"Burping" Imac HD...any solutions out there?

[fuchsi]

Well my Imac 'been here for a mere 2 weeks and the HD is constantly "burping" as i call it.
It seems to get louder as more and more Programms get installed on the drive. (which is kinda' logical)
Now this is getting a bit anoying to be honest.
I know the Imac HDs are not the greatest around but it really sounds like a poor quality product.
I mean it even "burps" out loud when im surfing the net or browsing the finder!

I guess alot of people are encountering this thing and more or less ignoring/living with it.
Are there any tricks or solutions to make/keep this thing a bit more quiet?

 

[MacAndMic]

Besides replacing the drive the only thing you could do is add more ram so disk access is less often.

I see a couple of threads about HD noise in this forum and am surprised. It seems Mac users are use to complete silence?

Personally, I recently replaced my PC with an iMac. I can hear the typical drive access but that is normal me, if I do not hear a computer doing that, I get worried! I do have to say though, the iMac is quietest computer I have ever used/worked on.

Is it typical access noise or is it REALLY loud? Can you make a recording?

troutspinner

 

[TMRaven]

It is hard to respond to you topic creators for threads like these, because there's a fine line between hearing abnormal hdd noise, and having stupidly high standards, thinking normal hdd noise is actually a defect.

If those grumbling noises you're hearing are only audible in a silent room or with the computer's speakers turned from 1-3blips, I say your hdd is perfectly fine. You have to account for two factors: 1)it is a workstation class hdd with 1tb of storage space and 2) it's situated in an all aluminum chassis with no padding around it, so its operation noise would only be amplified compared to your usual plastic cases (especially in towers with plenty of air around them to insulate the noise.)

 

[fuchsi]

Besides replacing the drive the only thing you could do is add more ram so disk access is less often.

I see a couple of threads about HD noise in this forum and am surprised. It seems Mac users are use to complete silence?

Personally, I recently replaced my PC with an iMac. I can hear the typical drive access but that is normal me, if I do not hear a computer doing that, I get worried! I do have to say though, the iMac is quietest computer I have ever used/worked on.

Is it typical access noise or is it REALLY loud? Can you make a recording?

troutspinner

Yeah i'm hoping that the RAM Option (i'm getting 8gb next week) works but let's think about it for a second, the machine is brand new and has 4gb to work with...wouldn't that be enough for standard procedures like surfing without it having to access the hdd in that manner?

And yeah it might come off a bit spoiled but to be honest compared to other computers this is a different sound annoyance

 

[pt0016]

Accessing to the hard drive could be to write caches etc, or store pages for Safari etc, not just because of swap ram.

If you go Activity Monitor, and then go to System Memory, see if there is any 'swap memory'. If there is, that means you need more RAM because it when it runs out, it 'swaps' the memory to the hard drive, which is much slower.

Mechanical hard drives do make a certain acceptable amount of noise, which is normal. If you want a completely silent machine, I suggest you invest in a SDD. There a chance you have a dud hard drive, but if you can only hear it when you are in a quiet room, then it's most likely normal.