27" iMac Hard Drive Noise

I'm in loooove with a fairytaaale, even thouuuugh it huuuurts!

If, somehow, it wasn't that song that came on then, well, move along please!

miniConvert said:

I'm in loooove with a fairytaaale, even thouuuugh it huuuurts!

If, somehow, it wasn't that song that came on then, well, move along please!

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yeah it was lol....

heyy, i own a standard imac 27" and at first i'v been getting no noise at all for the first week or so, but lately i have been hearing all sorts of noises like stomach digesting noises lol, fan and hard drive noises.
Any ideas, should i exchange it for a new one or something?
Thx

I got my iMac 27" a week ago and it's had thr grumbling HDD from the start. I've gone back and forth on whether to request a return but I finally decided today that I wasn't happy to put up with it and so called Apple for a swap.

I got a week 49 this time (which surprised me, I expected later) and the screen is loads better than the week 47 I got in December. Let's see how my next week turns out.

Noisy Mac

I decided to keep the hungry Mac for fear i'd get a new one with flickering issues. If I don't think about the sounds, it's OK. They aren't constant.

I just hope they don't get louder.

And for what it's worth, I didn't hear the sounds until after I moved it on day 4.

Now, that could be a coincidence and it was going to happen anyway.

Whenever I tell someone to listen to the annoying sounds they look at me like I'm nuts.

Quiet to noisy

I've got a good one for you. I had a quiet iMac. Woke up one morning to a total HD failure. Apple had me take it to certified repair facility and when I picked it up, I'd sounds like a jet getting ready to take off. I looked at it has a Hitachi HD in it. I don't beleive that is what was in it when I got it from Apple. But it is so freaking loud I can hear it in the next room.

Just had an interesting conversation with Seagate...

Please wait while we find an agent to assist you...
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Hello. How may I help you?
JH: Thank you for contacting Seagate. My name is JH. How can I help you?
Me: I bought a new iMac with the 1TB drive. Model ST31000528ASQ. Why does the drive "grumble" so much?
Me: It sounds almost like a stomach that is empty.
JH: I'm sorry, but our drives are not designed for silence. They were built instead to be efficient and durable instead.
JH: So some noise is common from our drives.
Me: Do you have a drive that has all 3?
JH: No.
JH: To get one, typically you must sacrafice another.
Me: Really? Why is that?
Me: These are honest questions, as I want to understand.
JH: I don't know the exact reasons, to be honest. I'm just a guy that helps to fix them.
Me: Understand. Can you find out and email me why?
JH: I'm sorry, but no. You are asking for reasons on designs. Unless I was to track down one of our engineers in China (kind of a long drive for me) there is no way to get this information.
Me: So I'll just mark this noise up as subliminal messages from China. Thanks.
JH: Are there any other questions I can answer for you?
JH: This chat has been inactive for 2 minutes and will be disconnected in 1 minute if no further activity occurs.
JH: At this time I am unable to get a response from you. If you need any further assistance, please feel free to chat back or you can contact us at 1-800-SEAGATE (1-800-732-4283). Technical & Warranty Support are available Monday through Friday, 8:00am - 6:00pm (CST). Thank you for choosing Seagate, Have a great day!
Thank you for using Seagate products. You may now close this window.
Your session has ended. You may now close this window.
Me: Sorry, but I couldn't hear you over the grumbling noise. I have one last question. Where are you located? As we in North or South America can't drive to China. If you can drive there, it shouldn't take too long. Maybe by train? You'd be able to relax instead of trying to Google Map it all the way. Anyway, hope you change your mind and I hear back from you soon. Thanks again!

My noisy Seagate died within the last week. I had only had my 27" iMac since November. I suggest getting these machines replaced before it is too late. Thank goodness for Time Machine. Apple sent someone to my house and the replaced it with a Western Digital and now I can't even hear the hard drive.

Do not settle for a Seagate drive

Well, brought my iMac in because of the "grumbling" noise. Found out it had bad sectors. Unfortunately, the tech had already placed an order for a replacement drive and could not request a non Seagate drive.

Called Apple Care and voiced my concern about the Seagate hard drives. Advised that if I didn't receive a non Seagate drive, I would return the unit.

As luck would have it, a WD drive arrived to replace the Seagate. Brought the unit home, loaded the OS and the system is quiet as can be!!!!

For those of you living with the grumbling noise, contact Apple Support and voice your concern about the Seagate's. Don't settle for a Seagate drive!!!!

frenchie0101 said:

did he also replace the heat sensors of the hard drive then, cause the sensors are for one paticular hard drive make only ?

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Yes the sensor was also replaced.

My 27" iMac has just started doing this, either that or I've never noticed it before. Sitting here and every few seconds there's like a grunting kind of noise from the iMac, utterly bizarre but totally infuriating now I've noticed it.

Tool said:

For those of you living with the grumbling noise, contact Apple Support and voice your concern about the Seagate's. Don't settle for a Seagate drive!!!!

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Not as simple as that I'm afraid.

I had completely silent running for the first month of using my iMac i7 and now its grumbling terribly.... my hard drive is a Western Digital.

This is a serious issue for me as I use my computer for Pro-audio work. Its the 4th iMac i've owned down the years and the first that's made noise - my last iMac 24 had exactly the same HD and it ran silently enough that I could record in the same room as it.

I've been keeping my eyes open for a firmware fix as I cannot afford to lose a week or two of work while my computer gets fixed.

My computer is also buggy as hell compared to my MBPro - Beach balls, programs not opening, programs needing to be force quit after waking from sleep, computer randomly waking itself up from sleep (a trick that seemed to start at the same time as the HD grumbling).

I've tried everything in my knowledge to fix the problems but to no avail. Right now I have a very expensive computer that is hindering me from doing my job properly.

loud hdd

im at work reading these posts wondering which HDD i have in my imac 27 as well. mine churns and rumbles too. it started day 1. i too have also had the imac not want to stay asleep and just wake up in the middle of the night. i notice it everytime it happens cause its like im being hit with a spotlight since i sleep in the same room. i disabled auto backups cause i just cant see how performance isnt hurt with my mac backing up 25-30% of its running time. it was backing up every hour and taking 20 minutes sometimes to complete yet i barely have 30gigs used on the drive. as far as the enclosure amplifying the hdd sound? yes definately. just tap around the case near the logo and the usb slots and it will be super loud. the acoustics were likely meant to improve sound quality from the internals.

deci said:

Not as simple as that I'm afraid.

I had completely silent running for the first month of using my iMac i7 and now its grumbling terribly.... my hard drive is a Western Digital.

This is a serious issue for me as I use my computer for Pro-audio work. Its the 4th iMac i've owned down the years and the first that's made noise - my last iMac 24 had exactly the same HD and it ran silently enough that I could record in the same room as it.

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Care to explain how a noisy hard drive will get in the way of your "Professional Audio Work"? I could be wrong, but since I've been singing for many years and recorded and edited music, I've always used studio monitoring headphones along with the other producers in the studio. I've heard the grumbling of the hard drive in some of the new iMacs and the sound wouldn't even get in the way of an open mic even though you could hear a pin drop in the studio. How do I know this? My first i7 iMac had a noisy hard drive but I had it replaced because the screen was faulty, the iMac worked just fine for pro studio recording, the hard drive was a non issue.

27in iMac hard drive noise

Just to ad to the debate... I have had my 27in iMac since October, since Xmas it has started making a "processor noise" the tumble grumble, irritating, cackle!
It does it when it is booting, opening applications or even repair permission...! I have always associated it with a failing hard drive having worked with iBooks a lot. I have 3 years extra warranty and took it back to the Apple shop, they sent it away and said they could find nothing wrong.. then took it back again.. then took it to another Apple certified repair shop, .. then went to customer relations .. to cut a long story short I have had three replacement hard drives and it is still the same. I have it sat next to my 24in and it is as quiet as a mouse. Apple say (well two engineers) 'IT IS AN ACCEPTABLE' noise.. all hard drives make noises. I have told them they have lowered their standards and it is unacceptable. I have since done a swap with my 24in Hard drive and the 27in is PERFECTLY QUIET... but it is only a 350Gb and it does not have the extra heat sensor on...!!!

This is my second iMac 27"?????

Having purchased an i5 with 1TB hard drive back in December, I instantly heard the grumbling noise as described in many of these posts. I sent that machine back straight away.

After waiting a while to see if ALL issues had been corrected. 2 days ago, I took delivery of the i5 with the 2TB hard drive hoping this would solve the issue as many people on this forum and others had described as the solution.

WELL.......I still have the same issue????

I have checked the hard drive and it's the Hitachi HDS722020ALA330 and not Seagate. Should I be looking for something else that tells me I have the wrong machine or am I just unlucky with this machine too????

Thanks

I'm on my third i5. The first two had problems with hard drive noise - the 'rumbling stomach' that people have so accurately described. The difference with this third machine is this time the drive is the Western Digital Black Caviar; the first two were Seagate drives. While there is some noticeable sound from this one, it is slight and definitely what I would consider normal.

Interestingly enough, I used a 24-inch iMac today - I was staying in a hotel where all the rooms had one. Right enough, it makes no noise at all. I have heard that the 1TB drives in the new iMacs pretty much always make some slight noise though, due to their large capacity.

I don't think there's an iMac out there that doesn't have some screen blemishing, and slight noise on the hard drive. Whilst it's acceptable, it's not perfect. Quite disappointing on Apple's part (when you consider the shpiel on their website about them being quiet). If they had any cahones, they'd offer everyone an exchange on the new model when it comes out in June. But we all know that ain't gonna happen.

Summary:
Looks like the WD drive is quieter than the Seagate. But all the new iMacs make a bit more noise than the old 24-inch version.

27" iMac fan noise (?)

Have had my 27" iMac for about four days now, setup fine... and then late this evening a steady and very annoying low hum, which I take to be fan noise. This is really getting to me - any fixes or news on this other than taking it back?

dwj47 said:

Have had my 27" iMac for about four days now, setup fine... and then late this evening a steady and very annoying low hum, which I take to be fan noise. This is really getting to me - any fixes or news on this other than taking it back?

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That exactly happened to me...Everything seems running fine until the 4th day...Called Tech Support and i was told there was no fix to it yet...Needless to say, shipped it back for refund...

Yeah,

My first 27" 2TB was EXTREMELY LOUD! I mean so loud I couldn't keep it on at night. I had to sleep out in the living room and then even with the door still closed I heard it!

Even my optical drive is and was louder than it should be too. They sent a replacement 27" and this one seems to be a lot better. It's still a little loud but nothing like the 1st one.

...Genius Bar says they that rumbling noise that i hear is normal..this noise is not consistent but its quite annoying....im not sure if i want a replacement or just keep this..my concern is it might get worse in time..

Take no notice of what the Genius says about it being "normal". I've experienced that grumbling noise and it's awful. It might be normal for the Seagates they put in there, but I know that other drives they use (WD, Hitachi) make no such noise.
Call Applecare and protest the situation. They'll help.

Windows?

I personally own a 27" imac i5 (with a Seagate ST31000528ASQ Media HD), and I use both Mac OS and Windows XP (via Boot Camp). Something strange that i've noticed is that when I'm in Windows XP, there is no noise at all, whereas when I'm in Mac OS, there is a low humming sound, which is irritating. I use Mac OS more often so, I'd like to get this fixed. Has anyone else noticed that when in Windows, its absolutely silent?

Ive had this problem and I have decided to install an SSD on the imac, which are completely silent. This way there will be no more hd noise.

Why dont everyone try and do this?