How loud is your internal 7200 drive?

[MowingDevil]

I got the CTO option of the 320gb HDD @ 7200rpm....and notice that *sometimes* it is very quiet (w/ expected windy sound as it spins) but other times it goes through this on again off again cycle of muted clicks and clanks. Its not as loud as that description makes it out but in a quiet setting it is quite noticeable and annoying. It gets louder (sounds like a faster frequency) then goes quieter...this pattern repeats and repeats. Its always a click and muffled rattle that starts it on the faster part. Is this normal w/ 7200 drives?

I'm concerned this may not be normal and could lead to issues. Having a questionable HD is not something I'm willing to gamble with. In my experience abnormal HD sounds usually leads to trouble.

 

[Thunder82]

7200rpm drives do tend to be more noisy than 5400 & 4200rpm drives. You should only be concerned if you hear/feel heavy knocking or clicking.

Hard drive noise also depends on the manufacturer, I have a 7200 320GB Scorpio Black in my Unibody MBP and it is just about silent. I would recommend this drive if the noise really bothers you.

 

[seriouscolor]

How can you tell it's a 7200 rpm HDD from the System Profiler? I got a CTO for my unibody MBP but wanted to confirm that it has the 7200 rpm drive and not the standard 5400 rpm one...

This is the content of the Serial-ATA view in the System Profiler:

NVidia MCP79 AHCI:

Vendor: NVidia
Product: MCP79 AHCI
Speed: 3 Gigabit
Description: AHCI Version 1.20 Supported

ST9320421ASG:

Capacity: 298,09 GB
Model: ST9320421ASG
Revision: AP15
Serial Number: 5TJ0B08R
Native Command Queuing: Yes
Queue Depth: 32
Removable Media: No
Detachable Drive: No
BSD Name: disk0
Mac OS 9 Drivers: No
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified​

 

[kellen]

Can't even hear it. Seagate brand. Works great, can't even tell a difference from stock 5400.

 

[kellen]

S
Model: ST9320421ASG
QUOTE]


Search for that. It comes up as 7200 rpm.

Or get a stopwatch and a stethoscope.

 

[seriouscolor]

S
Model: ST9320421ASG

Search for that. It comes up as 7200 rpm.

Or get a stopwatch and a stethoscope.

Thanks!

The stopwatch and stethoscope suggestion is brilliant, btw!

 

[GGJstudios]

I have the 200GB 7200 drive.... whisper quiet. I can barely hear it, even with my ear on the MBP.

 

[daneoni]

Hitachi Travelstar and i can barely hear it only when doing heavy file transfers

 

[procreative]

Mine's whisper quiet as well. I do hear the SMS kick in every time I lift or accidentally hit the notebook. But I welcome that sound. It tells me that fail-safe is working.

 

[liquidtrend]

no hum or pur. have yet to have any noticable sound from the hard drive at all.

Hitachi HTS722020K9SA00:

Capacity: 186.31 GB
Model: Hitachi HTS722020K9SA00

 

[M-X]

WD Scorpio black 320gb - whisper quiet and super fast. best upgrade i've ever made to my mbp (late 2006), feels like a new laptop!

 

[kastenbrust]

its not just the rpm theres many factors that decide how loud your hard drives going to be, obdviously a Lacie is going to be quieter than a Hitachi, even if theyre both running at 7200, you only get what you pay for.