Noisy Alu iMac Hard Drive

[MrT8064]

Hi, i have owned my 20" Alu iMac for just over 1 month, and it has been running near silent (just with a slight wurrrr from the fan) today, when opening safari and mail in the morning, i noticed quite a lot of crunching from the hard drive, (the same as i used to experience when switching between files on an external)

i am concerned if my iMac has a problem, or if i should be used to some crunching, my friends 2 month iMac doesnt make any noise still, so thats what worries me.

I am just running a full TechTool surface scan, and so far its picked up no errors.

thanks in advance for your help

Also; It might just be my imagination, but the iMac feels a little slower opening things.

 

[AeroUK]

Same problem

Hi mate I have EXACTLY the same problem!!!

Can you please tell me if you found a fix for it ???

Aaron

 

[ImperialX]

My iMac doesn't have this problem, but my Portable Hard Drive (for Time Machine) does indeed have this 'crushing' noise. So far it hasn't given me a problem.

 

[AeroUK]

Crushing

It's really irritating, and does indeed seem to make the machine slower.

Anyone else have the answer PLEASEEEEE?

(Thinking I shouldda waited for MacWorld!)

 

[brop52]

Just make sure you are backing up your files. Other than that, run various maintenance on it with disk utility to see if you can find anything. Run Onyx too for good measure. (All after backing up).

 

[MrT8064]

Hi again, well, i have tried repairing disk permissions, leaving the computer on for a long period, and then off for a long period...

...and today it seems just as slow as before, if not slower.

I wish there was some defrag tool!!

EDIT: I have just ran OnyX and my disk apparently had no problems, it passed both verification and SMART... any more suggestions
its still as slow and noisy as ever.

I have ordered a 2gb ram chip (from play.com (only £28!!!!!)) so i wonder if 3gb will help matters?

 

[brop52]

What is running in the background? I'm not sure that is normal. It's not like the iMac is an HP tower that likes to run fans half the time.

 

[MrT8064]

I experience the problem all the time, if i have just started up in the morning (only finder and mail running)

when running safari, switching between loading tabs triggers it.

hopefully my extra ram will arrive tomorrow, but i doubt it will help.

 

[AeroUK]

Any ideas?

Yes mate that's what I get, it's so annoying. Why are apple so unwilling to help? Did anyone here get any joy from them? Also can anyone verify that these imacs are meant to be TOTALLY silent?

Aaron

 

[MrT8064]

my friends iMac is almost silent, just a VERY slight fan noise,

i am taking my mac to have the screen looked at tomorrow, i will also ask about the hard drive; and i will report back!!

 

[AeroUK]

News?

Any news mate? My iMac programs crash alot, my year old macbook is ALOT more stable!!!!! Faster too, it's crap.

Aaron

 

[timswf]

mine's noisy too... advice needed

Have got the 20" alu imac with 250G HD and 2G ram - my first mac bought on the day leopard came out in the UK last year. I had the hard drive swopped out earlier this year after it started vibrating like crazy at times. Now it has developed an annoying disk or fan whine.. which wouldn't be a bother if it was under the desk - but a couple of feet from my ears is too distracting. Apple car said to take it to a genius bar - which I did. The guy ran a couple of hours of tests and found nothing wrong...and couldn't hear any unusual noise. It isn't in a place that's too hot or too cold. It is on a sturdy worktop type desk that doesn't carry vibrations much. The HP XP laptop next to it seems silent by comparison - with just low level disk clicks. I love the operating system after Vistra drove me up the wall.. but I'm beginning to wish I'd gone for the mac mini instead..

Any advice welcome please...

rgds

Tim

 

[AeroUK]

imac drive

Hi mate,

My advice is take it back until you are satisfied. My drive was making a noise and it recently died. Took two weeks to fix and lost everything. At least the new drive is ALOT faster though and I now have the machine that I paid for.

Applecare originally told me I was overreacting and imagining things!

Aaron

 

[timswf]

thank you

..good advice.. will post how it goes.. rgds tim