dampen macbook pro hdd spinning sound?

[earthdan]

Hello,

I have a 2009 15 inch mbp that although I can't hear the hdd spinning while working in my office, at home where its relatively quiet I can hear the hdd spinning (not the fans....). I realize that everyone has their own hearing thresholds and that many people find the macbook pros to be silent, but I do not. Not sure why it bothers me but it does haha.

So my question is.....has anyone tried to dampen the sound of the hard drive from the inside? eg. putting some sort of cloth or tape on it. I can actually dampen the sound from the outside by covering the palm rest with my palm and pressing down. But I would like to get rid of the sound without doing this.

Any suggestions (besides just putting up with the sound or getting an ssd)?

Thanks all,

cheers,

Dan

 

[Jottle]

I posted the same question in a thread here about six months ago. It didn't go very far. You need to consider the material. Just a little bit would be enough. I'd try some high temp rubber. The HD can get hot in there. If you gently press you hand or just a finger on the right side of the palm rest, you can hear a noticeable decrease in the "whirr" noise that the hd makes. I'm very sensitive to sounds as well, and I imagine that just a little space between the aluminum and hd here would make a significant difference. I haven't heard of anyone trying this yet, but it would be interesting to hear any results you may have. I just live with it for now.

 

[earthdan]

I wonder if we put something on the inside of the aluminum case if it would stop the sound. I feel like the sound is just reverberating off the aluminum so when we press down on the case it stops. I opened my case up the other day but didn't take out the hdd, do you know if you take it out we can see the aluminum case (ie. the other side of the palm rest)?

edit: I guess the same should apply if we put something on the outside of the machine too I actually ordered an invisible shield the other day which might have an effect. Ill post my results when I get a chance to put it on

 

[Timur]

Here is the poor man's solution:

Put a paper handkerchief (not the Klenex ones, but the 10 pc. package ones) between the harddrive and the chassis. If you only need pressure on the palm side then only put one in between that.

You can go one step further and remove the small holders from the sides of the HD and put one handkerchief below and above the drive (make sure to *not* cover the air hole of the drive). That may decouple the drive even further from the chassis.

Don't worry too much about heat, because the non-moving air at the position of the HD inside the Mac enclosure is no better at transporting heat anyway.

 

[krisjon]

Pour water on it. Then get a SSD.

 

[wirelessmacuser]

An SSD is the way to go. However, I would wait six months for the technology to improve. I've been using them in my ThinkPads for the last year, when new they're fine, then they begin to degrade. The garbage collection (TRIM) is not fully sorted out yet. And I've only used the best Intel, OCZ & Samsung models.

 

[Jottle]

I wonder if we put something on the inside of the aluminum case if it would stop the sound. I feel like the sound is just reverberating off the aluminum so when we press down on the case it stops. I opened my case up the other day but didn't take out the hdd, do you know if you take it out we can see the aluminum case (ie. the other side of the palm rest)?

edit: I guess the same should apply if we put something on the outside of the machine too I actually ordered an invisible shield the other day which might have an effect. Ill post my results when I get a chance to put it on

Yeah. You are correct. It's just reverberation. There's just bare metal under the HD. I'm not a fan of putting paper products near electronics, so perhaps a more durable (read: less flammable) material would work
just as well