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I had the same problem with my first 27". It had the seagate hdd. It made the noise noted by many of the users of this forum. Grumbling pretty much. I ended taking that particular machine back due to other reasons ( screen flicker and video card failure). The 27" I have now has the western digital 1tb hdd and it is virtually silent. So there are quiet hdd's out in the wild. Just my 0.2 cents
 
Is this the same kind of noise that this thread refers to?

Yes, but the way it is heard in the video is misleading. The loudness of the clicking appears to make the grumbling (in the background) seem less obtrusive in comparison. In reality, that's not the case. The rumbling heard in the background is very much a foreground noise in mine and entirely unacceptable. So while the video identifies the noise we're talking about, it doesn't reflect the scale of the effect.
 
Yes, but the way it is heard in the video is misleading. The loudness of the clicking appears to make the grumbling (in the background) seem less obtrusive in comparison. In reality, that's not the case. The rumbling heard in the background is very much a foreground noise in mine and entirely unacceptable. So while the video identifies the noise we're talking about, it doesn't reflect the scale of the effect.

Yes I understand what you are saying but this is due to my camera mic not being sensitive enough to capture a clear sound.

It's not easy to show it on video but as I stand here next to the iMac it is is definitely a very clear and audible sound.

I'm gonna return mine and hopefully get a WD. Let's see how it goes..
 
I'v tried to make a movie to check if this is the same noise that people here are talking about. My model is a Seagate 1TB (ST31000528ASQ). You can watch it here (you can hear better with phones)

Is this the same kind of noise that this thread refers to?

Thanks in advance

GREAT JOB, that is exactly the noise that I am hearing as well...

Agree with Sir Cecil, it is very noticeable when using the machine...

Good luck with an exchange, I think the WD drives are a shot in the dark... My exchange last night produced another Seagate...
 
I just wish there was a way to request a WD based iMac on a return rather than keep getting a Seagate noise maker.
 
For what it's worth, I just took delivery of a 21.5 Imac that has a Seagate drive and have not heard any grumbling thus far. I referenced that video clip posted earlier in this threat and can confirm that that sound is not present in my machine.
 
I just wish there was a way to request a WD based iMac on a return rather than keep getting a Seagate noise maker.

As I said above I'm not experiencing the noise issues with my i7's Seagate 1TB but that said I'm glad I didn't get a Western Digital.

I much prefer Seagate over WD for drive quality. My 24" mid-2007 iMac has a WD hard drive in it and it crashed. Fortunately I was able to have Apple replace it under Applecare. Unfortunately they replaced it with another Western Digital.

I have a 1.5TB Seagate Barracuda in an IcyDock Firewire 800 enclosure I've been beating the heck out of for a year and a half now and I've not experienced any problems with at all. Thank god for it or I would have had major data loss when the Western Digital in my other iMac died.
 
As I said above I'm not experiencing the noise issues with my i7's Seagate 1TB but that said I'm glad I didn't get a Western Digital.

This is actually a concern of mine too. I had a couple of WD externals that were very poor and unreliable, while my previous experience of Seagate has been good.
Anyway, when I noticed my second i5 was beginning to "rumble", I was aghast. BUT, after another day and evening with it (after four or five days of silent operation), I have to say this second unit remains quieter than the horrendous first. Indeed, while the first i5 could be shown to anyone and immediately be heard to be faulty, I'm not so sure I could make such a convincing case for returning this one. Right now, I think the fear of it continuing to get worse, like the previous one, is the most worrying thing – I could live with it as it is at present.
So I've decided to give it more time and if towards the end of my return period it is no worse, I'll likely end up keeping it.
 
Thanks, i have figured this out by the time I just read this. My drive is the Seagate ST31000528ASQ 1TB. It has made little noise. I only hear it at startup and it is not loud, more than acceptable. NOW, having said that, I looked for a drive utility. I downloaded the trial version of Smartutility from:
http://www.volitans-software.com/index.php

I run a test and it shows my HD failing!
Best I can tell is that the temp on line 190 has ran high as it is redlined 58C with a threshold of 45. As I write, it shows current temp of 41C. Under type heading there are lines marked pre-fail on spin up time, reallocated sector count, seek error rate, spin retry count. All others under type are tagged ol age. Believe this also shows this hd has 25 hours on it, I have not ran it that long. Looking for comparisons folks. Could heat be causing our problems??? I have been a life long WD user with zero failures. I dropped one one time on a concrete floor and it still worked after than with just a couple bad sectors, my fault. First computers at work years ago had Seagate drives, they did not last.

I have i5 4850 27". All is working, but now I am miffed about my first Mac!
Has anyone else tried this utility and if so, how about results? I suppose I will pack it up and call for shipping papers dang it!.
BTW, i posted this on a separate thread for more exposure, so post replies there. Tnx


I just ran the smart utility and my HD status shows FAILING! and when i checked attributes it shows this HD had 71 hours power on!! Also on line 190 highlighted in red shows it's value @ 62, worst @ 44, threshold @ 45
 
I've gone through 2 Seagate and 2 Hitachi HDDs in my iMac (27"), and let me tell you something, they ALL had the same noise. My first Seagate annoyed the hell out of me, so I took it to the Apple store and they put in a Hitachi instead, which made a much different sound, instead of the grumbling noise, it was more of a sharper scratching sound.

Then, I got my machine replaced, it came with a Seagate which also failed on me from the second I started the computer, so then I had a in-home repair and ended up getting a new Hitachi HDD.

I'm using my Hitachi HDD right now, and so far it's been great. The sound is still there, but it's very mild. I can't even hear it when I have my window open/playing music, which I always am. I'm just gonna have to find a way to live with it, or wait for SSD manufacturers to lower the price so I can finally replace this loud HDD and get on with a much quieter and better SSD.

It's a fact that 1TB HDDs are louder than any other. I haven't had the chance to use a iMac with a WD in it, but I'm sure it's just as loud
 
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