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27" iMac Hard Drive Noise
- Thread starter frenchie0101
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hello everyone, just get my replaced iMac today, unfortunately, the new one still make grumbling noise, I won't bring back it again, cause I think it grumbling is normal, but does't grumble are abnormal. I will live with it, and I'm really sure once you consent on doing something, you won't hear it.
Just joined the site to give my input. Just got a 27" i7 with the 2TB HD Upgrade and I can hear the HD writing every second of the day. It's kind of annoying but after reading various pages here, I don't feel it's worth my trouble to try and get a replacement from Apple. Down the road I'll likely just upgrade it to a SSD and call it a day. Or perhaps I just need to get some background noise going in my office, it's a super quiet room.
I don't know if this has been posted already, but here: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3204
I just noticed my noise today, because I turned off my external HDD, which was really noisy. The only way I heard my Mac grumble was because my face was so close to the screen when reaching for the HDD switch on the Lacie to turn it off. I have a 1TB Western Digital btw.
It's not really noticeable, but it's there, oh well.
I just noticed my noise today, because I turned off my external HDD, which was really noisy. The only way I heard my Mac grumble was because my face was so close to the screen when reaching for the HDD switch on the Lacie to turn it off. I have a 1TB Western Digital btw.
It's not really noticeable, but it's there, oh well.
I hear the grumbling noise as well, very annoying. Went to Apple Store, only had one person at the genius bar trying to help 4 people at the same time... Was really loud in store so she said she couldn't hear it and that she'd note it though... got home and there's the sound again. I have the 1TB SAMSUNG HD103SJ hard drive.
Well I got my iMac last week... You might get lucky though and get a quiet hard drive, but according to Apple their iMacs are loud and its perfectly normal...
I'm really considering returning my iMac... It's a awesome machine, but c'mon if I pay $2000+ for a comp then I want it to be at least quiet enough for me to be able to concentrate on my work.
I can't afford to buy a SSD.
I can't afford to allow Apple to put an SSD in mine, I'm thinking of doing it myself in time but I agree about the price for adding one.
Just keep in mind that if you have problem with your mac in the future and Apple sees that you've added it yourself they'll most likely void your warranty.
thudding noise
Just got my 27" i7 imac 1TB and it also makes the thudding or grumbling noise - irritating my old g4 was quieter ....Looks like something Apple will ignore, at least it looks nice and super fast .... I'll have to start listening to music or something - perhaps my hearing will diminish over time .....
Just got my 27" i7 imac 1TB and it also makes the thudding or grumbling noise - irritating my old g4 was quieter ....Looks like something Apple will ignore, at least it looks nice and super fast .... I'll have to start listening to music or something - perhaps my hearing will diminish over time .....
Yeah they're ignoring that and the backlight bleeding... From what I've read, 1TB drives are fairly new so there's no point in replacing your hard drive with another 1TB drive as their all noisy.
Right now I'm considering returning the iMac and waiting until the next release of iMacs. At least my 20in iMac is quiet and has no screen issues...
Just a FYI:
Got off the phone with customer support, and the senior advisor (or something like that
) told me that since they've received a number of complaints about the loud hard drives they've researched it and it should be fixed on iMacs after August 29th, 2010.
The rep told me to return my current refurbished iMac and purchase a new iMac (want the 2tb hard drive anyways) and I shouldn't have the loud noise anymore. Just hope I don't get any of the display issues, fingers crossed!
Oh and calling apple care was much more helpful then making an appointment with "genius" bar.
Got off the phone with customer support, and the senior advisor (or something like that
) told me that since they've received a number of complaints about the loud hard drives they've researched it and it should be fixed on iMacs after August 29th, 2010.The rep told me to return my current refurbished iMac and purchase a new iMac (want the 2tb hard drive anyways) and I shouldn't have the loud noise anymore. Just hope I don't get any of the display issues, fingers crossed!
Oh and calling apple care was much more helpful then making an appointment with "genius" bar.
That's good news, I'm getting my new iMac delivered today so I'll keep you guys posted on the 1TB drive and if this problem is fixed.
Same issue with my "old" 20".
Never managed to fix it!
I even have probs to resell it because of that!
Never managed to fix it!
I even have probs to resell it because of that!
I returned my refurbished mac and got a new one.
New one is much quieter (still noisy at times) and has a western digital caviar black hard drive. Also less backlight bleed so I'm happy with it.
If you have a noisy hard drive and if you still can return it, don't bother with getting it fixed, just return the iMac and buy a new one.
New one is much quieter (still noisy at times) and has a western digital caviar black hard drive. Also less backlight bleed so I'm happy with it.
If you have a noisy hard drive and if you still can return it, don't bother with getting it fixed, just return the iMac and buy a new one.
I just reinstalled my imac 27' few days ago, it become much quieter than before, I don't know why. The reason I reinstalled my imac coz it can't go to sleep automatically, so I think there must be some program issue, and that program may cause the hdd noise. After reinstallation, it works very very quiet at the moment.
I have yet to come across a mechanical hard drive that was so quiet you could not hear it. Some of the comments I have read in this thread are amusing though.
I have an old 24" iMac, 3 years old to the day. One day my HDD was really quiet, Apple had to replace it because it was dead.
I'm about to pick up a new 27" as my Apple Care on the 24" ran out ... TODAY.
I will hand down the 24" to my youngest son ... he will appreciate it very much.
I have an old 24" iMac, 3 years old to the day. One day my HDD was really quiet, Apple had to replace it because it was dead.
I'm about to pick up a new 27" as my Apple Care on the 24" ran out ... TODAY.
I will hand down the 24" to my youngest son ... he will appreciate it very much.
Hard drive noise
I bought a refurbished 27-inch iMac with the i3 chip at 1 TB hard drive. I love it except for the hard drive noise. My wife's 21.5-inch iMac and my daughter's laptop are both completely silent. One of the main reasons I bought an iMac instead of a PC is because I was tired of the noise my PC makes.
I bought a refurbished 27-inch iMac with the i3 chip at 1 TB hard drive. I love it except for the hard drive noise. My wife's 21.5-inch iMac and my daughter's laptop are both completely silent. One of the main reasons I bought an iMac instead of a PC is because I was tired of the noise my PC makes.
new iMac 27" with WD hard drive
Just wanted to get people's opinion as i have been researching ever since i got my new imac 27, 1tb on wednesday. As soon as i turned it on, it's had a constant humming noise, which i suspect is from the hard drive. It's definitely coming from that circle vent behind the screen. From everything i've read, i am wondering if it's worth it for me to bring it back to the store, since it's only been 2 days because i don't want to come back with another that has a louder drive, worse yellow tinting or backlighting issues. For the amount paid, seems pretty shab.
Just wanted to get people's opinion as i have been researching ever since i got my new imac 27, 1tb on wednesday. As soon as i turned it on, it's had a constant humming noise, which i suspect is from the hard drive. It's definitely coming from that circle vent behind the screen. From everything i've read, i am wondering if it's worth it for me to bring it back to the store, since it's only been 2 days because i don't want to come back with another that has a louder drive, worse yellow tinting or backlighting issues. For the amount paid, seems pretty shab.
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To ALL 27" iMac owners...
If you own something similar to my iMac, and are hearing noise form your computer, here's what to do:
- Backup your hard drive
- Take your iMac to the nearest Apple Store and have them run a free diagnostic test to verify the integrity of your system
- Call Apple customer service and complain about the use of failing hard drives in their "Cadillac" iMacs.
Your hard drives are most certainly failing, and you may not find it bothersome enough to do anything about it until it is too late. I thought the noise and slow performance I was having were due to a nearly full hard drive, and the fact that I use very processors intensive applications. So I did nothing. My a few months later the problem because worse, to the point where my system was pretty much unusable. After I freed up half my HD space, I realized that this was not the problem. I then opened the disk utility, only to be shocked by a message that read something like this:
"You system has a hardware problem that cannot be repaired. Back up your hard drive, and contact Apple immediately."
Less than 90 days out of my 1-year warranty!!!
When you buy a BMW or Mercedes, do you expect to buy a new transmission during your 2nd year of use? Of course not! Especially not 15 months in.
Oh, and did I mention that I quite likely also have a graphics card issue? That's right. My screen flickers. Apple knew about that issue too by the way; and they never warned me. I would have bought Apple Care if I had known they use defective hard drives, and malfunctioning graphics cards. Instead, thinking I bought the best of the best, I ended up with a Titanic failure of a computer. Now I'm going to have to spend at least $500 to replace the drive (since they have to charge me full price for an old model that is necessary for iMacs), and probably looking at another $500-$800 to replace the graphics card or whatever else is causing my screen to flicker.
So, learn from my mistake, and have them replace anything defective before your warranty is up. I still think Apple Care is a waste of money but you may want to buy it before your 1-year warranty is up. I have lost a lot of faith in Apple this time (probably should have known something was wrong when my 17" MacBook Pro had issues... I returned it after fighting with Apple over the fact that a graphic designer cannot due with a screen that has a bunch of dead pixels! I did not replace it.); and unless they do something to right the situation, I will be hating on them for a long time to come...
If you own something similar to my iMac, and are hearing noise form your computer, here's what to do:
- Backup your hard drive
- Take your iMac to the nearest Apple Store and have them run a free diagnostic test to verify the integrity of your system
- Call Apple customer service and complain about the use of failing hard drives in their "Cadillac" iMacs.
Your hard drives are most certainly failing, and you may not find it bothersome enough to do anything about it until it is too late. I thought the noise and slow performance I was having were due to a nearly full hard drive, and the fact that I use very processors intensive applications. So I did nothing. My a few months later the problem because worse, to the point where my system was pretty much unusable. After I freed up half my HD space, I realized that this was not the problem. I then opened the disk utility, only to be shocked by a message that read something like this:
"You system has a hardware problem that cannot be repaired. Back up your hard drive, and contact Apple immediately."
Less than 90 days out of my 1-year warranty!!!
When you buy a BMW or Mercedes, do you expect to buy a new transmission during your 2nd year of use? Of course not! Especially not 15 months in.
Oh, and did I mention that I quite likely also have a graphics card issue? That's right. My screen flickers. Apple knew about that issue too by the way; and they never warned me. I would have bought Apple Care if I had known they use defective hard drives, and malfunctioning graphics cards. Instead, thinking I bought the best of the best, I ended up with a Titanic failure of a computer. Now I'm going to have to spend at least $500 to replace the drive (since they have to charge me full price for an old model that is necessary for iMacs), and probably looking at another $500-$800 to replace the graphics card or whatever else is causing my screen to flicker.
So, learn from my mistake, and have them replace anything defective before your warranty is up. I still think Apple Care is a waste of money but you may want to buy it before your 1-year warranty is up. I have lost a lot of faith in Apple this time (probably should have known something was wrong when my 17" MacBook Pro had issues... I returned it after fighting with Apple over the fact that a graphic designer cannot due with a screen that has a bunch of dead pixels! I did not replace it.); and unless they do something to right the situation, I will be hating on them for a long time to come...