Noisy hard drive on new iMac 27"

[Vidd]

Is it normal for the hard drive on the new iMacs to be quite noisy?
It sounds like fingers drumming on the inside of the machine. :confused:

[Hellhammer]

This is pretty common issue. I would ask for a new one if you're within the return period or just replace the HD under warranty. Some HDs are noisier than others

[Vidd]

This is pretty common issue. I would ask for a new one if you're within the return period or just replace the HD under warranty. Some HDs are noisier than others
I just received it today.

[byron_hinson]

I'd guess it is a Seagate drive like mine in the new 27" - mine makes a lot of noise but I'm learning to ignore it after 4/5 days of use as I know there is no problem with the drive itself. It is either that, return yours and hope you don't get any other problems or the same drive over and over which is possible.

[SkyMasterson]

So which imacs don't have a seagate, is that know yet?

I'm currently going to order the high end 21.5 inch model but it would be niceto know which ones don't have the noisy hd's. Thanks.

[Vidd]

Well I've phoned up to get it replaced. :(
Thanks, guys.

EDIT: They said since it was in the 14 day period of the order, it could replaced rather than repaired.
Anyone familiar enough with UK law to know if that sticks with when the order was placed or would restart on arrival of the new unit?

[byron_hinson]

Well I've phoned up to get it replaced. :(
Thanks, guys.

EDIT: They said since it was in the 14 day period of the order, it could replaced rather than repaired.
Anyone familiar enough with UK law to know if that sticks with when the order was placed or would restart on arrival of the new unit?

When you received it

[wvoc]

Got a 27" last week. No noise from Hard Drive but some pixels went out. They replaced it with a new slightly better model, but the thing has the same annoying Hard Drive sound you decribed. I understand the Western Digital HDD are quiet, is that true? And has anyone had success asking the apple store to replace the drive with a quiet one, such as the Western digital?

[rymack]

I just got my new 27" i7 on Friday. I'm loving it! I got it with a 1tb hard drive. It does make noise (like the typical hard drive noise? I don't know how to describe it). My friend who works at an Apple store 9 hours away said it is pretty normal to be able to hear the HD on the 27", something to do with the physical size of the drive itself and it's placement near the vent of the iMac. I do also have one dead or stuck pixel (is there a difference between dead or stuck?) It is not noticeable enough to send back the entire machine for, though, and risk getting a yellow screen or something like that. (Mine currently has ZERO yellow tint that I am aware of/can see).

How do I know if I have a Western Digital or Seagate drive? Under info in Disc Utility there is some info that starts with WDC when I click on my Mac HD. Am I right to assume that WDC stands for Western Digital Co. or something to that effect?

[bolen]

I just got my new 27" i7 on Friday. I'm loving it! I got it with a 1tb hard drive. It does make noise (like the typical hard drive noise? I don't know how to describe it). My friend who works at an Apple store 9 hours away said it is pretty normal to be able to hear the HD on the 27", something to do with the physical size of the drive itself and it's placement near the vent of the iMac. I do also have one dead or stuck pixel (is there a difference between dead or stuck?) It is not noticeable enough to send back the entire machine for, though, and risk getting a yellow screen or something like that. (Mine currently has ZERO yellow tint that I am aware of/can see).

How do I know if I have a Western Digital or Seagate drive? Under info in Disc Utility there is some info that starts with WDC when I click on my Mac HD. Am I right to assume that WDC stands for Western Digital Co. or something to that effect?

Yes, WDC********** = Western Digital. Hopefully my incoming iMac27 also contains a WD disk.

[striker33]

Does your iMac have a 1TB drive or a 2TB drive?

From what ive read on these forums it seems that people are having issues with the 1TB Seagate.

Just curious as I've ordered a 2TB in mine.

[MathijsDelva]

Yes, the 21.5" mostly have the 1TB Seagate (in Europe from what i've read). When my replacement arrives, and it has the same problem/noise, i'll ask for a 2TB which is mostly quiet for the same price. It is however not possible to ask for a specific make (ie wd).

[TT5]

I just received the 27" (upgraded to the i7) and I hear NOTHING. My last 27" iMac was the same - very quiet. Apple boasts this and the rep I know said you should not hear anything.

I'd consider returning if you can...

[wvoc]

Talked with apple store techs, they said they hadn't had any complaints about HDD from others, but they would be glad to change the drive anytime during my 1 year warrenty. Problem - they only carry seagate in the 1TB drive size, so I am going to see how it goes with this one for a while.

[easepease]

yea i returned mine. I went in and said this is a pain i want a new one. They first said i would have to wait 1.5 hours for a genius to speak with me, but after i brought up console and disk utility on a 27 lots of staff came up to me, the third guy that heard my story said OHH lets get you a new one right now! So they exchanged it with no questions asked never had to take it out of the box to show them it. It was real nice how willing they were to help as long as I was polite. Just be forceful but polite every experience i have had has been great!

[byron_hinson]

yea i returned mine. I went in and said this is a pain i want a new one. They first said i would have to wait 1.5 hours for a genius to speak with me, but after i brought up console and disk utility on a 27 lots of staff came up to me, the third guy that heard my story said OHH lets get you a new one right now! So they exchanged it with no questions asked never had to take it out of the box to show them it. It was real nice how willing they were to help as long as I was polite. Just be forceful but polite every experience i have had has been great!

By law they don't have a choice within a certain time frame - here in the UK you have 14 days return/replace with no quibble. I always say if you are not happy with something, return it asap until you get what you feel you paid for

[RAM3Zero]

Got a 27" last week. No noise from Hard Drive but some pixels went out. They replaced it with a new slightly better model, but the thing has the same annoying Hard Drive sound you decribed. I understand the Western Digital HDD are quiet, is that true? And has anyone had success asking the apple store to replace the drive with a quiet one, such as the Western digital?

I have 27" i5 quad core with a 1 TB WDC drive - no noise at all. I live in Eastern Canada but the machine was assembled and shipped from California. There are no screen whistles or yellowing either.
I don't know if this feedback reaffirms your suspicions but the more people you get comparing their component experiences, the more we'll know.

(New to Mac and love it by the way)

[wvoc]

Returned the iMac with the noisy drive again. The second one they gave me had the same problem. Apparently all of the 2010 builds with the core i3 have the same HDD. The first one I got was a late 2009 build with the Core 2 Duo and they do not have this problem. I took back the iMac, can't live with the noise. Has anyone out there gotten a newer iMac i3 that does not have the problem and where did you get it? By the way, I tested every 27" iMac at our school and not one has the problem, they're the older 2009 build.

[nobias]

For what it's worth, if it bothers you guys that much, consider upgrading to the 2TB. It's a Hitachi drive and completely silent.

[wvoc]

Thanks for the tip. I was ready to have them put a 250GB solid state in but that's a little to small.

[nobias]

Thanks for the tip. I was ready to have them put a 250GB solid state in but that's a little to small.

Externals are so cheap these days, if the price for the SSD doesn't bother you, get it. All apps open in 1-2 bounces, I tried opening the entire application folder and I was shocked when everything opened in 5 seconds.

[wvoc]

Went to Fry's Electronics. Got a 27" iMac core 2 Duo for $1549.99 instead of an i3 for $1699.99. No HDD noise and it is faster than the i3 even with less video ram. Awsum! Apple better get their act together.

[LPPanther]

Went to Fry's Electronics. Got a 27" iMac core 2 Duo for $1549.99 instead of an i3 for $1699.99. No HDD noise and it is faster than the i3 even with less video ram. Awsum! Apple better get their act together.

What size HDD?

[easepease]

i bought an i5 quad the day it updated a few weeks ago. I exchanged it last week once and now again the hard drive is making such a annoying noise. It seems to start whenever i try to partition my hard disk... not sure if that is what causes anyone elses problems.

I am going in for the third time tomorrow, and that would not bother me except walking with a 27 inch box through the mall of america is not fun at all... I am thinking I will aks for a free upgrade to the 2TB drive.

First question is do you people think that it is quieter? Both 1TB i got were seagates...

second I don't want to sound rude but how can I ask them to upgrade me or that just a stupid thing to ask? Its just such a pain to go back every week for the same dumb problem. And yes it is a problem because it is quiet until i partition it... then even if i reformat the whole drive it still makes noise... but up to that point it silent... Thats what pisses me off is that I know how quiet it can be but then it decides to start being noisy!!!

any opinions would be appreciated... thanks

[nobias]

It doesn't hurt to ask but I doubt you will get a free 2tb.

I recieved $100+ of complimentary stuff after I exchanged my iMac the first time.
Might be because my company buys tons of apple stuff every few months.

[bas-macfan]

Got a 27" last week. No noise from Hard Drive but some pixels went out. They replaced it with a new slightly better model, but the thing has the same annoying Hard Drive sound you decribed. I understand the Western Digital HDD are quiet, is that true? And has anyone had success asking the apple store to replace the drive with a quiet one, such as the Western digital?

a new slightly better model? Do you mean you had a late 2009 and got a 2010 model? I just send my late 2009 iMac back because of HDD noise. Do I get a new 2010 iMac in return?

Cheers,

Bas

[nobias]

Apple wont replace the HD in store. They will give you a entirely separate replacement computer.

[Serif]

I have an i7 with the 2TB Hitachi drive and I'm not hearing any noise from it, so that seems to be one possible option.

Unfortunately that doesn't mean I don't have a noise problem. There is an annoying drone with a period of about a second which sounds like a fan that is spinning slightly off true. It's fairly quiet, but if you're sat in front of the computer in an otherwise quiet study, it gets pretty distracting. I'd expected that if I changed the speed of the 3 fans (HD, CPU and OD) in turn I could identify which one it was and maybe solve it by setting a different default speed. That didn't seem to make any difference though, so I'm now scratching my head as to what else could be causing it.

[wvoc]

First, the Core 2 Duo - the one I just purchased - is a late 2009 build with a seagate 1TB model ST31000528ASQ. It is very quiet, but not silent - way better than the 1TB in the i3s.

If you want to upgrade to a 2TB they are made by Hitachi but there are mixed reports on the noise, quality, and reliability, so no gauranty you will get one that is not noisy.

O.K. let me tell everyone some things that Apple probably won't like. The guys at the genius bar and many apple care techs don't realy know whats going on. They're trained to be curtious, sympathetic, but they realy have no solid answers about anything.

The facts:

- Many apple care associates have told me they know there is a problem.
- Some apple store techs have told me they know there is a problem
- Some of the apple savy techs at Fry's electronics told me they know there is a problem.
All of which have told me they have been getting complants from customers.

Another thing that show they realy dont have a clue: The apple experts at national apple care told me there is no difference between the Core 2 Duo (2009 build) drivers like for boot camp and the boot camp drivers for the i3. They are full of it. I have a copy of both and there is most definitely a difference in the drivers. Thats how I was able to fix the sound card and mouse problems in boot camp with the 2009 builds, by using some of the drivers frome the disk that came with the i3.

[wvoc]

Any one get a new i3 with 1TB and has no noise?

[wvoc]

First, the Core 2 Duo - the one I just purchased - is a late 2009 build with a seagate 1TB model ST31000528ASQ. It is very quiet, but not silent - way better than the 1TB in the i3s.

If you want to upgrade to a 2TB they are made by Hitachi but there are mixed reports on the noise, quality, and reliability, so no gauranty you will get one that is not noisy.

O.K. let me tell everyone some things that Apple probably won't like. The guys at the genius bar and many apple care techs don't realy know whats going on. They're trained to be curtious, sympathetic, but they realy have no solid answers about anything.

The facts:

- Many apple care associates have told me they know there is a problem.
- Some apple store techs have told me they know there is a problem
- Some of the apple savy techs at Fry's electronics told me they know there is a problem.
All of which have told me they have been getting complants from customers.

Another thing that show they realy dont have a clue: The apple experts at national apple care told me there is no difference between the Core 2 Duo (2009 build) drivers like for boot camp and the boot camp drivers for the i3. They are full of it. I have a copy of both and there is most definitely a difference in the drivers. Thats how I was able to fix the sound card and mouse problems in boot camp with the 2009 builds, by using some of the drivers frome the disk that came with the i3.

[wvoc]

First, the Core 2 Duo - the one I just purchased - is a late 2009 build with a seagate 1TB model ST31000528ASQ. It is very quiet, but not silent - way better than the 1TB in the i3s.

If you want to upgrade to a 2TB they are made by Hitachi but there are mixed reports on the noise, quality, and reliability, so no gauranty you will get one that is not noisy.

O.K. let me tell everyone some things that Apple probably won't like. The guys at the genius bar and many apple care techs don't realy know whats going on. They're trained to be curtious, sympathetic, but they realy have no solid answers about anything.

The facts:

- Many apple care associates have told me they know there is a problem.
- Some apple store techs have told me they know there is a problem
- Some of the apple savy techs at Fry's electronics told me they know there is a problem.
All of which have told me they have been getting complants from customers.

Another thing that shows they realy don't have a clue: The apple experts at national apple care told me there is no difference between the Core 2 Duo (2009 build) drivers like for boot camp and the boot camp drivers for the i3. They are full of it. I have a copy of both and there is most definitely a difference in the drivers. Thats how I was able to fix the sound card and mouse problems in boot camp with the 2009 builds, by using some of the drivers frome the disk that came with the i3.

[LPPanther]

First, the Core 2 Duo - the one I just purchased - is a late 2009 build with a seagate 1TB model ST31000528ASQ. It is very quiet, but not silent - way better than the 1TB in the i3s.

I'm looking at getting a refurb core 2 duo with 1TB so that is good news for me. thanks!

[lobeyonekenobi]

I bought my 27" Quad i5 a couple of weeks ago and it was silent then I turned it on a couple about the third or fourth time and it started making those banging noises.

I was about to take it back as i read a few stories here and on the Apple support site. But i thought i'd give going to Disk Utlility and repairing the HD option a try.

I didn't think it would work but (touches wood) it did and it now makes no noise again:D:D, so anyone out there who may not have tried it, give it a crack. It is by far the best machine I've ever had.