27" iMac Seagate 1Tb HDD Noise NORMAL!!

[eyedoc_00]

Hi Spinnetti, many of us with the issue being discussed are being presented with the noise as we surf the web (go from page to page) and sometimes just type (I hear it now as I type this)... Is yours producing noise other than downloading?

I have noticed in the past few days that my HD makes this grumbling noise as I surf the web. I also notice the yellow tinge at the bottom of the screen. I was not sure if either of these were normal but that is why I have applecare. As this is a rev A, I will just see how things go over the next few months. Coming from my iMac G5 rev B (constant fan noise) this is a very quiet machine. But the HD grumbling can get annoying. I have this model HD: ST31000528ASQ

 

[mdewberry]

Ok, so went to the Apple store tonight with my iMac..

Interesting story.. so went I went on Monday and explained my problem the store rep said the Genius would want to bring the iMac to the back room to listen to the drive, and really try to max the drive to hear the noise... This did not happen.. As they were so busy the Genius was trying to hear the noise at the Genius Bar while there was a packed store, and all of the stools to the left and right of me were full and people were chatting, etc... Well, he finally heard the noise and I had to explain to him two or three times it is a LOT louder in my quiet home office and not a loud Apple store..

Bottom line is he switched the machine, and confirmed it was a different batch then I had originally received.. After reading posts from others on this thread it seemed that a replacement may be better...

Brought my new iMac home, fired it up and quiet, did Migration Assistant with 50+ gb of data, quiet while running the data conversion (other than a smooth fan noise), used it afterward, and it is louder than ever... Yep, the hard drive on this one is even louder than my other one... what a disappointment... Go to a website, grumble, grumble, grumble... ugh, I am so frustrated.. And ever worse there is a subtle gray thick line running across the bottom of my screen when the screen is all one color... I am so disappointed and frustrated... It is literally grumbling while I am writing this email.. So, I am going to return it on Friday, and debate ordering a 2tb drive from apple.com, or just give up and wait until the next version... Or maybe reconsider a macbook pro...

I may call Applecare and see if I can do it over mail versus taking it back to the store...

Just an fyi, I checked the two 27" iMacs in the store and one did have the Western Digital drive, so I had some hope. Nope, just checked and this one and it has the Seagate.

Well, time for me to get over this crap, and really be thankful tomorrow for what is important...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

 

[SmugMac]

Hmm. I have a Hitachi 2TB and it's totally silent and very fast.

 

[Trek2100]

Not any noise in a quiet basement. My HD is a 1TB Western Digital. Also, the fans are extremely quiet. Current temp: CPU - 106 degrees F, GPU diode - 133. GPU heat sink - 135, CPU fan - 938 RPM, HD - 1098 RPM, Optical drive - 999 RPM. Cannot hear the fans, HD or anything. Maybe I should take the ear plugs out of my ears, just kidding.

 

[Sir Cecil]

So, I am going to return it on Friday, and debate ordering a 2tb drive from apple.com, or just give up and wait until the next version... Or maybe reconsider a macbook pro...

Very disappointing and I can understand your frustration, having experienced the problem first-hand.
But my replacement i5/Seagate continues to run with no sign of the rumbling or any other problems after four days of almost constant use since I exchanged it. Looks like it's down to the luck of the draw at the moment.
Don't do anything rash and end up ordering something you don't really want or need!

 

[53x12]

I may call Applecare and see if I can do it over mail versus taking it back to the store...

Anyone know if this is this possible? If any other issues pop up, I would like to do this instead of dragging the iMac back to the store and the new one home.

 

[Sir Cecil]

UPDATE: Disaster. The noise is back. After four or five days of bliss-free use, it's back to square one. Horrible. Every action accompanied by the rumbling, throbbing sound. This is too much to bear after the few days respite following the initial exchange. Dreadful. Luckily, it's a holiday Thursday, so I have no choice but to take at least a full day to consider what to do next...

 

[spcdust]

UPDATE: Disaster. The noise is back. After four or five days of bliss-free use, it's back to square one. Horrible. Every action accompanied by the rumbling, throbbing sound. This is too much to bear after the few days respite following the initial exchange. Dreadful. Luckily, it's a holiday Thursday, so I have no choice but to take at least a full day to consider what to do next...

This has to be an issue with the Seagate HDD, as it appears the 2TB Hitachi HDD are perfectly silent. If I was one of the Apple engineers / designers who had gone to so much trouble in ensuring the machine was silent I would be mighty miffed that someone had then shoved in a noisy HDD.

 

[Shawnstra]

I just realised the noise after turning off the air conditioning or by sticking my ear right beside the sreen. I guess I can't really be bothered as usually my air conditioning is always on and much louder then the computer. Also, it's pretty much 100% to get a seagate drive that rumbles, unless I upgrade to the 2TB Hitachi.

 

[plasticphyte]

OK, so your post isn't quite worthless. -Sorry. BUT your speaking from the perspective of a machine that "is going quite nicely" and doesn't the the problem.

Or does it?

Do you sit in a dead quiet room with your dead silent iMac and hear grumbling coming from the machine where everything else is quiet?

I think you've still missed my point - my point is that ALL hard drives make a noise - it's a by product of something being spun around at over 5400 (or 7200, even 15000) RPM, and heads moving back and forth at insane speeds to read the data.

You are FAR less likely to hear the noise of a normal operational HDD when there are noisy fans, which is fairly true of most computers - you'll hear even less noise if there is acoustic dampening (such as in the Coolermaster Cosmos).

Seeing as there are neither of these in the iMac, then you've got a greater chance of hearing normal noise activity.

Normal noise levels for different brands of hard drives varies, based on number of platters used (and therefore the number of heads in the drive) and spindle speed, as well as any possible vibration reduction used to secure the drive or internal mechanics.

On my desk sits two Western Digital 200GB drives, and two Western Digital 500GB drives, both spin at 7200RPM, and of the two sizes, the 500GB drives are the quietest. They were like that when I got them.

There is an obvious difference between this normal type of sound, and the noise that a dying hard drive makes (grinding, clunking, screeches, whines, clicks and whirrs above and beyond the call of duty).

While not discounting that there could be an issue with the drive, perhaps some are complaining about noisy drives when that is in fact just normal noise levels for that drive?


I can hear my drive sometimes (particularly on first boot up), but as I have the 2TB Hitachi model, I am probably not going to have the same 'issue' as others.
My room is moderately quiet, at least quiet enough to faintly hear the fans in the background even at low RPM.


So, moral of my post is, while it could be a noisy hard drive that shouldn't be as noisy, it could also be that it's perfectly normal, and the only reason people are complaining is because they expected the computer to be quieter than it is , or just anal retentive (tongue in cheek guys!).


What would be great, to give us all an idea of the noise people are complaining about, is if someone with a noisy drive could record the computer running while accessing/writing to the drive. It would need to be in a relatively quiet room, with the microphone at a minimum of 60cm or 70cm from the front of the computer. That should give a fair indicator of what the issue is.

 

[Kronie]

So, moral of my post is, while it could be a noisy hard drive that shouldn't be as noisy, it could also be that it's perfectly normal, and the only reason people are complaining is because they expected the computer to be quieter than it is , or just anal retentive (tongue in cheek guys!).

No I completely understand what your saying. I just think your wrong. You don't have the loud drive (according to you) so in reality when you talk about how hard drives should sound in a 27" iMac its from the perspective of the "other side". You lucky bastard!

I have said in a number of posts that the sound could just be amplified from the shape of the case. It could be completely normal, just a loud drive. I don't think that's it but it could be?

The fact that there are people that have returned the machine for the "loud drive" and have a replacement that's silent leads me to believe its a batch of bad drives.

I will give apple 2 more chances. I'll try another 1TB and if its still noisy I will try the 2TB, and if that ones still grumbling I'm done until the next update.

 

[mdewberry]

Update: Noise is not as bad this morning but still noticeable, however in the words of Sir Cecil, "This is too much to bear".. Especially after hauling the computer in to the Apple store last night..

Not sure if I mentioned, but the Genius did a knowledge base search and there are still no hits on a noisy drive with the iMac. So, that means that the Seagate drive noise must fall within normal specifications...

Also, my new LCD panel is much more problematic than my original.. This panel has a gray shadow bar going across the bottom of the screen, and there is this weird yellow bleeding on the right side of the panel (if you look at a white screen, the right side is yellowish...)

So it packed up, and I going to call Apple care on Friday morning. I would like to return this machine and order the 27" BTO iMac with the 2tb drive. My concern is that they will hit me with the 10% restocking fee as I now want a different machine than I originally bought (I will fight that tooth and nail if it happens)... I will let you all know how that goes...

Unfortunately as Apple has not addressed this as a known issue, I think it is going to boil down to:
1) Live with the noise in the 1tb drive
2) Pay the extra $250 to upgrade to the 2tb drive (with the hope that Apple will not penalize this action with a restocking fee)

Plasticphyte, can you elaborate on the noise of your drive? The start up noise is acceptable, however do you hear it "grumble" as you move from webpage to webpage? Or is it only when you download data? I assume you are in a quiet environment.. I would hate to invest the extra $250 and run into the same types of noises...

Thanks to all for everyone's continued feedback!

 

[mapleleafer]

Personally, I like to know when the hard drive is working. Maybe I've just been conditioned over the years, but if I do something that should be written to disk, I want instant acknowlwedgment that it has actually been written to disk. I don't want an excessively noisy drive. I just want to be able to hear that what I have commanded has been obeyed. A completely silent drive would unnerve me.

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

Ok, so went to the Apple store tonight with my iMac..

Interesting story.. so went I went on Monday and explained my problem the store rep said the Genius would want to bring the iMac to the back room to listen to the drive, and really try to max the drive to hear the noise... This did not happen.. As they were so busy the Genius was trying to hear the noise at the Genius Bar while there was a packed store, and all of the stools to the left and right of me were full and people were chatting, etc... Well, he finally heard the noise and I had to explain to him two or three times it is a LOT louder in my quiet home office and not a loud Apple store..

Bottom line is he switched the machine, and confirmed it was a different batch then I had originally received.. After reading posts from others on this thread it seemed that a replacement may be better...

Brought my new iMac home, fired it up and quiet, did Migration Assistant with 50+ gb of data, quiet while running the data conversion (other than a smooth fan noise), used it afterward, and it is louder than ever... Yep, the hard drive on this one is even louder than my other one... what a disappointment... Go to a website, grumble, grumble, grumble... ugh, I am so frustrated.. And ever worse there is a subtle gray thick line running across the bottom of my screen when the screen is all one color... I am so disappointed and frustrated... It is literally grumbling while I am writing this email.. So, I am going to return it on Friday, and debate ordering a 2tb drive from apple.com, or just give up and wait until the next version... Or maybe reconsider a macbook pro...

I may call Applecare and see if I can do it over mail versus taking it back to the store...

Just an fyi, I checked the two 27" iMacs in the store and one did have the Western Digital drive, so I had some hope. Nope, just checked and this one and it has the Seagate.

Well, time for me to get over this crap, and really be thankful tomorrow for what is important...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

The gray line is you're graphics card.

 

[53x12]

My concern is that they will hit me with the 10% restocking fee as I now want a different machine than I originally bought (I will fight that tooth and nail if it happens)... I will let you all know how that goes...

Why would they charge you a restocking fee when there is a problem with your computer? If there is a problem you don't need to worry about being charged this.

 

[frenchie0101]

UPDATE: Disaster. The noise is back. After four or five days of bliss-free use, it's back to square one. Horrible. Every action accompanied by the rumbling, throbbing sound. This is too much to bear after the few days respite following the initial exchange. Dreadful. Luckily, it's a holiday Thursday, so I have no choice but to take at least a full day to consider what to do next...

i was waiting for it cecil, ive also dug a bit deeper aswell (BTW decided to get a full refund on my 27" to opt for the 2TB).. My boss was kind enough for me to borrow one of his mac's which is the early 09 20" iMac.. sitting here now typing i hear the belly rumbling but a little quiter compared to the 27"... Guess what its a seagate HDD ST3250820ASQ, at work we have 2 x 20" 1 x 24" and 1 x 27" all with Western Digital drives and every single one so so quiet!, its 100% answer to me that the seagate drives ARE supposed to be doing this. All very good in a cheap PC i suppose but not on a £1600 mac.... surely apple must know that this is causing a complete annoyance to its customers and should stick to Western Digital and Hitachi? hmmmm tempted to send this story to BBC Watchdog

 

[Roy43]

How do you detemine the make of the internal HD?

I look at the info and do not see the make in info? I am new to Mac, so be gentle.
I know about PCs only. Just starting out with Mac

 

[frenchie0101]

I look at the info and do not see the make in info? I am new to Mac, so be gentle.
I know about PCs only. Just starting out with Mac

click apple then about this mac, then more info, click on serial ata on left and notice the model number on the right hand side... ST = Seagate, WD = Western Digital

 

[iMacRS]

Hi,

I am a recent owner of a 27" iMac and I think my drive makes more noise than it's supposed to.

I'v tried to make a movie to check if this is the same noise that people here are talking about.
My model is a Seagate 1TB (ST31000528ASQ).

You can watch it here (you can hear better with phones)

Is this the same kind of noise that this thread refers to?

Thanks in advance

 

[platti]

hi,

to me, this is"clicking" not "grumblin". It sounds like someone is clicking on a mouse.

 

[Roy43]

SMART utility..anyone tried it? HD is quiet..fails utility test!

click apple then about this mac, then more info, click on serial ata on left and notice the model number on the right hand side... ST = Seagate, WD = Western Digital

Thanks, i have figured this out by the time I just read this. My drive is the Seagate ST31000528ASQ 1TB. It has made little noise. I only hear it at startup and it is not loud, more than acceptable. NOW, having said that, I looked for a drive utility. I downloaded the trial version of Smartutility from:
http://www.volitans-software.com/index.php

I run a test and it shows my HD failing!
Best I can tell is that the temp on line 190 has ran high as it is redlined 58C with a threshold of 45. As I write, it shows current temp of 41C. Under type heading there are lines marked pre-fail on spin up time, reallocated sector count, seek error rate, spin retry count. All others under type are tagged ol age. Believe this also shows this hd has 25 hours on it, I have not ran it that long. Looking for comparisons folks. Could heat be causing our problems??? I have been a life long WD user with zero failures. I dropped one one time on a concrete floor and it still worked after than with just a couple bad sectors, my fault. First computers at work years ago had Seagate drives, they did not last.

I have i5 4850 27". All is working, but now I am miffed about my first Mac!
Has anyone else tried this utility and if so, how about results? I suppose I will pack it up and call for shipping papers dang it!.
BTW, i posted this on a separate thread for more exposure, so post replies there. Tnx

 

[iMacRS]

hi,

to me, this is"clicking" not "grumblin". It sounds like someone is clicking on a mouse.

Hi,

If you are referring to my video, I am indeed clicking to open some apps in order tho show the HDD noise. The noise I speak about it's between clicks. It is not easy to hear, that why I recommend you to use phones.

 

[spcdust]

Hi,

I am a recent owner of a 27" iMac and I think my drive makes more noise than it's supposed to.

I'v tried to make a movie to check if this is the same noise that people here are talking about.
My model is a Seagate 1TB (ST31000528ASQ).

You can watch it here (you can hear better with phones)

Is this the same kind of noise that this thread refers to?

Thanks in advance

Just had a listen and that's exactly the noise I am hearing (funny, had to distinguish your recording of HDD noise from my actual HDD rumble).

It's very intrusive when you're working in a quiet environment.

 

[iMacRS]

Just had a listen and that's exactly the noise I am hearing (funny, had to distinguish your recording of HDD noise from my actual HDD rumble).

It's very intrusive when you're working in a quiet environment.

Yap same problem for me while watching the movie eheh Had to hear it with phones to "mute" the actual drive.

And I agree on the annoying part.

Is this common to all Seagate drives?

 

[frenchie0101]

Yap same problem for me while watching the movie eheh Had to hear it with phones to "mute" the actual drive.

And I agree on the annoying part.

Is this common to all Seagate drives?

I'm certain it is common due to me borrowing a year old 20" which I explained a few posts up which has the same noise but just a tad less quiter than the 27's