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27" iMac Hard Drive Noise

Well, I got the new imac and the hard drive is again a seagate, same model number. However, this one is alot less loud! You don't notice it any more actually. Where as if I'm on my old imac, I hear it constantly when browsing, on the new one I do not.

However....

There's a dead pixel on this screen, it's half a cm from the left side so I guess it's not that bad. There seems to be another one too, but it looks a little different. Perhaps it's just stuck? Tried some software but it didn't help...

Also, after 30 minutes I had the screen flicker problem twice already, which didn't happen on the old imac.. SIGH.. Do I have to replace yet again?...
 
Sir Cecil said:
Tomorrow is the last day of my "return period", but I am satisfied with my i5/Seagate combination and will be keeping it.
The first one I had was horrendous with its groaning noises. The replacement had no such sounds for a few days and then I panicked a bit when I heard a similar sound when the i5 is coming out of sleep.
Nevertheless, this is a trifle compared to the first unit and there is no excuse for me to return the present i5 I have here. After several days more use, I'm happy with the general quiet operation and a little groan on waking is not a problem – I doubt I would even be aware of it if the first unit's dire noise had not made me sensitive to anything remotely similar. I hear nothing distracting when the computer is in use.
The screen and everything else is fault-free so, all-in-all, I'm pleased with what I've got. I can't imagine that anyone using this i5 would consider it faulty after using it for a day or two.
Click to expand...

Yes - I also decided to keep my replacement i7. The outstanding performance and the screen lured me in, despite the HDD noise which this 2TB unit also has, although it's much softer than on my first unit.

I bought Apple care just in case...

I used to build (noisy!) PC's for myself before, and then made a massive step of switching to a pre-made Dell - also extremely noisy. Then my white, totally silent iMac 24" spoiled me... I'm now used to complete silence from my computer.
 
wesleyh said:
Well, I got the new imac and the hard drive is again a seagate, same model number. However, this one is alot less loud! You don't notice it any more actually. Where as if I'm on my old imac, I hear it constantly when browsing, on the new one I do not.

However....

There's a dead pixel on this screen, it's half a cm from the left side so I guess it's not that bad. There seems to be another one too, but it looks a little different. Perhaps it's just stuck? Tried some software but it didn't help...

Also, after 30 minutes I had the screen flicker problem twice already, which didn't happen on the old imac.. SIGH.. Do I have to replace yet again?...
Click to expand...

Wow, great news on the quieter HD, but so disappointing that the screen flicker is out there on new machines!! I was hoping that was resolved.. I have not been keeping up with the other thread on the issue, but had assumed something like that would be fixed on any new machines going out the door.. I would DEFINITELY call Applecare on that, and it sounds like folks have had to send their's back... Add bad pixels to the mix, and that makes it even more frustrating...
 
Well, so far the flickering has not returned. This happened after I ran some software that tries to fix stuck pixels (switches colors rapidly, perhaps this is the cause?) Regardless, it shouldn't happen. But I heard from some people that this could be fixed by a firmware solution.. I just wish apple would say something on this matter..

Anyway, there's only 1 dead pixel, the one that's 0.5 cm from the left of the screen 5 cm from the bottom. So that I can live with.

The second one is some sort of dust that is stuck to the screen, just gently going over it with the cloth doesn't remove it. Perhaps it's on the other side? Anyway, will try something else to remove that later.

Edit: Got it removed :)
 
Well, this seems to be shortlived.. Hard drive is already becoming noisier. Still not at the same level as the earlier one though.

However, the imac fans are also a tad louder on this one and I seem to hear some kind of constant rumbling. It's not the hard disk as that sounds different and I checked activity monitor and nothing is being read/written. It's constant. Does this have something to do with the fans? They are at normal speeds.
 
wesleyh said:
Well, this seems to be shortlived.. Hard drive is already becoming noisier. Still not at the same level as the earlier one though.

However, the imac fans are also a tad louder on this one and I seem to hear some kind of constant rumbling. It's not the hard disk as that sounds different and I checked activity monitor and nothing is being read/written. It's constant. Does this have something to do with the fans? They are at normal speeds.
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by the sounds of it wes your having as much luck as me!! lol when my 2tb version turns up if that has the slightest niggle im completely giving up
 
yeah i'm gonna try one more time but first i'm going to wait the 14 day perioud out till the last day.. the longer I wait the more chance they have fixed these issues (I guess..) Still they are already producing them for 3 months and these issues are still here.. Sucks.

Anyway, I may try and just ask for a FREE 2TB upgrade, would that even work? Just some compensation for having to go through all that trouble / not being able to use the imac fully (I don't put up all my files if I know i have to return it, even after secure formatting I just don't trust that :))
 
I bought a new 27" iMac Core2Duo model and I have also this Seagate drive issue - it's sooo loud!
It's my 8th mac and it's the first one that has a hard drive that is louder then iTunes :(

So, should I return it to the Apple store or what? Man, this loud drive sound is really annoying - I just sold my older iMac - 24" aluminum model and it was absolutely dead silent.
 
i just received this email form Seagate technical support after inquiring about their hard-drives in the new imacs;

Dear Alexander Barnett,

Thank you for sending your Seagate E-mail inquiry.

The latest generation of our high-capacity hard drives has been programmed to perform regular offline scans to test the drive?s reliability and detect any possible malfunctions that may have been caused during transit.

The offline scanning takes place when the drive is idle. This feature cannot be disabled and does not affect the performance of the hard drive.

Offline scanning helps to maintain the reliability of the drive by moving the heads within the "high-flight zone" in a pre-programmed pattern. The "high-flight zone" is located toward the outside of the platters where the most air flows under the heads during times of inactivity.

If you feel that your noise is excessive , you can run Seagate's SeaTools diagnostic software to check the physical integrity of the drive.

SeaTools can be obtained from Seagate's website at: (http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/)
If you have any additional questions, please let me know.


Best Regards,

Ali
Seagate Technical Support


i have just sent my imac back for another one....LOL
 
wesleyh said:
yeah i'm gonna try one more time but first i'm going to wait the 14 day perioud out till the last day.. the longer I wait the more chance they have fixed these issues (I guess..) Still they are already producing them for 3 months and these issues are still here.. Sucks.

Anyway, I may try and just ask for a FREE 2TB upgrade, would that even work? Just some compensation for having to go through all that trouble / not being able to use the imac fully (I don't put up all my files if I know i have to return it, even after secure formatting I just don't trust that :))
Click to expand...

i tried to get free upgrade but had no chance even after 7 returns!! i did try but they wouldn't give in
 
Grumbling Hitachi 2TB

frenchie0101 said:
i tried to get free upgrade but had no chance even after 7 returns!! i did try but they wouldn't give in
Click to expand...

I've had my replacement i7 for a week now & get regular 'grumbles' from its 2TB Hitachi that I upgraded to, although nothing like as bad as the original Seagate. As others have said my 24" iMac had no discernible noise so perhaps that's spoilt me, although the only sound from my early 2009 MBP is the very faint sound of the fans.
Real dilemma is what to do now-is this 'normal' or not? I do find it fairly annoying but only when the house is silent-if the tv's on or the wind's blowing outside or there's music I don't notice it. The only other problem is slow start up 50s-70s from 'cold' & twice a speckling of white for a fraction of a second on part of the screen. Otherwise this machine is just great.
On Monday-time for a long chat with Applecare I think.
I wonder are there silent 27" iMac HDD's out there anywhere?
 
rogerram said:
IThe only other problem is slow start up 50s-70s from 'cold' & twice a speckling of white for a fraction of a second on part of the screen. Otherwise this machine is just great.
On Monday-time for a long chat with Applecare I think.
I wonder are there silent 27" iMac HDD's out there anywhere?
Click to expand...

I'm sure you have but have you ensured that your internal HDD is selected as your Startup disc?
 
rogerram said:
I've had my replacement i7 for a week now & get regular 'grumbles' from its 2TB Hitachi that I upgraded to, although nothing like as bad as the original Seagate. As others have said my 24" iMac had no discernible noise so perhaps that's spoilt me, although the only sound from my early 2009 MBP is the very faint sound of the fans.
Real dilemma is what to do now-is this 'normal' or not? I do find it fairly annoying but only when the house is silent-if the tv's on or the wind's blowing outside or there's music I don't notice it. The only other problem is slow start up 50s-70s from 'cold' & twice a speckling of white for a fraction of a second on part of the screen. Otherwise this machine is just great.
On Monday-time for a long chat with Applecare I think.
I wonder are there silent 27" iMac HDD's out there anywhere?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the update.. good to know that the 2tb is "less noisy" than the 1tb drive, but disappointed that it still grumbles... There are folks now reporting the noisy drives on the support page of apple.com as well.. I guess I am going to have to decide whether this is acceptable, or return my machine and wait for the next update (when hopefully they insulate the drive?) I am still waiting for my change up to the 2tb drive, shows shipping on 12/14 so I have a bit of a wait...

I am really starting to think that those folks who reported "completely silent" 2tb drives were folks that had ambient noise around them and did not notice the drive sound... One post said the HD noise was more noticeable as the fan noise is so quiet (usually fan noise helps drown out the HD noise on a computer).. That, plus an aluminum enclosure, plus the hard drive close to your face (right behind the monitor) = noise. I considered going with a 17" MBP as that would be quieter, but it is more expensive with less power and a smaller screen... If the hard drive on my next iMac is annoying, I will need to decide which way to go at that point...

As mentioned by spcdust, you need to change your internal HD as the start up disk.. there is a post here somewhere that showed me how to do it.. made all the difference in the world!

Frenchie, let me know when you get your new machine and how your 2tb drive sounds!! I have a long wait ahead of me!
 
frenchie0101 said:
i tried to get free upgrade but had no chance even after 7 returns!! i did try but they wouldn't give in
Click to expand...

7 returns? I hope that the first 4 or 5 were due to being run over by the delivery truck lol. What defect have you had to make 7 returns for? The hard drive?
 
burningrave101 said:
7 returns? I hope that the first 4 or 5 were due to being run over by the delivery truck lol. What defect have you had to make 7 returns for? The hard drive?
Click to expand...

1 x dead pixel in the middle of the screen, 1 x background bleed and yellow tingle along the dock area. 1 x HDD ticking constant, and the rest loud belly grumbling..... Ha HA on the delivery joke though
 
So my replacement finally came. I started it up. NO HARD DRIVE NOISE! I opened apps, surfed the net, downloaded a file. still no noise. Dead silent.

I always reinstall the OS with every new machine but with this one I was thinking maybe I should just leave it as is. After all the drive is quiet and if it aint broke then.......

....anyway I ended up reformatting the drive and reinstalling the OS. Moved all my files onto the thing. Woke up this morning and what did I hear?

.....grumble, grumble, grumble......
 
Kronie said:
....anyway I ended up reformatting the drive and reinstalling the OS. Moved all my files onto the thing. Woke up this morning and what did I hear?

.....grumble, grumble, grumble......
Click to expand...

One has to conclude, therefore, that this is a standard fact ... you can't be that unlucky.

I think you have two options ...

1/Accept it and keep the computer - it is not that distracting and you get used to it (only mainly seems to come on when browsing web IMO)

2/ Give up and buy a PC (only joking - flamers on). I mean, just don't have one of these beauties.

My I7 looks and behaves perfectly apart from this.
 
ElC said:
One has to conclude, therefore, that this is a standard fact ... you can't be that unlucky.

I think you have two options ...

1/Accept it and keep the computer - it is not that distracting and you get used to it (only mainly seems to come on when browsing web IMO)

2/ Give up and buy a PC (only joking - flamers on). I mean, just don't have one of these beauties.

My I7 looks and behaves perfectly apart from this.
Click to expand...

I'm accepting it.....for now. Its really not that bad. Plus this screen is perfect. My old one had 2 dead pixels.
 
ElC said:
One has to conclude, therefore, that this is a standard fact ... you can't be that unlucky.

I think you have two options ...

1/Accept it and keep the computer - it is not that distracting and you get used to it (only mainly seems to come on when browsing web IMO)

2/ Give up and buy a PC (only joking - flamers on). I mean, just don't have one of these beauties.

My I7 looks and behaves perfectly apart from this.
Click to expand...

lets look at 1 big issue here, it really isn't a standard fact, people with western digital and hitachi are not experiencing the problem, it may be a standard for seagate, but this annoying noise is avoidable... Why they cannot ditch seagate is beyond me
 
I just received my i7 yesterday and it was not, first of all, DOA! It works fine. I have the seagate and do notice some little pops, etc emanating from within the computer but nothing too annoying at all. It would be really helpful if someone posted a link to youtube so I could actually hear what the "noisy HD problem" sounds like, because if I've got it, it's not bad at all.
 
frenchie0101 said:
lets look at 1 big issue here, it really isn't a standard fact, people with western digital and hitachi are not experiencing the problem, it may be a standard for seagate, but this annoying noise is avoidable... Why they cannot ditch seagate is beyond me
Click to expand...

not true. I have a 2TB hitachi as does another forumite above.
 
frenchie0101 said:
sorry ?? what isn't true i don't get your quote?
Click to expand...

You said "people with western digital and hitachi are not experiencing the problem".
I'm having 'grumbling' all the time with my replacement 2TB Hitachi. Since we're into the (Apple) pantomime season we could get into an 'Oh, yes we are!'- 'Oh, no you're not' scenario! Forgive my weird humour.
But I ordered the Hitachi believing that it would be quieter than the Seagate (like hearing a tap dripping & very distracting) & it is. BUT as I said above it is grumbling all the time & not just when working hard hence I will call Apple tomorrow & see what they say. It is much noisier than my early 2009 MBP & is also slower on start up. If there is such a thing as a silent i7 like my 2007 24" I want one!
I can live with it, but would prefer not to if that is possible-I'm doing academic amendments & like silence without the grumblings. I'll let you know what they say.
 
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