menu items or controlstrip modules. if you have two drives, you will need that anway.

(OSX always shows any optical drives in the menubar by default.)

[macarone]

The commands for the optical drives in the MDD were Eject for the top drive and Option-Eject for the bottom drive, but they only worked with the original Master/Slave IDE cable.

All optical drive manufacturers advised that optical drives should NOT be connected as Slave drives.

Many MDDers added SATA PCI cards either to add a second drive or when the original drive failed, and found that the Eject key no longer worked.

The solution: a little free utility called: Ardiem. A search should find a download site. I have a copy and will u/l if needed.

[peeperpc]

eject will always work, but i think it only works for the upper drive. so when you have only one drive but mount it in the second slot, there is no keyboard command for that.

do you find keyboard commands handy for that? i dont, i prefer menu items or controlstrip modules. if you have two drives, you will need that anway.

(OSX always shows any optical drives in the menubar by default.)

My MDD has the optical drive in the lower bay. It is the only drive on the IDE cable which is connected to the ATA/66 connector on the main board. F12 works fine in OS X (and in OS 9 after setting it as open tray shortcut key). So I think if it is the only optical drive in the system, you don't need to press Option + F12 (which will also open the tray of that only drive).

The F12 (and the Eject key, if your keyboard has one) don't work via Remote Management/VNC.

[macarone]

>My MDD has the optical drive in the lower bay.
>It is the only drive on the IDE cable which is connected to the ATA/66 connector on the main board.

Yes, I thought I made clear that the eject commands depended on using the Master/Slave IDE cable.

If you move the upper optical drive to the lower bay, but connect it to the Master socket on the cable, the Eject keys will still work.

BUT if you put two optical drives in an MDD, the single Master/Slave IDE bus will NOT have enough bandwidth.

AND where do you buy an IDE DVD burner today?

To use two optical drives, a PCI SATA card and two optical drives is the best solution, but then the Eject commands will NOT work, and you need the nice, free utility: Ardiem for Mac.

Do a search:  Ardiem for Mac    You will see lots of useful infromation.

[IIO]

BUT if you put two optical drives in an MDD, the single Master/Slave IDE bus will NOT have enough bandwidth.

i have never calculated where the limit is, but copying a CD at 24x or 36x works fine.

udma 66 is about as fast as firewire.
 
 
for you it is easier to find a PCI SATA card than an IDE burner?

[peeperpc]

If you move the upper optical drive to the lower bay, but connect it to the Master socket on the cable, the Eject keys will still work.

It is connected to the Slave socket.

[ovalking]

>the eject commands depended on using the Master/Slave IDE cable.

Well, that's something new I've learnt today!
But it's a stupid design... give me a proper eject button on the drive!

[peeperpc]

Well, let me rephrase it.

I think it's not solely based on the drive's location on the cable but on the result of whatever method that is used to identify the drive as Master or Slave.

1. If the optical drive is the only drive on the cable and its jumper is set to Master. The Eject or F12 key will still work even if your optical drive is connected to the cable's Slave socket. Because the MDD will recognize it as Master drive.

2. You can use either F12/Eject or Option+F12/Eject. It will open the tray of that drive. May be that's because it's the only drive on the cable.

3. I know the service manual makes an impression that MDD macs use Cable Select only. But that is not true. You can set your drives as Master/Slave as you like using their jumpers. You can see the result in System Profiler > Hardware > ATA > ATA Bus > Unit Number (0 = Master, 1 = Slave)

4. Yeah, it may be against Apple's recommendation and it may have consequences.

5. But I need to move my optical drive to the lower bay to make room for my little modification. And connecting it to the Slave socket is more tidy. It has been like this for more than 10 years and I've found no problem.

[DieHard]

Have you tried the "Eject Upper" and "Eject Lower" utilities included in Mac OS 9 "Extras" folder; if they work, you can assign each to any function key