MBP: Annoying HD parking sound. Anyone tried this fix?

[manosaurus]

I have posted previous about the my experiences with the annoying sound sound that results from the frequent (every 20 seconds or so on my machine) parking of the C2D MBP HD (120 GB, 5400 in my case.)

I have read all that I can find on the web about this "issue." Some sources report that the issue is normal while others seem to feel that some defect is present.

I have contacted Apple (1st tier Apple care reps.) twice about the HD parking and both occasions they had never heard of such an issue. They prompted me to take my MBP into an Apple store or an authoized service provider for inspection. I did so and the ASP told me that they would need to send the computer to Apple (don't know why that's just what the man said.) However, I cannot at this time part with the computer for an extended period of time so this is not an option for me.

So, I have read about this link to a program that claims to stop the HD parking of these notebook drives by writing small bits of data that is enough to keep the drive from sleeping/parking and thus removing the sound:

http://kiza.kcore.de/software/declunk/

Has anyone with my issue had any experience with this program and can testify to its effectiveness and legitimacy?

BTW, I have already tried the mirror widget as a fix for this issue and, for whatever reason it does not work for me so please don't bother with the suggestion.

[notjustjay]

I would choose extended battery life and protection of my hard drive and data, over sound aesthetics, every time.

[SiliconAddict]

o.O Umm its a BAD idea to keep your hard drive constantly spinning; which is what I'm assuming this thing does. IMHO you are going to kill the MTBF on the drive (http://www.google.com/search?q=hard+drive+MTBF&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a) by using this thing.

[manosaurus]

I would choose extended battery life and protection of my hard drive and data, over sound aesthetics, every time.




Battery life? Don't care since I am not in working in a jungle. I try to use my notebook all most all of the time on the power adaptor espesially since these notebook batteries have a limited number of charge cycles.

Protection of data? How is constant HD parking protecting my data? In case of a spill or sudden movement? The SUDDEN MOTION SENSOR is supposed to be on that already and as far as I know the SUDDEN MOTION SENSOR prompts HD parking in the event of SUDDEN MOTION and not every 20 seconds.

Anyway, the sound is right annoying and I am interested in a quick fix for the sound for the moment but I aslo am concerned that I could have a HD defect since I have not heard from Apple personally that this is a normal operation of the C2D MBP HD.

Additionally, I don't mind that the HD sleeps when idle. That seems like a good idea. I find the sound produced by this drive to be the problem. And, again, I have not confirmed that this sound is even supposed to occur. Also, why does the HD park and immediately wake up only to park again in 20 seconds and then wake up again only to park in another 20 seconds AGAIN, over and over and over and over?! Does that even sound right??????

[notjustjay]

And, again, I have not confirmed that this sound is even supposed to occur. Also, why does the HD park and immediately wake up only to park again in 20 seconds and then wake up again only to park in another 20 seconds AGAIN, over and over and over and over?! Does that even sound right??????

Would you be willing to post a sound recording of the recurring noises? I don't have the MBP, so I couldn't tell you what is or isn't normal, but if you post it, I'm sure others can provide their feedback.

[Spectrum]

On my last gen (E?) G4 Pwerbook I used, APM Tuner X (http://www.osxguide.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=46&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0)

Works fine, although I've since not bothered applying it at bootup as I tend not to notice the clunks any more. Not sure if it will work on Intel though...

[Anonymous Freak]

20 seconds?! That seems like a power management problem in OS X. Even on 'max saving' with no programs running, mine doesn't shutdown nearly that often. (The default is 10 minutes.)

[NJuul]

Stupid question, but...
Unchecking the "put disk to sleep whenever possible" button in energysaver doesn't work, right?
And have you tried resetting the PMU?

Otherwise, I'd try and run that program. It's probably not worse than having it sleep/run/sleep all the time anyway. And if it's a defective drive, you're going to get it replaced when you send in your mbp for repair anyway. Just remember those backups.

[Spectrum]

20 seconds?! That seems like a power management problem in OS X. Even on 'max saving' with no programs running, mine doesn't shutdown nearly that often. (The default is 10 minutes.)

FWIW The Seagate 100GB/7200rpm makes a clunk every 20 seconds or so. It rarely ever actually spins down. I understood that the clunk was the heads attempting to park but failing because OSX is almost constantly accesssing the drive for little things. Changing the settings in APM Tuner X reduces the clunk rate. But it also means that the likelihood that the drive will spin down is reduced even further.

[freestyleguy128]

This might be a dumb question, but does this account for the little "...tick..." I hear every so often?

[Anonymous Freak]

FWIW The Seagate 100GB/7200rpm makes a clunk every 20 seconds or so. It rarely ever actually spins down. I understood that the clunk was the heads attempting to park but failing because OSX is almost constantly accesssing the drive for little things. Changing the settings in APM Tuner X reduces the clunk rate. But it also means that the likelihood that the drive will spin down is reduced even further.

My first-gen MacBook Pro (15", 2.0 GHz, 256 MB VRAM,) has the 7200 RPM, 100 GB Seagate, and the only reason I have even noticed the noise is an active attempt to find out what it is you are experiencing. I have to be in a 100% silent room to hear it at all, and even then, it's not bothersome. It seems to be just the way the drive is designed, so unless it is very loud on your system for some reason, I would just deal with it. As the Mac OS doesn't try to shut the drive off until 10 minutes have passed, I doubt it's anything you can change. (If I start playing a graphically intensive game, the cooling fan quickly drowns out the 'clunk', as you call it.)

[manosaurus]

20 seconds?! That seems like a power management problem in OS X. Even on 'max saving' with no programs running, mine doesn't shutdown nearly that often. (The default is 10 minutes.)


The default is 10 minutes? You mean the OS X default for putting notebook HD's to sleep? Where can I find that info? Console or something?

[Xander562]

BTW, I have already tried the mirror widget as a fix for this issue and, for whatever reason it does not work for me so please don't bother with the suggestion.

Why would you use the mirror widget? :confused: It's not even remotely for this issue. It's for people (like me) with the annoying hissing noise that occurs whenever the iSight is not in use.

[manosaurus]

Why would you use the mirror widget? :confused: It's not even remotely for this issue. It's for people (like me) with the annoying hissing noise that occurs whenever the iSight is not in use.

We'll, apparently the mirror widget works for users that are bothered by this sound. I suppose it somehow (and I have no idea why) keeps OS X busy enough to deny the HD sleep and hence parking.

[alFR]

I find the sound produced by this drive to be the problem.

Today's headlines - moving parts make noise! More at 10....

On a more serious note, have you listened to other machines instore to see how they sound?

[Artmuzz]

I thought I would resurrect this post and mention that I am having this problem with a clunk sound every 20 seconds on my brand new 2009 MacBook Pro.

The sound is only noticeable if I am in a quiet or low noise environment browsing or downloading off the net but it is still annoying.

It looks like Apple haven't done anything about this.


Art

[jpma]

i've got that too,
mine is fujitsu 500g HD which came with the macbook pro late 09 model as well.

I've checked around forums, mostly said that fujitsu HD is alittle more sensitive than others.

also tried turning off motion sensor, didn't work for me.
but it is not showing any problem for the drive too.

I'm planning to change it to SSD in the near future when price drop some more.
For now it work just fine, except alittle noisy sometime

[jamesraward]

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=841718&highlight=jamesraward