well the apple store tested my imac hard drive and they said it was bad .. so i got my replacement .. and its doing the same thing .. seagate 1tb again .. really sucks .. just wondering if i should just deal with it .. its just hard drive noise i guess
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
2nd imac .. hd noise is the same
- Thread starter jetjaguar
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
wait is nose from the harddrive not a normal thing?
because my new imac with a 1tb drive make a... hmm how to describe it? a clicking noise every once in a while. i thought that was normal though
Nothing is going to happen over the next couple of days...or weeks...or months...
Apple basically considers the hard drive noise complained about ad nauseam in this forum to be perfectly normal:
Apparently, the far more quieter hard drives in pre-2009 iMacs are now passé.
Maybe they forgot to run disk utility 
As to why, who knows? Keep in mind that Apple's customer support is all about keeping you happy, so if you say the hard drive is too noisy it's not going to be hard to verify because, well, they do make noise.
But just because they replaced your machine doesn't mean that the replacement will be any different with respect to the hard drive. Sometimes, info from the mothership, such as the technote above, doesn't matriculate to the Apple store employees in a resounding fashion. For the most part, Apple store folks seem to default to when a customer comes in and complains about something, and they can verify what the customer is complaining about, they will replace the product without any further evaluation.
Keep in mind that everyone's environment (ambient noise, room size, etc.,) where they use their machines is going to be different, so hard drive noise isn't going to be a universal problem as probably a lot of folks won't notice or if they do, not loud enough to be a concern.
As to why, who knows? Keep in mind that Apple's customer support is all about keeping you happy, so if you say the hard drive is too noisy it's not going to be hard to verify because, well, they do make noise.
But just because they replaced your machine doesn't mean that the replacement will be any different with respect to the hard drive. Sometimes, info from the mothership, such as the technote above, doesn't matriculate to the Apple store employees in a resounding fashion. For the most part, Apple store folks seem to default to when a customer comes in and complains about something, and they can verify what the customer is complaining about, they will replace the product without any further evaluation.
Keep in mind that everyone's environment (ambient noise, room size, etc.,) where they use their machines is going to be different, so hard drive noise isn't going to be a universal problem as probably a lot of folks won't notice or if they do, not loud enough to be a concern.
I always thought that hard drive noise was normal... wasn't until I read it wasn't "normal" that made me think any different. There are noises they can make that indicate possible failure, but general noise? Not a deal breaker for me.
My late 2009 i7 has the Seagate 1TB drive but it is basically silent. You have to put your ear up to the computer in order to hear any noise at all. The only sounds the system makes are the SuperDrive and the fans when doing something computationally intensive. It is the quietest system I've ever owned.
I'll post my results after I bring in my new i7 this Saturday. I am going to ask them to put in a Western Digital 1 TB drive if they have one. Before I returned my 4 early 2010 i7s for yellow screens, I had one Seagate that was loud. I had one WD that was whisper quiet. And 2 Seagates that were in between. Since I got a near perfect screen with the mid 2010 i7s, I only want them to put in a new drive. Watch me get dust behind the screen now