Macbook Pro shows external disc even though it has no external hard drive

[Anne]

Hi,

I've had my Macbook Pro for 8 months now, and suddenly it shows a disc-icon in Finder under "devices". When I right-click and eject nothing happens. I have also tried by dragging it to the trash can. No succes.

My Macbook Pro has no hard drive, not internal, not external, and no hard drive has ever been connected. Only memory cards and USBs has been connected, but this icon, I can see in the Finder window is shaped as a disc.

When I double click it to see what the disc contains it just says "0 subjects" at the buttom of the Finder window.

Does anyone know how to get rid of this disc?
Thank you in advance!

Best, Anne.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello and welcome.

-Which version of OS X?
-Can you insert a disc into the optical drive slot, then unmount it?
-What happens if you click and drag the disc icon to the left outside the window, hold for three seconds, then let go? Is it removed then?

C

 

[Anne]

Hi Cory,

Thanks! And thank you very much for responding.

I'm running Yosemite, and have done for a while. The cd-icon didn't show up in addition to installing it. Actually I have no idea when it showed up, but suddenly it was there, and has been now for about 2 months.

I do not have an optical drive, not external, not internal in the macbook pro. And one has never been connected.

I tried dragging the icon from the side-menu in Finder outside the window, and it helped! But the cd is still there. When I go to "XX (my) Macbook Pro", I see Machintosh HD, Network... and "external disc".

- Anne

 

[Cory Cooper]

No problem, that's why we're here.

Just so I understand correctly, the disc (CD) icon shows up in a Finder window in the left-hand pane under Devices, correct? Is it labeled External Disc?

Is this the Finder window view we are talking about?

I guess I was under the impression originally that you had an older model MBP, not a newer one sans the optical drive - guess I should have asked!

You can control what is show in the sidebar by navigating from the menubar:

Finder > Preferences... > Sidebar

Uncheck the items you don't want to show. Let us know if that cures the problem.

C

 

[Anne]

Id did, yes. But after I dragged it to the left outside the window, it doesn't appear in the overview in the left pane of the Finder window anymore.
Now it is only shown when I click at my macbook pro under devices. I have attached a screen dump, maybe it makes more sense then It is the disc icon in the top called "ekstern disk" (external disc in English).

 

[Cory Cooper]

Thanks for the screenshot and info.

That is only the icon for an Remote Disc, which is a default for all Macs without an internal optical drive. It can be removed from the sidebar, but not the location in your screenshot. If there were Macs on your network that had DVD or CD Sharing turned on, you could access discs on that Mac's optical drive by double-clicking it.

It can safely be ignored and it is not a bug.

Hope that helps,

C

 

[Anne]

Aha! That makes sense.
Then it's just me being new to cd/dvd sharing (and to a Macbook Pro with no internal optical drive).

Thank you so much for your kind help, Cory!
All the best,
Anne.

 

[Cory Cooper]

No worries...glad to help.

Enjoy,

C