Hard drive "crunching"

[CJS7070]

Hi everyone,

I've got a "problem" on my 13" June 2009 MacBook Pro. Every couple of minutes, the hard drive will start making a "crunching" noise. I'm not doing anything on that computer, it's just sitting on the desk next to me. It doesn't appear to be causing errors or anything, but it's quite annoying.

This problem just started today... Hard drive is a 7200RPM 500GB Seagate Momentus that I upgraded in July.

Any insight on this would be appreciated... Thanks!

 

[m85476585]

Is it the same as the seek noise (when the hard drive is being accessed), or the noise it makes when it parks the heads suddenly (when the sudden motion or G sensor is activated, or when you pull the power), or something else?

Make sure you have a backup, the drive could be failing!

 

[CJS7070]

No, there really isn't a seek noise (that I've heard before, even when listening closely), and I haven't heard the heads park.

Thanks, though, I'll do a full backup right now. Thanks for the help!

 

[GoCubsGo]

You said you verified and such? If so, full backup and watch it die.

 

[spaceballl]

Hi everyone,

I've got a "problem" on my 13" June 2009 MacBook Pro. Every couple of minutes, the hard drive will start making a "crunching" noise. I'm not doing anything on that computer, it's just sitting on the desk next to me. It doesn't appear to be causing errors or anything, but it's quite annoying.

This problem just started today... Hard drive is a 7200RPM 500GB Seagate Momentus that I upgraded in July.

Any insight on this would be appreciated... Thanks!

Yes - definitely sounds like you have a failing drive. AFAIK, it's never good to have the word "crunching" in the same sentence as "hard drive." My advice is to get in the car, drive to best buy, grab a hard drive, and back up ASAP. I wouldn't even restart the computer until you had your files backed up... Then after your files are backed up, you can rest easy - see if the issue goes away, but if not, replace the drive. Best of luck.

 

[CJS7070]

Update: I ran a full backup and restarted the PC; the crunching noise seems to have stopped. I'm going to continue to use it normally, and if the drive goes I'll throw the stock one back in there for the time being.

Thanks for the help everyone!

 

[sushi]

Update: I ran a full backup and restarted the PC; the crunching noise seems to have stopped. I'm going to continue to use it normally, and if the drive goes I'll throw the stock one back in there for the time being.

Please remember that from your backup forward, those files that you create, edit/modify are not backed up. So you should get into the habit of making a regular backup.

 

[FrenchKheldar]

Please remember that from your backup forward, those files that you create, edit/modify are not backed up. So you should get into the habit of making a regular backup.

I experience the same exact problem. I upgraded my 13" MBP with a kickass Seagate Momentus and from time to time, the drive is making that "crunching" noise for a couple of minutes. I backup regularly so I haven't tried to change the drive. I ran Disk Warrior diagnostics on it and nothing came up. I wonder if I somehow didn't mount it properly and it's sometimes vibrating. The noise has a low frequency component to it (1 or 2 Hz at most) on top of the more rapid crunching noise... Other than that annoying noise, I've experience absolutely no issue at all with the drive. Any idea what it could be?

 

[sushi]

I experience the same exact problem. I upgraded my 13" MBP with a kickass Seagate Momentus and from time to time, the drive is making that "crunching" noise for a couple of minutes. I backup regularly so I haven't tried to change the drive. I ran Disk Warrior diagnostics on it and nothing came up. I wonder if I somehow didn't mount it properly and it's sometimes vibrating. The noise has a low frequency component to it (1 or 2 Hz at most) on top of the more rapid crunching noise... Other than that annoying noise, I've experience absolutely no issue at all with the drive. Any idea what it could be?

Not sure. Some noise can be normal depending on the drive. I've had some noisy drives that lasted for almost 10 years. Others have failed in months.

If I had that issue, I would remove the HD, connect to my PC and run SpinRite.

I've done this with numerous HDs and they run much better after the "SpinRite" treatment. I've also used SpinRite to recover HDs. It does things that DiskWarrior and others don't. I swear by it. YMMV.

 

[tibi08]

When it fails, replace it with an SSD. Best thing I ever did to my Mac.