Facts about iMac's hard drive

[FredLo]

Hello everyone,

I am planning to buy a new iMac but I am a little worried about the hard drive noise and I would like to have some feedback on several points.

1. First of all, I will get the high end 21.5", because 27" is too big and too expensive for me. I am thinking of getting the standard one (not BTO) in order to be able to replace it quite easily at my local Apple store, as it seems that the yellow tinge and the high pitched noise are two issues that can appear to any iMac configurations.

2. Now I have read that the HD noise is due to the 1TB - seagate HD which is found in the standard configuration. Is this problem recurrent or can I get rid of it if I ask for a replacement? Do I have a chance to get a WD hard drive or will I always get the seagate no matter what?

3. I would love to replace the hard drive myself, but as I don't really trust my hands, I'd rather not. The question is, could my local Apple store swap the hard drives for me if I come with my own one? Can I use any brands of HD or do I have any constraints?


Thanks in advance for all your advises and information, have a nice day!

Fred.

 

[dsc888]

I too would like to know. I got the new 27 inch i7 and it's perfect except I got the noisy Seagate Drive. The screen is perfect with no dead or stuck pixels and no yellow. Knowing that the drive is working fine but is noisy makes me not want to swap out for another unit since I may get one with a bad screen.

I have looked locally here in the Boston, MA area and have gone to 3 Apple Stores and several Bestbuys and they all have the Seagate regardless of build date. And you can't tell even if you open the box at the store, which I did. If you are using the computer in a quiet room, you will notice it.

I considered ordering the BTO version with the 2TB drive or even going the SSD option. But I hate to mail it back if I got a bad unit. THe SSD is too expensive and the Toshiba unit is rumored to not to be the best. At the local store, I can just bring it back.

My options now is to either live with it, which I think I will. Or bring it back and have them put in another drive which may or may not solve the problem. I may wait a year or 2 and install an SSD myself when the prices come down further and get rid of the Seagate drive all together.

 

[newdeal]

...

Call your apple store see if they will swap the drive for you, if not then do it yourself how hard can it be

 

[Thermonuclear]

I bought a stock 3.2 GHz 21.5 inch iMac and it came with a 1 TB Western Digital drive. As far as I can tell, there is no perceptible drive noise.

 

[dsc888]

Booked Appointment with Apple to Replace HD

Well, guys, I called the Apple Store where I got my system and they agreed to let me bring it in for a listen. The person who I spoke with said they carry common replacement parts and that they can transfer all my data over if they determine I need a new harddrive. So I guess I will take it in this Saturday and see what happens.

 

[FredLo]

I bought a stock 3.2 GHz 21.5 inch iMac and it came with a 1 TB Western Digital drive. As far as I can tell, there is no perceptible drive noise.

So it appears that some iMacs come with a WD drive by default? I guess there is only one way to fix the HD noise issue, keep replacing the iMac as well. What an endless game...

 

[kristian21]

Don't they also come with hitachi hard drives? I believe mine are hitachi 2TB and I have no noise or issues with it.

 

[FredLo]

Don't they also come with hitachi hard drives? I believe mine are hitachi 2TB and I have no noise or issues with it.

Yes, you are right about the 2TB Hitachi drives, the 1TB are mainly Seagate and some of them seems to be WD. Both of Hitachi and WD drives are supposed to be less noisy.

So either you choose a BTO iMac with a quiet hard drive but it's less convenient if you need to replace it (yellow tinge, ...), or you choose a standard configuration that you can easily replace but then you get a 1TB hard drive which will certainly be a noisy Seagate. Dilemma

 

[dsc888]

iMac waiting for replacement drive

OK. I just dropped off my i7 at the Apple store. The tech at the Genius bar clearly stated that they are aware of the fact that the Seagates are noisy. But the problem is that there is only one part number for the 1 TB drives and it's the luck of the draw what Apple sends them for repairs. They ordered me 2 drives with the hope that one of them will be a WD. That was really nice of them. Turn around is 3 to 5 business days so I will wait and see what happens.

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

Here i a thread on the Toshiba ssd. http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2032894