Are the new 500GB iMac drives noisy or quiet?

[Scott6666]

It's been well documented in these forums that the 1TB drives make a lot of noise in the new iMacs.

Can people with the 500GB drives let us know if they are silent like the old iMacs were?

I need a silent iMac and are ready to buy IF the drives are quiet.

 

[FearlessFreep]

The one in my 21.5 iMac is super quiet. If I turn off everything, put my head to the screen maybe I can hear it. Otherwise, no.

 

[929406]

super quiet, no issues with my base model imac

 

[Badger^2]

It's been well documented in these forums that the 1TB drives make a lot of noise in the new iMacs.

Can people with the 500GB drives let us know if they are silent like the old iMacs were?

I need a silent iMac and are ready to buy IF the drives are quiet.

Hows the drive in your 27" iMac sound?

 

[Scott6666]

Hows the drive in your 27" iMac sound?

Has the "growling stomach" kind of sound when accessing. It's noticeable but not constant. The first one I had had a constant vibration so this is much better.

I have an external 1TB which I use for time machine which I must admit is louder than the one in the iMac.

The 27" is in an office so I don't care as much. The new one would go in the family room on an end table that has the front facing an easy chair and the back facing a couch. I just want to make sure that people on the couch do not have a hard drive grumbling in their ears. The 27" would not do in the family room.

I would like to get the 24" with the ATI card but that forces me into the 1TB drive so I have stick with the base model. Not sure if the 9400 can handle the kids games but I'm hoping so.

 

[Bulldog3777]

500gb

My 500GB is super quiet also.

 

[Ecoh]

I have the Hitachi 2 TB drive and it is so silent I wonder if it is actually in there sometimes.

 

[powerbook911]

I have one of the quad machines (2nd one) that will go back for yellow.

Both hard drives, 1 TBs on these 27-inchers have been quiet. I've never heard them. I only hear my external firewire drive which is 3x further from me than the Mac.