Ibook g4: hard Drive noise

[CLAUDE]

i've been using an ibook g4 for a few months now and over the last week, the hard drive has started making a strange noise: it's a strident sound that one can hear constantly. Very annoying.....does anyone has an idea about what's wrong with the laptop ?

Thanks for your help.

Claude

 

[Elan0204]

It's very possible that your hard drive is about to die. I highly recommend making a backup of all your data immediately.

If you have an Apple Store near you talk to the Mac Geniuses their and see what they say about your drive. If they think it's bad they'll send your ibook to Apple for replacement. Note that if you want Apple to move your data to the new drive there will be a $50 charge, so you are much better off making a backup yourself.

 

[Maxx Power]

It's very possible that your hard drive is about to die. I highly recommend making a backup of all your data immediately.

If you have an Apple Store near you talk to the Mac Geniuses their and see what they say about your drive. If they think it's bad they'll send your ibook to Apple for replacement. Note that if you want Apple to move your data to the new drive there will be a $50 charge, so you are much better off making a backup yourself.

I remember from the simpsons, when Clancy sees there is a laser dot on Skinner's underwear: "Better get that checked out, my uncle died of crotch dot."

i.e. your hard drive is about to see Binary Jesus and affiliates.
My binary storage device suffered a similar death.

 

[CLAUDE]

Ibook G4: hard drive noise

Well, that's not very good news....guess I better get going with that back up.

Thanks very much for your help.

 

[CLAUDE]

Noisy hardrive on Ibook G4

It's very possible that your hard drive is about to die. I highly recommend making a backup of all your data immediately.

If you have an Apple Store near you talk to the Mac Geniuses their and see what they say about your drive. If they think it's bad they'll send your ibook to Apple for replacement. Note that if you want Apple to move your data to the new drive there will be a $50 charge, so you are much better off making a backup yourself.

Just one more question: how come the hardrive can be damaged after only a few months of use ? Is it software I installed or is it a problem with the build of the computer ?

 

[CLAUDE]

Noisy hardrive on Ibook G4

It's very possible that your hard drive is about to die. I highly recommend making a backup of all your data immediately.

If you have an Apple Store near you talk to the Mac Geniuses their and see what they say about your drive. If they think it's bad they'll send your ibook to Apple for replacement. Note that if you want Apple to move your data to the new drive there will be a $50 charge, so you are much better off making a backup yourself.

Just one more question: how come the hardrive can be damaged after only a few months of use ? Is it software I installed or is it a problem with the build of the computer ?

 

[dswoodley]

Just one more question: how come the hardrive can be damaged after only a few months of use ? Is it software I installed or is it a problem with the build of the computer ?

Production defects or quality standards maybe. Extensive use too. My 12in PB's drive died a few weeks ago, it was only about a year old. Of course, i was too stupid to get Applecare and now its too late.

also, I really doubt its the software, what have you installed recently?

 

[Maxx Power]

Notebook/laptop hard drives are under constant beatings if you lug your unit around. THey also suffer the fate of no cooling (most situations). Apple should cover your loss here though, it hasn't been that long. My Toshiba laptop's hard drive mysteriously died similarily and Toshiba covered that no questions asked.

 

[Mord]

apple dose not make HD's they buy them from other companys like hitachi and fujitsu HD's are delicate things and sometimes they fail early it's an unavoidable truth for any type of computer

 

[CLAUDE]

Noisy hard drive on Ibook G4

Well, I installed Onspeed, Microsoft Office Vx, mac Bulk mailer, virex, poisoned and Ovis PDF office.
I'm just surprised that the hard drive dies now. i mean I haven't been using the laptopt that much, haven't been carrying it around that much either...funnily enough, now that I need it for work it dies.....damn !

It is a bit of a disapointment as I heard so much about Macs and how good they are. This said i would go back to XP.

 

[CLAUDE]

Noisy hardrive on Ibook G4

Well, I finally got it sorted. Apple shipped the laptop to the UK (no repair centre in Ireland). It took one week. The laptop got back and the sound was still there.....Back on to tech support....

finally, we found out what it was. I downloaded a trial version of Virex. A fold was created in the startup item folder.....When I deleted this one, the noise was gone !

Glad to got it fixed, but a bit annoyed at having to wait one week.

anyway, thanks all for your replies.

 

[Littleodie914]

Whaaat?

Pardon my French... But what the hell?! A folder in your startup folder caused your HD to make strange noises? Seems very unlikely to me... Any thoughts on this weird solution?

 

[CLAUDE]

Well, might sound strange, but the high pitched sound coming from my harddrive is gone....

 

[dakis]

Well, might sound strange, but the high pitched sound coming from my harddrive is gone....

I can't believe this worked: I had the same high-pitched noise coming from my harddisk for weeks now - I uninstalled Virex after I had read your post and the noise was gone. What the heck is Virex doing to our harddisks???

dakis

 

[CLAUDE]

Noise from the HD

Yeah, it's pretty scary. Not sure what goes wrong there. I'm just wondering which anti virus I should install now. Kind of feeling like I should stay away from Virex. Seemingly, Norton is not recommended for mac......do you have any suggestions ?

 

[Mord]

there are no viruses that affect macs there is no point in haveing a checker at all, all they do is detect windows viruses in your inbox, whih dont affect macs.

dont blame apple for a Hd failer even if it isent the HD now you should remeber thing like the optical drive, ram and HD are are not made by apple but by other companys and these companys make the HD's, optical drives, ram for pc's so your no better off with xp

 

[CLAUDE]

noisy hd on g4 Ibook

Oh, I won't blame Apple, I'm rather worried that an anti virus I was going to pay for affected the HD......I mean what would have happened if I had kept on using Virex?

 

[Mord]

i would think that virex just runs in the backround so keeps the HD going makeing a whiney noise but that would indicate a bung HD, or it was just a coincidence, either way i'd back up your data.