27" iMac Seagate 1Tb HDD Noise NORMAL!!

[frenchie0101]

rite as some will already know i have took back my 27" iMac a total of 6 times and now i am on my 7th (4th one had screen issues), after actually accepting the "belly rumbling" "popping" noise and just getting on with the i5 experience, i thought i would actually contact Seagate direct on the actual matter for the rest of people on here who have doubt about there seagate hard drives..
So i ring the operator i told him the whole story his first reply was sorry we dont support apple hardware! my response was "respected but the hard drive used is a seagate product"! he then replied saying sorry sir i misunderstood and quickly responded how can i help. I then repeated the problem and he asked for the HDD serial number, i was then very specific on the the noises we are all hearing and he made me repeat what i said a good 3 times so he had a very good understanding (in other words he did take this all seriously) he then said he was going to talk to the relevant person and put me on hold....10 minutes later he's back on the phone and he again asked me a final time! (ffs) to explain the noise he then quickly said in response the hard drive is supposed to make that noise. he named it the barracuda in seagates terms. i then replied saying i know of other people with the same model number who are saying they cannot hear there hard drive working, his response was it all depends on enviroment, but the guy did say the noise i was describing means the HDD is very healthy and doing a great job! i then just quickly asked in time would the noise subside he says no way! because of the 1tb there is multiple heads and that particular seagate drive is supposed to make a more loader noise then any other of there models...

my final thoughts for you guys you can take that with a pinch of salt, and think well i rang seagate of course they are going to say all that. But i am now quite happy i rang cause the operator really did go beyond the call of duty spoke to a tech guy and replied in a very optimistic and quick way.... so there we go, from me thats case closed

[wesleyh]

So you're saying that all the people who have the mythical "quiet" segate 1TB are just not hearing well enough? ..

Anyway, it may be normal for seagate, but I doubt it's normal for apple standards. We pay a premium for that extra quality, for that silent system, etc..

[spcdust]

Thanks to frenchie0101 for looking into this - I know it's become a bit of an obsession for you. Also, might I suggest that this thread should be MERGED with the original thread so to keep all the info in one place?

So you're saying that all the people who have the mythical "quiet" segate 1TB are just not hearing well enough? ..

Anyway, it may be normal for seagate, but I doubt it's normal for apple standards. We pay a premium for that extra quality, for that silent system, etc..

I'm inclined to agree, I didn't pay close on £2000 for a system that sounds like someone with a bad case of belly rumble or, not so politely, the ******. It kind of doesn't make sense for Apple to invest so much R&D in ensuring the fans are near silent only to then shove a noisy HDD in the mix. Also, hasn't this drive been around for a couple of years - surely HDD technology has moved on from then - or did Apple pick up a job lot at some technology auction;)

[53x12]

This is not normal. I had a i5 with the Seagate that made the noise. Brought it back to Apple and the Genius took it to the back room. Said there was a loose fan/bushing close to the HD that was obvious when the drive was put under load. This is not normal as my new i5 is dead silent.

[jddar]

.....This is not normal as my new i5 is dead silent.

Mine is silent too--something must be wrong if it is otherwise. Also, my hearing ability is excellent.

[53x12]

Mine would really be noticeable when the fans kicked in. I would recommend some of you to install SMCfancontrol and actually increase the speed of the fans. It didn't take much for me 15-20% increase in the fan speed for the sound to be unbearable in a quiet room. Sounds like a fan isn't installed properly, or the drive isn't secured properly.

[GadgetAddicted]

My iMac's HD is VERY quite! I hear really well and even when the fans kick in, I the HD is very very quite. Even when I am writing large files to the HD so I do not know what you are talking about.

[mdewberry]

This is not normal. I had a i5 with the Seagate that made the noise. Brought it back to Apple and the Genius took it to the back room. Said there was a loose fan/bushing close to the HD that was obvious when the drive was put under load. This is not normal as my new i5 is dead silent.

What an interesting quote!!! And I was wondering if maybe the drive was loose or something associated to the drive was loose! That would explain why some folks hear it and some don't..

As mentioned in the larger HD noise post, I am taking mine to a Genius where they are going to do an intense evaluation.. I will mention that your Genius found a loose fan/bushing...

The big question is - were they able to fix this, or did they have to give you a new machine? Thanks!

[53x12]

The big question is - were they able to fix this, or did they have to give you a new machine? Thanks!

They just replaced it on the spot. The Genius did not open up the iMac. They did a test on my screen since I had some bleeched out areas on black screens (LED bleed maybe?). During that test he said the hard drive made the sound I described and they brought out a new iMac for me to take home. I guess he made the assumption it was the fan or some bushing based on his professional experience. This is my 3rd iMac now and they opened it up and we made sure it was working before I left the store. Just hope I don't have the intermittent loss of power I had with the first one. If I have to send this one back again, I really think I will be calling AppleCare and making a complaint as driving 45min each way to hall a 40lbs box is getting old. :(

[SOLLERBOY]

My stomach is rumbling it must be faulty. I thought this to be the case all along but it seems some people create problems. Glad you can finally give everyone closure. Great thread.

[Sir Cecil]

The original post contains a lot of drivel. There is a night and day difference between the first, noisy i5/Seagate I had, and the very quiet-running replacement. I urge anyone plagued by the rumbling noise not to accept it because my experience shows it is definitely avoidable.

[53x12]

The original post contains a lot of drivel. There is a night and day difference between the first, noisy i5/Seagate I had, and the very quiet-running replacement. I urge anyone plagued by the rumbling noise not to accept it because my experience shows it is definitely avoidable.

Yes I agree. My first Seagate's drive was fine (had issue with computer powering off randomly). My 2nd Seagate drive was very loud with that vibration noise. My 3rd Seagate is yet to be determined since I have just received it a few hours ago. Hope this one is okay.

[plasticphyte]

*Sigh* All hard drives make noise - hearing the heads move across the platters is very normal, as is hearing the platters spin up. Depending on the manufacturer and how they've designed the drive will determine how noisy it is. I have several WD's that I swap in and out of an external drive caddy, and they are all fifteen times louder than the Hitachi in my iMac, which by the way, I can hear at startup as the drive spins up and the heads unpark.

Hearing clicking noise (aka IBM Click of Death), grinding or whining & vibration noises isn't normal.

[Kronie]

*Sigh* All hard drives make noise

Do you own the new 27" iMac?

*Sigh* If not then your post is worthless. Have a nice day.

[i7QuadCoreMania]

no offense, but are you folks being overly nit picky? on the 7th iMac, and the other dude 53x112 or whatever had his replaced 3 times???

I'm glad you folks got your stuff sorted, but Is Apple's QC gotten that god awfully ****ty??? I'm still on my 1st i7 which I ordered on Oct 21st and haven't noticed those noise problems, loss of power, screen bleeding, yellow tinge, stuck pixels, etc, etc... and I'm a Tech guy by trade.:rolleyes:

By the time you guys find your mythical Unicorn, there will be a ****load of Refurbished machines on the market, lol!!!

And yes, I understand the whole, I paid good money for this argument.:D

[C64]

To everyone who feels the need to state that mechanical HDs make noises: I think everyone here has had enough experience with HDs (I mean, they've been around for a while, ya know) to know the difference between normal seeking sounds, and constant grinding and ticking. :)

[plasticphyte]

Do you own the new 27" iMac?

*Sigh* If not then your post is worthless. Have a nice day.

Thanks! It has gone quite well. And my 27" i7 is going quite nicely too.

I just pointed out that all hard drives are noisy & that the amount of noise they make is dependent on the manufacturer.

Of course, most computers are generally a little further away from people than an iMac is, and any HDD noise can generally be hidden by other system noise, such as fans.

As I've already pointed out, noises similar to the old IBM Deathstars, grinding noises, etc, are not normal.

Anyway, I'm off to enjoy the rest of this beautiful day. I hope you have a nice one too.





:rolleyes:

[Kronie]

Thanks! It has gone quite well. And my 27" i7 is going quite nicely too.
:rolleyes:

OK, so your post isn't quite worthless. -Sorry. BUT your speaking from the perspective of a machine that "is going quite nicely" and doesn't the the problem.

Or does it?

Do you sit in a dead quiet room with your dead silent iMac and hear grumbling coming from the machine where everything else is quiet?

[SaSaSushi]

Finally took delivery of my i7 tonight and it's beautiful!

I got the standard 1TB HDD (Seagate ST31000528ASQ) and it's next to inaudible. There's certainly no grumbling, growling, crunching or any other abnormal noise going on. I too have very good hearing (I'm a musician) and long experience with computers, the last 4 years with iMacs.

I'm not saying some of you don't have bad drives but it's definitely not a universal issue.

[ryan.hayes79]

Does anyone know if this issue follows the 2TB drive?

What make is the 2TB drive Apple is shipping?

[frenchie0101]

Does anyone know if this issue follows the 2TB drive?

What make is the 2TB drive Apple is shipping?

Hitachi

[mdewberry]

Hi all,

Have an appointment after work to bring my iMac to the genius where they are going to do some hard drive testing... I will let you all know how that turns out.. It is pretty noisy today as I go from webpage to webpage (and even while I type this)...

I am glad to hear that there are folks with quiet Seagate drives.. Sounds more and more like it is either a noisy batch of drives, or that as posted earlier in this string something may be loose. My suspicion is that they will replace my machine.. If that happens, I will keep my fingers crossed!

By the way to Plasticphyte, this is a real issue, the noises are not normal, and as much as we appreciate your feedback, the "*Sigh*" was not warranted and candidly aggravated those of us that have the issue. Some of us (including myself) have been told by Apple reps that you should NOT hear the hard drive spinning in the iMac.. It should be a quiet experience (albeit I agree that quiet and noisy can be subjective)... If a thread about a noisy hard drive bothers you that much, simply don't select the thread to read it. No need to make yourself look like... well, never mind..

[Spinnetti]

So you're saying that all the people who have the mythical "quiet" segate 1TB are just not hearing well enough? ..

Anyway, it may be normal for seagate, but I doubt it's normal for apple standards. We pay a premium for that extra quality, for that silent system, etc..


LOL.. It may also be that everyone has different standards of "Quiet"... My machine is somewhere in the middle. I have the i7 2.8, and my machine is very quiet, but not quite silent. The drive doesn't "pop" at all, but under heave load you can hear the drive a lot more than my 20" core duo iMac.... Its not intrusive to me though (although I'd prefer total silence out of it)

[spcdust]

Does anyone know if this issue follows the 2TB drive?

What make is the 2TB drive Apple is shipping?

The impression I have got is that this issue is restricted to some 1TB drives. Comments I have seen regarding the 2TB Hitachi drives is that they are very quiet indeed and do not grumble away at you.

[mdewberry]

LOL.. It may also be that everyone has different standards of "Quiet"... My machine is somewhere in the middle. I have the i7 2.8, and my machine is very quiet, but not quite silent. The drive doesn't "pop" at all, but under heave load you can hear the drive a lot more than my 20" core duo iMac.... Its not intrusive to me though (although I'd prefer total silence out of it)

Hi Spinnetti, many of us with the issue being discussed are being presented with the noise as we surf the web (go from page to page) and sometimes just type (I hear it now as I type this)... Is yours producing noise other than downloading?

[eyedoc_00]

Hi Spinnetti, many of us with the issue being discussed are being presented with the noise as we surf the web (go from page to page) and sometimes just type (I hear it now as I type this)... Is yours producing noise other than downloading?

I have noticed in the past few days that my HD makes this grumbling noise as I surf the web. I also notice the yellow tinge at the bottom of the screen. I was not sure if either of these were normal but that is why I have applecare. As this is a rev A, I will just see how things go over the next few months. Coming from my iMac G5 rev B (constant fan noise) this is a very quiet machine. But the HD grumbling can get annoying. I have this model HD: ST31000528ASQ

[mdewberry]

Ok, so went to the Apple store tonight with my iMac..

Interesting story.. so went I went on Monday and explained my problem the store rep said the Genius would want to bring the iMac to the back room to listen to the drive, and really try to max the drive to hear the noise... This did not happen.. As they were so busy the Genius was trying to hear the noise at the Genius Bar while there was a packed store, and all of the stools to the left and right of me were full and people were chatting, etc... Well, he finally heard the noise and I had to explain to him two or three times it is a LOT louder in my quiet home office and not a loud Apple store..

Bottom line is he switched the machine, and confirmed it was a different batch then I had originally received.. After reading posts from others on this thread it seemed that a replacement may be better...

Brought my new iMac home, fired it up and quiet, did Migration Assistant with 50+ gb of data, quiet while running the data conversion (other than a smooth fan noise), used it afterward, and it is louder than ever... Yep, the hard drive on this one is even louder than my other one... what a disappointment... Go to a website, grumble, grumble, grumble... ugh, I am so frustrated.. And ever worse there is a subtle gray thick line running across the bottom of my screen when the screen is all one color... I am so disappointed and frustrated... It is literally grumbling while I am writing this email.. So, I am going to return it on Friday, and debate ordering a 2tb drive from apple.com, or just give up and wait until the next version... Or maybe reconsider a macbook pro...

I may call Applecare and see if I can do it over mail versus taking it back to the store...

Just an fyi, I checked the two 27" iMacs in the store and one did have the Western Digital drive, so I had some hope. Nope, just checked and this one and it has the Seagate.

Well, time for me to get over this crap, and really be thankful tomorrow for what is important...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

[SmugMac]

Hmm. I have a Hitachi 2TB and it's totally silent and very fast. :eek:

[Trek2100]

Not any noise in a quiet basement. My HD is a 1TB Western Digital. Also, the fans are extremely quiet. Current temp: CPU - 106 degrees F, GPU diode - 133. GPU heat sink - 135, CPU fan - 938 RPM, HD - 1098 RPM, Optical drive - 999 RPM. Cannot hear the fans, HD or anything. Maybe I should take the ear plugs out of my ears:D, just kidding.

[Sir Cecil]

So, I am going to return it on Friday, and debate ordering a 2tb drive from apple.com, or just give up and wait until the next version... Or maybe reconsider a macbook pro...

Very disappointing and I can understand your frustration, having experienced the problem first-hand.
But my replacement i5/Seagate continues to run with no sign of the rumbling or any other problems after four days of almost constant use since I exchanged it. Looks like it's down to the luck of the draw at the moment.
Don't do anything rash and end up ordering something you don't really want or need!

[53x12]

I may call Applecare and see if I can do it over mail versus taking it back to the store...



Anyone know if this is this possible? If any other issues pop up, I would like to do this instead of dragging the iMac back to the store and the new one home.

[Sir Cecil]

UPDATE: Disaster. The noise is back. After four or five days of bliss-free use, it's back to square one. Horrible. Every action accompanied by the rumbling, throbbing sound. This is too much to bear after the few days respite following the initial exchange. Dreadful. Luckily, it's a holiday Thursday, so I have no choice but to take at least a full day to consider what to do next...

[spcdust]

UPDATE: Disaster. The noise is back. After four or five days of bliss-free use, it's back to square one. Horrible. Every action accompanied by the rumbling, throbbing sound. This is too much to bear after the few days respite following the initial exchange. Dreadful. Luckily, it's a holiday Thursday, so I have no choice but to take at least a full day to consider what to do next...

This has to be an issue with the Seagate HDD, as it appears the 2TB Hitachi HDD are perfectly silent. If I was one of the Apple engineers / designers who had gone to so much trouble in ensuring the machine was silent I would be mighty miffed that someone had then shoved in a noisy HDD.

[Shawnstra]

I just realised the noise after turning off the air conditioning or by sticking my ear right beside the sreen. I guess I can't really be bothered as usually my air conditioning is always on and much louder then the computer. Also, it's pretty much 100% to get a seagate drive that rumbles, unless I upgrade to the 2TB Hitachi.

[plasticphyte]

OK, so your post isn't quite worthless. -Sorry. BUT your speaking from the perspective of a machine that "is going quite nicely" and doesn't the the problem.

Or does it?

Do you sit in a dead quiet room with your dead silent iMac and hear grumbling coming from the machine where everything else is quiet?

I think you've still missed my point - my point is that ALL hard drives make a noise - it's a by product of something being spun around at over 5400 (or 7200, even 15000) RPM, and heads moving back and forth at insane speeds to read the data.

You are FAR less likely to hear the noise of a normal operational HDD when there are noisy fans, which is fairly true of most computers - you'll hear even less noise if there is acoustic dampening (such as in the Coolermaster Cosmos).

Seeing as there are neither of these in the iMac, then you've got a greater chance of hearing normal noise activity.

Normal noise levels for different brands of hard drives varies, based on number of platters used (and therefore the number of heads in the drive) and spindle speed, as well as any possible vibration reduction used to secure the drive or internal mechanics.

On my desk sits two Western Digital 200GB drives, and two Western Digital 500GB drives, both spin at 7200RPM, and of the two sizes, the 500GB drives are the quietest. They were like that when I got them.

There is an obvious difference between this normal type of sound, and the noise that a dying hard drive makes (grinding, clunking, screeches, whines, clicks and whirrs above and beyond the call of duty).

While not discounting that there could be an issue with the drive, perhaps some are complaining about noisy drives when that is in fact just normal noise levels for that drive?


I can hear my drive sometimes (particularly on first boot up), but as I have the 2TB Hitachi model, I am probably not going to have the same 'issue' as others.
My room is moderately quiet, at least quiet enough to faintly hear the fans in the background even at low RPM.


So, moral of my post is, while it could be a noisy hard drive that shouldn't be as noisy, it could also be that it's perfectly normal, and the only reason people are complaining is because they expected the computer to be quieter than it is ;), or just anal retentive (tongue in cheek guys!). :)


What would be great, to give us all an idea of the noise people are complaining about, is if someone with a noisy drive could record the computer running while accessing/writing to the drive. It would need to be in a relatively quiet room, with the microphone at a minimum of 60cm or 70cm from the front of the computer. That should give a fair indicator of what the issue is.

[Kronie]

So, moral of my post is, while it could be a noisy hard drive that shouldn't be as noisy, it could also be that it's perfectly normal, and the only reason people are complaining is because they expected the computer to be quieter than it is ;), or just anal retentive (tongue in cheek guys!). :)


No I completely understand what your saying. I just think your wrong. You don't have the loud drive (according to you) so in reality when you talk about how hard drives should sound in a 27" iMac its from the perspective of the "other side". You lucky bastard!:D

I have said in a number of posts that the sound could just be amplified from the shape of the case. It could be completely normal, just a loud drive. I don't think that's it but it could be?

The fact that there are people that have returned the machine for the "loud drive" and have a replacement that's silent leads me to believe its a batch of bad drives.

I will give apple 2 more chances. I'll try another 1TB and if its still noisy I will try the 2TB, and if that ones still grumbling I'm done until the next update.

[mdewberry]

Update: Noise is not as bad this morning but still noticeable, however in the words of Sir Cecil, "This is too much to bear".. Especially after hauling the computer in to the Apple store last night..

Not sure if I mentioned, but the Genius did a knowledge base search and there are still no hits on a noisy drive with the iMac. So, that means that the Seagate drive noise must fall within normal specifications...

Also, my new LCD panel is much more problematic than my original.. This panel has a gray shadow bar going across the bottom of the screen, and there is this weird yellow bleeding on the right side of the panel (if you look at a white screen, the right side is yellowish...)

So it packed up, and I going to call Apple care on Friday morning. I would like to return this machine and order the 27" BTO iMac with the 2tb drive. My concern is that they will hit me with the 10% restocking fee as I now want a different machine than I originally bought (I will fight that tooth and nail if it happens)... I will let you all know how that goes...

Unfortunately as Apple has not addressed this as a known issue, I think it is going to boil down to:
1) Live with the noise in the 1tb drive
2) Pay the extra $250 to upgrade to the 2tb drive (with the hope that Apple will not penalize this action with a restocking fee)

Plasticphyte, can you elaborate on the noise of your drive? The start up noise is acceptable, however do you hear it "grumble" as you move from webpage to webpage? Or is it only when you download data? I assume you are in a quiet environment.. I would hate to invest the extra $250 and run into the same types of noises...

Thanks to all for everyone's continued feedback!

[mapleleafer]

Personally, I like to know when the hard drive is working. Maybe I've just been conditioned over the years, but if I do something that should be written to disk, I want instant acknowlwedgment that it has actually been written to disk. I don't want an excessively noisy drive. I just want to be able to hear that what I have commanded has been obeyed. A completely silent drive would unnerve me.

[Michaelgtrusa]

Ok, so went to the Apple store tonight with my iMac..

Interesting story.. so went I went on Monday and explained my problem the store rep said the Genius would want to bring the iMac to the back room to listen to the drive, and really try to max the drive to hear the noise... This did not happen.. As they were so busy the Genius was trying to hear the noise at the Genius Bar while there was a packed store, and all of the stools to the left and right of me were full and people were chatting, etc... Well, he finally heard the noise and I had to explain to him two or three times it is a LOT louder in my quiet home office and not a loud Apple store..

Bottom line is he switched the machine, and confirmed it was a different batch then I had originally received.. After reading posts from others on this thread it seemed that a replacement may be better...

Brought my new iMac home, fired it up and quiet, did Migration Assistant with 50+ gb of data, quiet while running the data conversion (other than a smooth fan noise), used it afterward, and it is louder than ever... Yep, the hard drive on this one is even louder than my other one... what a disappointment... Go to a website, grumble, grumble, grumble... ugh, I am so frustrated.. And ever worse there is a subtle gray thick line running across the bottom of my screen when the screen is all one color... I am so disappointed and frustrated... It is literally grumbling while I am writing this email.. So, I am going to return it on Friday, and debate ordering a 2tb drive from apple.com, or just give up and wait until the next version... Or maybe reconsider a macbook pro...

I may call Applecare and see if I can do it over mail versus taking it back to the store...

Just an fyi, I checked the two 27" iMacs in the store and one did have the Western Digital drive, so I had some hope. Nope, just checked and this one and it has the Seagate.

Well, time for me to get over this crap, and really be thankful tomorrow for what is important...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!


The gray line is you're graphics card.

[53x12]

My concern is that they will hit me with the 10% restocking fee as I now want a different machine than I originally bought (I will fight that tooth and nail if it happens)... I will let you all know how that goes...



Why would they charge you a restocking fee when there is a problem with your computer? If there is a problem you don't need to worry about being charged this.

[frenchie0101]

UPDATE: Disaster. The noise is back. After four or five days of bliss-free use, it's back to square one. Horrible. Every action accompanied by the rumbling, throbbing sound. This is too much to bear after the few days respite following the initial exchange. Dreadful. Luckily, it's a holiday Thursday, so I have no choice but to take at least a full day to consider what to do next...

i was waiting for it cecil, ive also dug a bit deeper aswell (BTW decided to get a full refund on my 27" to opt for the 2TB).. My boss was kind enough for me to borrow one of his mac's which is the early 09 20" iMac.. sitting here now typing i hear the belly rumbling but a little quiter compared to the 27"... Guess what its a seagate HDD ST3250820ASQ, at work we have 2 x 20" 1 x 24" and 1 x 27" all with Western Digital drives and every single one so so quiet!, its 100% answer to me that the seagate drives ARE supposed to be doing this. All very good in a cheap PC i suppose but not on a £1600 mac.... surely apple must know that this is causing a complete annoyance to its customers and should stick to Western Digital and Hitachi? hmmmm tempted to send this story to BBC Watchdog

[Roy43]

I look at the info and do not see the make in info? I am new to Mac, so be gentle.
I know about PCs only. Just starting out with Mac

[frenchie0101]

I look at the info and do not see the make in info? I am new to Mac, so be gentle.
I know about PCs only. Just starting out with Mac

click apple then about this mac, then more info, click on serial ata on left and notice the model number on the right hand side... ST = Seagate, WD = Western Digital

[iMacRS]

Hi,

I am a recent owner of a 27" iMac and I think my drive makes more noise than it's supposed to.

I'v tried to make a movie to check if this is the same noise that people here are talking about.
My model is a Seagate 1TB (ST31000528ASQ).

You can watch it here (http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=15gcmdv&s=6) (you can hear better with phones)

Is this the same kind of noise that this thread refers to?

Thanks in advance

[platti]

hi,

to me, this is"clicking" not "grumblin". It sounds like someone is clicking on a mouse.

[Roy43]

click apple then about this mac, then more info, click on serial ata on left and notice the model number on the right hand side... ST = Seagate, WD = Western Digital

Thanks, i have figured this out by the time I just read this. My drive is the Seagate ST31000528ASQ 1TB. It has made little noise. I only hear it at startup and it is not loud, more than acceptable. NOW, having said that, I looked for a drive utility. I downloaded the trial version of Smartutility from:
http://www.volitans-software.com/index.php

I run a test and it shows my HD failing!
Best I can tell is that the temp on line 190 has ran high as it is redlined 58C with a threshold of 45. As I write, it shows current temp of 41C. Under type heading there are lines marked pre-fail on spin up time, reallocated sector count, seek error rate, spin retry count. All others under type are tagged ol age. Believe this also shows this hd has 25 hours on it, I have not ran it that long. Looking for comparisons folks. Could heat be causing our problems??? I have been a life long WD user with zero failures. I dropped one one time on a concrete floor and it still worked after than with just a couple bad sectors, my fault. First computers at work years ago had Seagate drives, they did not last.

I have i5 4850 27". All is working, but now I am miffed about my first Mac!
Has anyone else tried this utility and if so, how about results? I suppose I will pack it up and call for shipping papers dang it!.
BTW, i posted this on a separate thread for more exposure, so post replies there. Tnx

[iMacRS]

hi,

to me, this is"clicking" not "grumblin". It sounds like someone is clicking on a mouse.

Hi,

If you are referring to my video, I am indeed clicking to open some apps in order tho show the HDD noise. The noise I speak about it's between clicks. It is not easy to hear, that why I recommend you to use phones.

[spcdust]

Hi,

I am a recent owner of a 27" iMac and I think my drive makes more noise than it's supposed to.

I'v tried to make a movie to check if this is the same noise that people here are talking about.
My model is a Seagate 1TB (ST31000528ASQ).

You can watch it here (http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=15gcmdv&s=6) (you can hear better with phones)

Is this the same kind of noise that this thread refers to?

Thanks in advance

Just had a listen and that's exactly the noise I am hearing (funny, had to distinguish your recording of HDD noise from my actual HDD rumble:D).

It's very intrusive when you're working in a quiet environment.

[iMacRS]

Just had a listen and that's exactly the noise I am hearing (funny, had to distinguish your recording of HDD noise from my actual HDD rumble:D).

It's very intrusive when you're working in a quiet environment.

Yap same problem for me while watching the movie eheh :D Had to hear it with phones to "mute" the actual drive.

And I agree on the annoying part.

Is this common to all Seagate drives?

[frenchie0101]

Yap same problem for me while watching the movie eheh :D Had to hear it with phones to "mute" the actual drive.

And I agree on the annoying part.

Is this common to all Seagate drives?

I'm certain it is common due to me borrowing a year old 20" which I explained a few posts up which has the same noise but just a tad less quiter than the 27's

[tclamp07]

I had the same problem with my first 27". It had the seagate hdd. It made the noise noted by many of the users of this forum. Grumbling pretty much. I ended taking that particular machine back due to other reasons ( screen flicker and video card failure). The 27" I have now has the western digital 1tb hdd and it is virtually silent. So there are quiet hdd's out in the wild. Just my 0.2 cents

[Sir Cecil]

Is this the same kind of noise that this thread refers to?

Yes, but the way it is heard in the video is misleading. The loudness of the clicking appears to make the grumbling (in the background) seem less obtrusive in comparison. In reality, that's not the case. The rumbling heard in the background is very much a foreground noise in mine and entirely unacceptable. So while the video identifies the noise we're talking about, it doesn't reflect the scale of the effect.

[iMacRS]

Yes, but the way it is heard in the video is misleading. The loudness of the clicking appears to make the grumbling (in the background) seem less obtrusive in comparison. In reality, that's not the case. The rumbling heard in the background is very much a foreground noise in mine and entirely unacceptable. So while the video identifies the noise we're talking about, it doesn't reflect the scale of the effect.

Yes I understand what you are saying but this is due to my camera mic not being sensitive enough to capture a clear sound.

It's not easy to show it on video but as I stand here next to the iMac it is is definitely a very clear and audible sound.

I'm gonna return mine and hopefully get a WD. Let's see how it goes..

[mdewberry]

I'v tried to make a movie to check if this is the same noise that people here are talking about. My model is a Seagate 1TB (ST31000528ASQ). You can watch it here (http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=15gcmdv&s=6) (you can hear better with phones)

Is this the same kind of noise that this thread refers to?

Thanks in advance

GREAT JOB, that is exactly the noise that I am hearing as well...

Agree with Sir Cecil, it is very noticeable when using the machine...

Good luck with an exchange, I think the WD drives are a shot in the dark... My exchange last night produced another Seagate...

[53x12]

I just wish there was a way to request a WD based iMac on a return rather than keep getting a Seagate noise maker.

[Whackintosh]

For what it's worth, I just took delivery of a 21.5 Imac that has a Seagate drive and have not heard any grumbling thus far. I referenced that video clip posted earlier in this threat and can confirm that that sound is not present in my machine.

[SaSaSushi]

I just wish there was a way to request a WD based iMac on a return rather than keep getting a Seagate noise maker.

As I said above I'm not experiencing the noise issues with my i7's Seagate 1TB but that said I'm glad I didn't get a Western Digital.

I much prefer Seagate over WD for drive quality. My 24" mid-2007 iMac has a WD hard drive in it and it crashed. Fortunately I was able to have Apple replace it under Applecare. Unfortunately they replaced it with another Western Digital.

I have a 1.5TB Seagate Barracuda in an IcyDock Firewire 800 enclosure I've been beating the heck out of for a year and a half now and I've not experienced any problems with at all. Thank god for it or I would have had major data loss when the Western Digital in my other iMac died.

[Sir Cecil]

As I said above I'm not experiencing the noise issues with my i7's Seagate 1TB but that said I'm glad I didn't get a Western Digital.

This is actually a concern of mine too. I had a couple of WD externals that were very poor and unreliable, while my previous experience of Seagate has been good.
Anyway, when I noticed my second i5 was beginning to "rumble", I was aghast. BUT, after another day and evening with it (after four or five days of silent operation), I have to say this second unit remains quieter than the horrendous first. Indeed, while the first i5 could be shown to anyone and immediately be heard to be faulty, I'm not so sure I could make such a convincing case for returning this one. Right now, I think the fear of it continuing to get worse, like the previous one, is the most worrying thing – I could live with it as it is at present.
So I've decided to give it more time and if towards the end of my return period it is no worse, I'll likely end up keeping it.

[1saiah]

Thanks, i have figured this out by the time I just read this. My drive is the Seagate ST31000528ASQ 1TB. It has made little noise. I only hear it at startup and it is not loud, more than acceptable. NOW, having said that, I looked for a drive utility. I downloaded the trial version of Smartutility from:
http://www.volitans-software.com/index.php

I run a test and it shows my HD failing!
Best I can tell is that the temp on line 190 has ran high as it is redlined 58C with a threshold of 45. As I write, it shows current temp of 41C. Under type heading there are lines marked pre-fail on spin up time, reallocated sector count, seek error rate, spin retry count. All others under type are tagged ol age. Believe this also shows this hd has 25 hours on it, I have not ran it that long. Looking for comparisons folks. Could heat be causing our problems??? I have been a life long WD user with zero failures. I dropped one one time on a concrete floor and it still worked after than with just a couple bad sectors, my fault. First computers at work years ago had Seagate drives, they did not last.

I have i5 4850 27". All is working, but now I am miffed about my first Mac!
Has anyone else tried this utility and if so, how about results? I suppose I will pack it up and call for shipping papers dang it!.
BTW, i posted this on a separate thread for more exposure, so post replies there. Tnx


I just ran the smart utility and my HD status shows FAILING! and when i checked attributes it shows this HD had 71 hours power on!! Also on line 190 highlighted in red shows it's value @ 62, worst @ 44, threshold @ 45

[macbell10]

May be a dumb question but I will ask-how do you find the make of the hard drive?

[macbell10]

May be a dumb question but I will ask-how do you find the make of the hard drive?
Sorry I guess I should have read through all of this forum before posting.I did find the type-its a seagate and there is no noise from the HDD except the odd time it downloads.

[mtnDewFTW]

I've gone through 2 Seagate and 2 Hitachi HDDs in my iMac (27"), and let me tell you something, they ALL had the same noise. My first Seagate annoyed the hell out of me, so I took it to the Apple store and they put in a Hitachi instead, which made a much different sound, instead of the grumbling noise, it was more of a sharper scratching sound.

Then, I got my machine replaced, it came with a Seagate which also failed on me from the second I started the computer, so then I had a in-home repair and ended up getting a new Hitachi HDD.

I'm using my Hitachi HDD right now, and so far it's been great. The sound is still there, but it's very mild. I can't even hear it when I have my window open/playing music, which I always am. I'm just gonna have to find a way to live with it, or wait for SSD manufacturers to lower the price so I can finally replace this loud HDD and get on with a much quieter and better SSD.

It's a fact that 1TB HDDs are louder than any other. I haven't had the chance to use a iMac with a WD in it, but I'm sure it's just as loud