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27" iMac Hard Drive Noise

In a bit of a quaundry over this "issue". If I hadn't seen this thread would have more than likely accepted noise as "within acceptable operating parameters" - ignorance can sometimes be bliss. Personally, although the noise is there from time-to-time, it's not so annoying. My feeling is to keep monitoring this thread and if anyone gets a replacement that doesn't show up this noise issue (maybe another brand of HD fitted) then make sure to update the thread.
 
spcdust said:
In a bit of a quaundry over this "issue". If I hadn't seen this thread would have more than likely accepted noise as "within acceptable operating parameters" - ignorance can sometimes be bliss. Personally, although the noise is there from time-to-time, it's not so annoying. My feeling is to keep monitoring this thread and if anyone gets a replacement that doesn't show up this noise issue (maybe another brand of HD fitted) then make sure to update the thread.
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See the thread I posted a few minutes ago entitled "There ARE silent Seagates in the i5"
As there are a few threads on the noise problem, rather than post this info on them all, I thought it might be more helpful to post it separately.
 
I cant imagine that the Apple design team sat in front of there prototype 27" iMac with the super quiet fans and said:

"Man this thing is awesome! Just beautiful. Its so quiet for a quad core. Powerful and dead silent. Just like Steve wanted. Well, that grumbling drive is a little loud but whatever".
 
I've not got mine, but if it is really that bad then surely live with it a few months then visit an Apple Genius Bar for an upgrade (or replacement if you can convince them there's a problem).

A year (well just under) after I got my 24" iMac the hard drive started developing problems which disk utility couldn't repair. At the same time, a dark shadow was appearing in the upper left hand corner. I took it into the Buchanan St Genius Bar and they kept it for 3 days, replacing the screen and HDD themselves and calling me when it was ready to collect.

If the HDD is really THAT bad then I'll just pop in and get an upgraded 2TB HDD in a few months. Hopefully there'll be no issues with the monitor on mine - I've read about some folk having issues.
 
zerolight said:
I've not got mine, but if it is really that bad then surely live with it a few months then visit an Apple Genius Bar for an upgrade (or replacement if you can convince them there's a problem)......

....If the HDD is really THAT bad then I'll just pop in and get an upgraded 2TB HDD in a few months. Hopefully there'll be no issues with the monitor on mine - I've read about some folk having issues.
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Think that's how I'll play it as well.

Can posters confirm - is the grumbling more or less constant or only when you are doing something?
 
All spinning drives will make some seeking noise. Are the new iMac's acoustically amplifying the noise? Most likely; and its around a foot from your ears.

I know you all have own many drives in your life and for me mostly like 100+. And it is hard to compare without the right, near silent room environment.

I have an i5 with Seagate ST31000528ASQ. Can I hear the seeking of the drive, yes. Could I hear it or reproduce it in a noise Apple Store, no way.

I'm trying to understand if its worth it to take a chance and a lot of time an effort to superduper my drive to another, dismount vesa and remount on stand, pack it up, drive to the apple store, tell them my story, and hopefully (luck) get a quieter i5. Then reverse that process. ... I'm guessing this will take me at least 5hrs. And I live 30 minutes from a store.

I used to have a bunch of 500GB samsung drives and this one sounds similar when the disk is seeking. That means every window change, mail, web, changing applications... I hear the drive mumble.
 
@The Samurai: What drive do you have? Are you saying that your room environment is near silent (basically can hear the light whirl of the fans only) and when you transfer some data to and from the drive lets say from an external drive you hear nothing, silents? Or are you say more like opening and moving around in apps it is silent?
 
The Samurai said:
I've just took delivery of the core i5 a day or two ago and I can't hear nothing.
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Can you give us an update in a few days.. I did not hear the noise at all my first two days (including after doing a Migration Assistant from my old mac). Started hearing the noise after day 3...
 
Just wondering if anyone got a loud HD in the last week or so, as this could have just been a bad batch...?
 
mdewberry said:
Can you give us an update in a few days.. I did not hear the noise at all my first two days (including after doing a Migration Assistant from my old mac). Started hearing the noise after day 3...
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Same situation:(
 
Xodd said:
Same situation:(
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Last night it was very noisy, this morning can't hear it at all... Very strange.. It is unfortunately beginning to bother me more and more... If ALL the iMacs had this much noise, I would accept it and move on, but it seems that there are some 1 tb quiet drives, and it also seems that no one has mentioned a 2 tb drive noise.. And that Apple Techs have informed at least one member to this forum that the machines should not make noise..

I am going to the Apple Store after work to discuss my options.. I am now very seriously pondering returning my i5, and ordering an i5 on line with the 2 tb drive... Not sure if I will get hit with a $200 restocking fee though... I hate to spend the extra $250 for the bigger drive (and risk a machine with dead pixels, etc.), however the noise is really getting aggravating... Maybe if it didn't make the noise every time I go to a new website! (-:
 
mdewberry said:
Last night it was very noisy, this morning can't hear it at all... Very strange.. It is unfortunately beginning to bother me more and more... If ALL the iMacs had this much noise, I would accept it and move on, but it seems that there are some 1 tb quiet drives, and it also seems that no one has mentioned a 2 tb drive noise.. And that Apple Techs have informed at least one member to this forum that the machines should not make noise..

I am going to the Apple Store after work to discuss my options.. I am now very seriously pondering returning my i5, and ordering an i5 on line with the 2 tb drive... Not sure if I will get hit with a $200 restocking fee though... I hate to spend the extra $250 for the bigger drive (and risk a machine with dead pixels, etc.), however the noise is really getting aggravating... Maybe if it didn't make the noise every time I go to a new website! (-:
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hmmm my one is constantly rumbling , but i'm starting to get use to it as its not too loud. A bit dissappointed as this is my first imac *sigh*.

p.S mdewberry, update me on what they say
 
thats strange... i am using my new imac for about 5 days now and i have no sound or rumbling coming from my hard disk (ST31000528ASQ) . Doing backup with timemachine i can hear it but it sounds normal. Using photoshop or ripping dvds without any rumor...nothing, even if i close the door of my office and the window - i have to put my ear behind the screen to hear the fan whisper.

I would exchange the machine if there is that kind of sound.
 
mdewberry said:
Last night it was very noisy, this morning can't hear it at all... Very strange.. It is unfortunately beginning to bother me more and more... If ALL the iMacs had this much noise, I would accept it and move on, but it seems that there are some 1 tb quiet drives, and it also seems that no one has mentioned a 2 tb drive noise.. And that Apple Techs have informed at least one member to this forum that the machines should not make noise..

I am going to the Apple Store after work to discuss my options.. I am now very seriously pondering returning my i5, and ordering an i5 on line with the 2 tb drive... Not sure if I will get hit with a $200 restocking fee though... I hate to spend the extra $250 for the bigger drive (and risk a machine with dead pixels, etc.), however the noise is really getting aggravating... Maybe if it didn't make the noise every time I go to a new website! (-:
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well now had 6 27" imac's all with noisy hard drive's, now bare with me here i am not being picky or anything like that my mate bought his at exactly the same time however he was lucky enough to get a western digital with no noise coming from it whatsoever i have been round and had a play and its superb (even got a stethoscope lol) so i really dont know why i am having so much bad luck, on top of spending around £100 going backwards and forwards to my apple store i am going back tonight for the final time!! to get my money back i will then order online the 2TB version i really dont care about the £200 extra i just want what i originally paid for a reliable quiet imac ...
 
frenchie0101 said:
well now had 6 27" imac's all with noisy hard drive's
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Jeeez, I understand your frustration but 6 machines, that's certainly dedication - I'm sure after three I'd have given.

Just to re-cap, what noise are you hearing? Mine is just a low level "stomach rumble" - not in any way constant but most evident if I open iPhoto and intermittently whilst web browsing. If the machine is idle then no HD noise and interestingly enough I did a hand brake transcode of some VOB files to .MKV format and no HD noise at all. I'm actually wondering if we're all hearing different things - I don't hear a constant tick that others have reported. Ultimately I'll live with it for the time being, I've logged a call to Applecare regarding it and they've made a note on my account with a reference number so any issues further down the line I'm covered.
 
For what it's worth, I was at my local Apple Store yesteday and played around with all of their new iMacs -- 2x 21.5", and 2x 27". All had the 4670 graphics adapter, and all had 1TB Seagate drives.

I was curious as to whether someone could avoid the Seagate drives (I avoid them wherever possible) and asked the salesman if they could check a code on the side of the box to find out which HD was inside.

He said they all shipped with the same HD. I said that wasn't true based on what I've read on this and the Apple discussion forums. Then he backpeddled and said that there was no way of knowing which was in there by looking at the box.

In the i5 I returned last week (for other reasons) I found the Seagate hard drive's noise completely within expectations, it did seem that the aluminum skin did act as a sort of sounding board/noise amplifier, but not to the point where it bothered me, and I'm the sort who would be bothered if it was obtrusive or overtly noisy.

I haven't checked the tear down sites, but it would be good if Apple had used some noise dampeners, like rubber grommets, for mounting the hard drive to the aluminum skin/frame.

So my replacement, an i7, was ordered this past weekend -- should arrive sometime between Dec 2 and Dec 8 -- I'm hoping that the hard drive is quiet and whatever gremlins were in the Day 1 models may be working their way out of the assembly line...
 
spcdust said:
Just to re-cap, what noise are you hearing? Mine is just a low level "stomach rumble" - not in any way constant but most evident if I open iPhoto and intermittently whilst web browsing.
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That is exactly what I am hearing as well, but it does it a lot when I am web browsing (which I do a LOT!) Not constant, but it does appear often, when scrolling down a page, going to a new page, even just sitting on a page without movement... And then other times (like this morning) no noise.. Actually, I turned the iMac around this morning and there was noise but a LOT quieter.. very inconsistent...

Good description, the stomach grumble is right on, and at first I was going to live with it, but it is really getting annoying knowing that there are other machines out there that are dead quiet!

I am sure that they will think I am crazy when I go to the Apple store tonight, however I plan to print off this post to show them it is an issue out there... I checked the apple.com support page for the iMac and didn't see any posts about this so not sure if they are even aware of this...

Still cannot believe that apple would but such a noisy drive in such an elegant (and pricey) machine... especially when they have drives (2tb drive) that make virtually no noise...
 
mdewberry said:
I am sure that they will think I am crazy when I go to the Apple store tonight, however I plan to print off this post to show them it is an issue out there... I checked the apple.com support page for the iMac and didn't see any posts about this so not sure if they are even aware of this...
.
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Good luck and please report back how you get on - will definitely have a bearing on me if you get a quiet drive

mdewberry said:
Still cannot believe that apple would but such a noisy drive in such an elegant (and pricey) machine... especially when they have drives (2tb drive) that make virtually no noise...
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That's kind of how I feel - my iMac is silent in every other way (can't hear the fans under normal load) yet then you have this HD grumble which seems at odds with the attention to detail obviously given to this iMac revision.
 
spcdust said:
Jeeez, I understand your frustration but 6 machines, that's certainly dedication - I'm sure after three I'd have given.

Just to re-cap, what noise are you hearing? Mine is just a low level "stomach rumble" - not in any way constant but most evident if I open iPhoto and intermittently whilst web browsing. If the machine is idle then no HD noise and interestingly enough I did a hand brake transcode of some VOB files to .MKV format and no HD noise at all. I'm actually wondering if we're all hearing different things - I don't hear a constant tick that others have reported. Ultimately I'll live with it for the time being, I've logged a call to Applecare regarding it and they've made a note on my account with a reference number so any issues further down the line I'm covered.
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yes i am dedicated theres no way i want to be without a mac!!
the noise is ticking along with the belly rumble mainly happens on web browsing and opening apps... when spotlight was indexing i seriously wanted to through it across the room it wound me up to the point that i just yanked the power plug out and just wrapped it back up there and then, never did a reformat
 
If Frenchie 0101 went through 6 1tb iMacs, and still has the hard drive noise, I am guessing that it is going to be VERY difficult finding a quiet Seagate (although some folks have posted that they have - there is another thread on that).. Plus I think Frenchie 0101 mentioned that a few were Western Digital drives? Or maybe that was some one else...

I think that reinforces the fact that I need to buy a custom iMac with the 2tb drive on the apple.com site.. Again, don't know if that means it is not an even switch and I get hit with a restocking fee... Seems like the chances of a quiet 1tb iMac are slim...

So now I am wondering why mine was super quiet this morning, yet loud last night? It was definitely making it's grumbling noise this morning, but I had to strain to hear it (and turn the mac around). So the drive is doing it's rumbling this morning as I use the machine/surf the web, but it is quieter? As mentioned earlier, I did not hear a thing the first few days of using the iMac (and trust me, my first few days with any new electronics I am very picky!) Strange that the volume of the sound created by the drive wavers from quiet to noisy...
 
Now some one more technically inclined regarding HDD will probably shoot me down on this but could the bearings on these HDD just be "bedding in" and over a short time be perfectly fine? Highly unlikely I guess but just thought I'd put it out there (and then probably get berated for being so "stupid").
 
spcdust said:
Now some one more technically inclined regarding HDD will probably shoot me down on this but could the bearings on these HDD just be "bedding in" and over a short time be perfectly fine? Highly unlikely I guess but just thought I'd put it out there (and then probably get berated for being so "stupid").
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No such thing as a stupid question. I don't think anyone really knows what the problem is. Or even if theres a problem.

Could be:

1. Totally normal. Maybe the just iMac amplifies the sound of the drive.
2. Software issue. Some program seeking or reading/writing
3. A bad batch of drives. Clicking over to a good sector? Head constantly trying to park?
4. I'm sure there is other theories out there....
 
I just took a call from "Ivan" from Apple. He was asking me all kinds of specific questions about the hard drive grumble in my returned machine.

...Not sure what that's all about.
 
Kronie said:
I just took a call from "Ivan" from Apple. He was asking me all kinds of specific questions about the hard drive grumble in my returned machine.

...Not sure what that's all about.
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Maybe Apple is trying to identify the problem and fix it (I pray). It sounds like they are getting a lot of returns for the hard drive noise issue and want to identify what is causing the issue....my theory is that they just picked a noisy hard drive. I've had noisy hard drives in PCs before, and it just depends on the manufacturer and model...some are notorious for being extremely loud while others are near silent.

The 2 TB drive seems to be OK, but I don't need that much storage so don't want to pay the premium just to get a quiet iMac.

I canceled my i7 order and am holding out until I hear that the noisy drive issue has been addressed by Apple. All they need to do is switch to a different model and I think all will be good.
 
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