The problem of unwanted freebie coverdiscs has been growing for a while now. So, someone invented EcoDiscs, which are half the thickness of a normal DVD. Except they’ll bugger your Mac up and leave you with a bill for £65+VAT.

The Independent and The Daily Mail amongst others gave away some ecodisc cover DVDs this weekend, and on Monday, a distressed relative called to say the mac was making strange noises. After a couple of hours, I began searching on the internet, and found the answer:

I phoned The Independent who took no responsibility at all, but said they’d send out a standard form reply by email (which never came) disclaiming all responsibility. So, there’s a warning on the disc (click for full size: hint, you're looking for this symbol

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Yes, it’s 4mm high, in fuzzy print. As if anyone is going to see that! It needs to be the LARGEST thing on the disc. 

I then called the manufacturer, ODS, who sent me the document below - yes, the solution is to turn the Mac upside down while ejecting the disc. In fact, as this didn’t work at first, I followed further guidelines on the net suggesting I bang it while ejecting and upside down! This finally freed the disc, but does anyone have any idea how bad that can be for a hard drive?! It could cause a head-crash and data loss at the least.

Another surprising thing is that according to one of the articles above, Ecodisc have had “less than 12 calls about it”. Makes you wonder why they need a standard document like this, doesn’t it...