yeah let us know, i know from experience i have used quite alot of hitachi drives in pc's and always heard them working but it was a noise never to bug me as the seagate was doing. Would what i have said be the case with you? you can hear it working but not as annoying as the Seagate
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
27" iMac Hard Drive Noise
- Thread starter frenchie0101
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
yeah let us know, i know from experience i have used quite alot of hitachi drives in pc's and always heard them working but it was a noise never to bug me as the seagate was doing. Would what i have said be the case with you? you can hear it working but not as annoying as the Seagate
Thanks for your feedback on this.. I am in the same scenario as you, as I had a 1tb Seagate drive on my i5, and found the amount of noise to be unacceptable, and have returned it and ordered the 2tb drive iMac based upon feedback from these forums (due to arrive on 12/17).. Interesting to hear your experience.. So to make sure I understand, the grumbling is the same noise from the Seagate, just not as loud and obtrusive? As I posted earlier in this thread, I am starting to think that the thin aluminum enclosure plus the lack of fan noise is enabling us to hear every little sound the drive makes.. What was strange with mine is sometimes it was noisy, sometimes not so much, and sometimes I could not hear it at all..
I guess we will never have to worry about space now, right?? I am coming off of an 80gb 6 year old Powerbook, and calculated that my new iMac will have 25 times the space with a 2tb drive!
Grumbling Hitachi=grumbling rogerram!
The Hitachi grumbling is very different to the original Seagate. The Seagate made a regular noise like 'tutting' with an occasional 'tut-tut' faster just to make sure you were still listening! My wife described it as 'Like a tap dripping'-crazy-making.
The Hitachi is much quieter with an almost constant 'stomach-rumbling' background noise-never silent. As I said before my 2007 24" iMac was silent as is my MBP so perhaps that spoilt me & this noise is normal.
I've used iStat Pro & TechTool & everything is OK apart from that noise.
The Hitachi grumbling is very different to the original Seagate. The Seagate made a regular noise like 'tutting' with an occasional 'tut-tut' faster just to make sure you were still listening! My wife described it as 'Like a tap dripping'-crazy-making.
The Hitachi is much quieter with an almost constant 'stomach-rumbling' background noise-never silent. As I said before my 2007 24" iMac was silent as is my MBP so perhaps that spoilt me & this noise is normal.
I've used iStat Pro & TechTool & everything is OK apart from that noise.
Applecare?
My early 2009 MBP was a nightmare out of the 14 day return period with its going into sleep mode from start-up & refusal to start without a pram reset. However, after 2 replacement logic/mother boards AND a new HD it's finally perfect. Applecare collected & returned it after the first 'repair' & the repair place in London were brilliant.
It was very annoying until it was sorted though. I think Apple make brilliant bits of kit but sure have some work to do on 'quality assurance'.
Yes, I would have noticed-it's a 7200 320GB Hitachi. Now for Apple discussion.
Bummer... Thanks for the feedback (I think!) It sounds like the 2tb Hitachi is making the same noise as my 1tb Seagate.. I never heard a "tap dripping" sound like you described, mine was a low deep grumbling as you describe, which tells me that I am in for the same experience with the 2tb drive as I had with the Seagate... Which tells me that the grumbling is "normal" (not at all to my standards, but to Apple's) due to the thin enclosure of the machine, no fan noise to cover the HD noise and the fact that the HD is indeed level and close to your face when using the machine.. Hmm.. My 2tb has not shipped yet, so I need to decide whether to continue with my order... My guess is yes.. At first when I heard the noise I thought "well, it is noisy, but must be normal".. Then I read in these posts that some folks had "completely silent" 2tb drives, and I thought that there IS a solution and the sound then became unacceptable to me.. My guess is those folks had some type of ambient noise in the room to block the sound, or they are not sensitive to noise (my wife said she heard it on my 1tb iMac but it would not have bothered her at all and she would not have thought twice about it...)
I fear no matter how many exchanges (Frenchie 0101 I am sure can attest to this) the sound is going to be consistent.. I guess I feel better using the machine knowing that.. Sure, they may address this in the future with some kind of sound insulation, but who know's when and I need a new mac and the Macbook Pros are so expensive for much less specs that you get with the iMac..
Jury Out
Spoke to Apple & after PRAM reset problem was escalated to 2nd level technician. He advised use disk utility to partition HD & load Snow Leopard & updates to 30GB partition. He gave me his number & extension for further help. (I originally used old iMac Time Machine backup for installation because I didn't want the Microsoft hassle of re-installing Vista & MacOffice).
Up to now the 30GB system is quiet as a mouse & certainly not distracting so it looks as if perhaps rubbish from my old iMac might have been causing the problem.
So far so good. Now to look for noisy stuff on the other partition-I just wish I knew what I was doing!!!
Spoke to Apple & after PRAM reset problem was escalated to 2nd level technician. He advised use disk utility to partition HD & load Snow Leopard & updates to 30GB partition. He gave me his number & extension for further help. (I originally used old iMac Time Machine backup for installation because I didn't want the Microsoft hassle of re-installing Vista & MacOffice).
Up to now the 30GB system is quiet as a mouse & certainly not distracting so it looks as if perhaps rubbish from my old iMac might have been causing the problem.
So far so good. Now to look for noisy stuff on the other partition-I just wish I knew what I was doing!!!
Appreciate the updates and I'm keen to see any hints for alleviating this noise, but I'm confused by this. Firstly, you said in an earlier post your 2T HD noise sounded different to the Seagate 1T problem. So I'm wondering if we are talking about entirely different problems here. And if your problem was caused by something to do with your Time Machine set up of your system, that doesn't relate to the noise experienced by users of the standard pre-installed iMacs. So... is this Apple technician talk of partitions etc some kind of recognition of a general problem/solution for the much-reported iMac/Seagate noise, or is it simply an answer to a specific problem in your system (with Vista, Time Machine backups etc)? Any further news on this keenly anticipated...
UPDATE: The Apple Store has agreed to refund even though I'm four days over the return period, due to the fact I've been in contact with Apple support for the last week or two. Now the question is... do I spend more and go for the 2T Hitachi version? I certainly don't need 2T. But anything to be rid of this noise...
in the same boat...
Yeah so I definitely have the same problem as most people in here - unbearably annoying clicking noise from my 1tb hardrive! I have gone through a couple returns...
I have worked on the previous imac 24" models at school and originally ordered one - right before the new imacs came out. Although I loved it (and its silence!), I exchanged it for the upgraded new 27" model - expecting the same silent machine just a tad faster and a better screen. Apple was great and let me do that with no problem.
Well to my disappointment when I first received my computer I heard loud clicky noises nonstop. I thought the noise had to be normal and tried to ignore it, but I finally had enough and contacted apple. They assured me it shouldn't be making an loud constant noises like that and so I felt relieved in a way and was able to get a new replacement.
Well I just got my new imac today and guess what? STILL THE SAME NOISE! It makes me wish I never sent back my older 24" model I had originally ordered it was so silent! I am a graphic designer and love to work at night and I can't deal with the constant annoying noise and for what I payed for it! :/ So now I dont know what to do...My serial doesnt start with a S so i guess I dont have a seagate?
Yeah so I definitely have the same problem as most people in here - unbearably annoying clicking noise from my 1tb hardrive! I have gone through a couple returns...
I have worked on the previous imac 24" models at school and originally ordered one - right before the new imacs came out. Although I loved it (and its silence!), I exchanged it for the upgraded new 27" model - expecting the same silent machine just a tad faster and a better screen. Apple was great and let me do that with no problem.
Well to my disappointment when I first received my computer I heard loud clicky noises nonstop. I thought the noise had to be normal and tried to ignore it, but I finally had enough and contacted apple. They assured me it shouldn't be making an loud constant noises like that and so I felt relieved in a way and was able to get a new replacement.
Well I just got my new imac today and guess what? STILL THE SAME NOISE! It makes me wish I never sent back my older 24" model I had originally ordered it was so silent! I am a graphic designer and love to work at night and I can't deal with the constant annoying noise and for what I payed for it! :/ So now I dont know what to do...My serial doesnt start with a S so i guess I dont have a seagate?
Ok, how to do that? Do I have to reinstall the system or can it be moved to a different partition? If yes - how can I do that?
Has anyone else tried the partitioning steps described above, and does it have any influence over the rumbling noise most of us are describing here? I don't understand what the benefits (or negatives) are of partitioning the HD as described, and if this is supposed to address the problem experienced with the Seagate i5 units. The poster was using a Hitachi and his quote "I just wish I knew what I was doing" doesn't make me want to rush to try out this solution 
Why would partitioning the drive affect the perceived noise we're experiencing. What are the disadvantages of following this step? Any clues?
Why would partitioning the drive affect the perceived noise we're experiencing. What are the disadvantages of following this step? Any clues?
BIT RUDE! what i was going to be getting at, is that obviously SSD dont make noise, as i mentioned in a earlier post hitachi do make genuine noise
Sorry for the sarky!
The object of the exercise in partitioning the HD was to do a clean install of Snow Leopard & updates to discover whether the grumble is hardware or (my) software related.
In Disk Utility just select the HD & use the Partition tab. On the Apple technicians advice I had 30GB as the partitioned 'Test' HD. I then restarted with the Snow Leopard disk in place holding down the 'C' key & installed on the Test HD. On restart holding the 'Alt' key I can choose whether to start up from the original HD or from Test.
From my experiments so far Test is virtually silent, whilst the original HD is as grumbly as ever. I will call Apple later to explore this.
Sorry if I've caused confusion. The noise from the original Seagate was like a clearly audible rhythmic 'tutting' whereas the new Hitachi is like a stomach rumble/grumble.
My not knowing what I'm doing relates to not being a 'techie' & not knowing what if anything in my old iMac backup might cause the noise. The partition advice came from an Apple 2nd level techie who hopefully does know what he is doing.
I'm typing this from silent iMac booted from Test.
All the best & I'll let you know what the Apple technician says about the difference in noise levels.
Thanks for the extra info in your last post. I'll look forward to hearing what the tech says.
Solution to the problem
Pull those mechanical hard drives out of the imacs, and put them in an external housing attached to a wireless router (many models allow this). Put the router and the drive(s) in a little-used room and close the door.
Put an SSD in the imac. You shouldn't have a big mechanical hard drive 15 inches from your head anyway -- not if your work involves the thought process.
Then underclock the imac so the fans don't come on much.
Heaven.
Pull those mechanical hard drives out of the imacs, and put them in an external housing attached to a wireless router (many models allow this). Put the router and the drive(s) in a little-used room and close the door.
Put an SSD in the imac. You shouldn't have a big mechanical hard drive 15 inches from your head anyway -- not if your work involves the thought process.
Then underclock the imac so the fans don't come on much.
Heaven.
Thanks for your updates and your research - this is good stuff. From your description above it sounds like your new Hitachi is making the sound my old 1tb Seagate made (deep rumble/grumble). I never heard a clicking or "tutting" sound, so I am wondering again if the rumble/grumble is normal and the clicking noise is problematic? I am getting a stronger and stronger feeling that the grumble is normal, and the sporadic clicking/ticking that some folks had is not. There are SO many reports of the grumble sound...
What I find interesting (and someone mentioned something similar to this in this thread) is that when I received both of my 1tb Seagate iMacs, when I ran migration assistant to pull over approximately 60gb of data to my new iMac, there was NO hard drive noise during the 2 hour process. None! But when I opened a website, the noise begin... so weird..
Man, I wish Apple would just make a statement "we know about the grumble sound, it is normal.".. From folks in the Apple store to the clueless Apple care reps I spoke to all said that the iMac should be silent. But, maybe as HD noise is supposed to be normal, that falls into the silent range?
Of course, Apple is making NO statements to this, the yellow screens, etc., as it is the holiday season and there is NO way they are going to publicly let on that there are ANY problems with the iMac that could potentially hurt sales...
My replacement was dead silent until I reformatted and moved all of my files onto the drive.
Before I reformatted I ran various apps like Safari, Itunes, stuff that came with the computer. NO DRIVE NOISE.
Maybe it has something to do with the DATA on the drive and that's why people are hearing it days in or hours in. Empty drive is quiet. Drive with DATA grumbly?
Just a wild guess.
Before I reformatted I ran various apps like Safari, Itunes, stuff that came with the computer. NO DRIVE NOISE.
Maybe it has something to do with the DATA on the drive and that's why people are hearing it days in or hours in. Empty drive is quiet. Drive with DATA grumbly?
Just a wild guess.
Man, this CAN'T be normal, I just sold my 24" iMac with 320 GB drive and it didn't make any noise at all. It was completely silent. In my brand new 27" iMac the drive is soo loud that it can be heard even while listening to iTunes or watching movies. It is really annoying beacuse I usually use my iMac at night, when it's quite quiet around. Apple better do something about this soon