After installing Mavericks on my mid-2011 iMac, I've been getting occasional sounds from what I believe must be the hard drive. Every half hour or so there will be a 'tick' and then subtle sound of powering up, before fading out again. All happens very quickly. It used to make this sound way back when I first got the Mac, but the noise disappeared completely in Mountain Lion. Now it's back in Mavericks. Has anyone else noticed this issue on their machine?
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Hard drive ticking noises in Mavericks
- Thread starter EssentialParado
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I have been having the same problem. I have a macbook pro from July 2012 and had no problems until now... After i installed mavericks i was normal for a while, then... after 3 days or so, can't really remember, it started to make a griding noise, coming from the hard drive. I know it is from the hard drive because i had the fan checked and it was ok, and because of a defense mechanism apple has that stops the rotation of the hard drive when the computer is moving in order to avoid other problems, i.e. whenever i turn or rotate the mac, the grinding stops. I am also looking for a solution, besides having it checked which takes a lot of time....
Sounds like the hard drive is sleeping, then spinning back up when needed. You can check to see in System Preferences -> Energy Saver -> is "Put hard disks to sleep when possible" checked? If so, and you don't like the noise it makes, uncheck. Personally, I always leave unchecked as I think the spin down/spin up causes more problems then leaving the drive running 24/7.
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This is a completely different problem. Either, as you suspected, the fans are bad (which can cause a loud spin noise, and can happen intermittently) or your hard drive is failing. If your hard drive made a grinding sound, you should backup all your data immediately before it fails completely.
Western Digital
If your hard drive is a Western Digital, thats pretty common for them to click. My mini has been clicking it's WD since I put it in.
If your hard drive is a Western Digital, thats pretty common for them to click. My mini has been clicking it's WD since I put it in.
That's a good suggestion. I too prefer to not let the hard disk sleep for the same reasons, and I did have it set that way since I got my iMac. Only since I installed Mavericks is it making those noises, and it does sound like the same sounds as when that box is checked. In my preferences it does seem to still be unchecked but I've checked and unchecked it in case it was some kind of corrupted preference file or something. Seems to be a bit better now
That's a good suggestion. I too prefer to not let the hard disk sleep for the same reasons, and I did have it set that way since I got my iMac. Only since I installed Mavericks is it making those noises, and it does sound like the same sounds as when that box is checked. In my preferences it does seem to still be unchecked but I've checked and unchecked it in case it was some kind of corrupted preference file or something. Seems to be a bit better now
Awesome! Hopefully it will stick for you!
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I would refer to that noise as "ticking" whereas "clicking" is louder and a sign of impending problem. "Ticking" may be normal for some model hard drives. Still, if I put a new hard drive in and it was ticking, it would just be annoying to me (a person with sensitive hearing) and I would RMA it for a quieter one. But, you may be fine.