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Seagate Momentus 7200.4 noise and vibration

M

Mac Head

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 8, 2009
85
0
Hi

The thread title sums it up.
It is very noisy and gentle vibration on my palms. However when I press down on either side of the track pad with my palms (while I type) the noise and vibration reduces significantly.

Have I installed the hard drive improperly??

Thanks for any advice
 
I cannot tell if you installed it correctly but I can tell that I don't have any noticeable vibration/noise with my 7200.4 HD. Perhaps those pins are not seated correctly are slightly loose. I suspect you cut down on the vibration, you'll cut down on the noise as well.
 
Thanks for the response.

Its more of a loud hum/drone which pulsates. It might be the fan. But the computer is definitely not quiet. I may have to open it up again but I'm not sure what I'm looking for.
 
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I had that drive. The vibration drove me nuts. And I was able to dampen it by pressing down on the case. Took it back and got a WD 500gb 5400. No more vibration.
 
That's the nature of some drives. Some say they don't get that. I had that problem and drive me crazy so I sent it back and got the WD 500GB drive. Way more quieter with less vibration and performance is just as good (except for startup).
 
Well one person seems to be having no problems with it so maybe there is a specific way to install it. Does anyone recommend putting padding or something around it

How tight should the screws of the bracket be?
 
Vibration is very subjective. What is a bad vibration to one person may not be noticeable to another. I've had drives that I thought were intolerable but seen others post that the same drive type was perfectly silent with no vibrations.

Tighter screws will likely not decrease vibration. You didn't say what type of machine. Most of the recent Macs have drive mounts with dampening (rubber) in them. The screw tightness won't matter.
 
As far as I know, if your drive is giving you vibration that you can't tolerate, there is no way to stop it. There are already rubber stoppers in the bay itself which is suppose to absorb some of the vibration but you can't stop it completely for it to be on par with 5400 RPM drives.
 
Even with Momentus 5400.6 500G, the vibration is much noticeable than Scorpia Blue 500G. It's not due to installation. Right now, my Momentus 5400.6 stays in an external enclosure as a backup device.
 
I'm curious if that's how the HDD is or if it's some models. Like someone said, one might find it as bad as others so that doesn't mean it varies from HDD to HDD. Even though it's CTO, I'm going to see if any of the Apple Store's in the area have a 7200 HDD and if they have the vibration.
 
I have that Seagate drive installed on my MBP and I can tell you there is absolutely no vibration or noise--and I'm sensitive to that kind of thing. In fact, its quieter than the stock drive it replaced. I've been keeping up with threads pertaining to this particular drive. Many people like myself have no problems, while others report excessive noise and vibration. I think there's gotta be something wrong with the way it is installed. Perhaps taking it out and trying again?
 
You probably overtightened the screws that hold the brackets that hold the drive in place. Mine has no vibrations.
 
I love statements like "my hard drive has no noise or vibration". There is no hard drive in existence that this is true. Now it may be that a drive has lower noise than the ambient environment you are in so you don't hear it. Or it may be that the noise is low enough it doesn't bother you. But the only drive with no noise or vibration is an SSD.
 
Perhaps people report (like me) that theirs don't have any vibration because there isn't any. As for the noise, I expect a certain amount of noise coming from the computer and the 7200.4 that I have does not markedly increase that level.

Yes hard drives being a mechanical device emits noise and vibration but the manufacturer and apple work to mitigate those to such an extent that its generally not noticeable. When people install drives and they feel a higher level, its either because they failed to install it correctly or the drive fails to properly dampen said noise/vibration. I'd say that some batches of 7200.4 are prone to a higher level of noise and/or vibration given the fact that some people complain and others don't experience the problem.
 
It wouldn't be the way the user installed it. Let's be real here. There is only one way to install the HDD and there is no such thing as tightening the screws too much. I know when I was installing OS X on the 7200, I thought, hey this isn't so bad compared to what I've read in the forums. At the end, it was the SuperDrive spinning that was masking the vibration and noise from the HDD. Once booted into OS X normally, that's when it kicked in.

There really is no point asking the question. You have half that say there is no noise/vibration and the other half who say there is. Just buy the HDD, if you get one that is not tolerable, return and get the WD.

(Personally, I think that's how the HDD is and some just don't know it or are not affected by it. Also, if half are vibrating and some aren't, that should fall near being a defect because that kind of vibration I had is definitely not tolerable when the whole working surface is vibrating and making a buzzing sound)
 
maflynn said:
Perhaps people report (like me) that theirs don't have any vibration because there isn't any. As for the noise, I expect a certain amount of noise coming from the computer and the 7200.4 that I have does not markedly increase that level.

Yes hard drives being a mechanical device emits noise and vibration but the manufacturer and apple work to mitigate those to such an extent that its generally not noticeable. When people install drives and they feel a higher level, its either because they failed to install it correctly or the drive fails to properly dampen said noise/vibration. I'd say that some batches of 7200.4 are prone to a higher level of noise and/or vibration given the fact that some people complain and others don't experience the problem.
Click to expand...

There's a difference between none and not noticeable. I have no doubt that many have no issues with their drives. I have notebooks drives that I think are perfectly acceptable. But the amount you notice it varies depending on the environment, the user, and the drive itself.

I'd be very willing to bet that you take one machine from someone with "no noise or vibration" and someone else will complain about the noise and vibration.

None does not mean it's fine as is. It means none, and hard drives are not in that category. This is what confuses new users when someone on line tells then none yet they can hear and feel it.
 
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