SuperDrive icon is super annoying

September 18, 2008 11:33 AM

Why the mystery icon? Should I eat it?

I just upgraded my desktop Mac (2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB SDRAM) to Leopard 10.5.5, attached an external 250 GB LaCie hard drive via USB, and directed Time Machine to back up to the new drive. No problem, works like a charm.

But now when I restart, there's a SuperDrive icon up in the right-hand corner alongside the usual Time Machine, BlueTooth, AirPort, Volume, Date & Time, and Spotlight icons. Clicking on the icon gets me a single grayed-out and unclickable "SuperDrive" menu option. There is no CD/DVD in the drive.

(OK, I just put in a DVD, it played fine, and I can use the icon to eject it.)

Is this just a convenient way of ejecting discs in Leopard? Can I make it go away? (I don't like icons I'll never use cluttering my workspace, and since ejecting the disc doesn't quit the DVD Player, what's the point of this icon?) Apple Help is, of course, no help.

Also, I will accept praise for actually implementing a plan to back up my data after years of saying I'll do it someday.

posted by BitterOldPunk to computers & internet (8 comments total)

Usually, you can move or remove those menu bar status icons by holding down command, then clicking and dragging. I can’t say what this one if for, though. Screencap?
posted by breaks the guidelines? at 11:37 AM on September 18, 2008

Check your Sharing preferencePane. You don't have your drive shared - or another drive on another computer shared, do you? I don't know if this is it - but it's worth a look.

Screencap time.
posted by brandoniain at 11:41 AM on September 18, 2008

Thanks, breaks the guidelines?. The icon went away with a satisfying little "poof". I'm gonna restart and see if it reappears.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 11:48 AM on September 18, 2008

Nope, no reappearance on restart. I'll chalk it up to OSX upgrade weirdness. Problem solved. Thanks, folks!
posted by BitterOldPunk at 11:51 AM on September 18, 2008

Navigate to /System/Library/CoreServices/MenuExtras and look for the Eject.menu item. Double-click on it. Look in your menubar. Did the new icon that showed up match the one you just got rid of? If so, then that's all it was...some script caused the Eject menu item to show up in the menu.
posted by mrbarrett.com at 12:03 PM on September 18, 2008

For the record, don't eat it.
posted by leapfrog at 1:09 PM on September 18, 2008

Good work on implementing the data backup!
posted by roombythelake at 3:13 PM on September 18, 2008

For future reference, if the machine detects that it does not have an apple keyboard (and not the magic key to the right of the f12 that isn't f13, and for users who didn't know that f12 can act as a keyboard eject in the absence of magic f12.5) it will launch that menu item. Once its launched, you have to remove it as described above. It will also show up if you have TWO optical drives attached, so you can control which one to eject.
posted by mrzarquon at 6:51 PM on September 18, 2008