iMac HD noise; does your iMac make this noise with video, (and audio!)?

[Nishi100]

I just got my iMac a yesterday, and have spent all night putting all my work on it; however, when reading the forums, some people said that you can only hear the small hum of the fans.

I can hear the small hum from the fans - which is fine, but also, whenever I open something or scroll, or click, it makes a noise like - sorry - crushing beetles. Which contradicts what people have said: that you can only hear the slight hum of the fans; this noise is a lot louder.

Here I've booted up the iMac (ignore the clicking of the AF, and the sculling noise at 0:20), otherwise you can here the noise throughout the video. However, it's every time I do anything.

Do you have this noise with your iMac? And which model do you have?

My model is a 1TB, WDC WD1001FALS-403AA0, which is assume is a Western Digital.

 

[TMRaven]

All iMacs are probably going to make some HD noise-- no matter how quiet the HD is. The iMacs are aluminum, and sit at ear level, so the mechanical noises the HD makes would be reverberated and amplified and travel a shorter distance to your ears, making them louder than usual.

Now, the amount of noise it takes to annoy depends on person to person, it's usually a subjective thing. If it's too bothersome for you, then I guess you can try to get the HD swapped out at the genius bar, but otherwise, do know that some HD noise is normal. Also do note it's normal for the HD to make most sounds during a bootup, and a good 1-2 minutes after a bootup, as that's when it's having to do the most work.

 

[Nishi100]

Thanks for the reply.

I understand that whilst booting the HD is in use a lot more; however, it's not just when booting, it's every time I scroll, or move the mouse, or open a program.

If any of you have an iMac with a HD (not SSD), could you tell me how your HD sounds when you open one small program (calendar), or better still record it? I just want to know if it's worth the hassle to change the iMac.

 

[jetlife2]

spotlight?

If it is new, has the spotlight indexing finished? This can create a lot of HD activity for a while.

 

[Nishi100]

Yep, spotlight has finished indexing.

 

[Mr. Buzzcut]

Mine sounds just like that after having he recalled HDD replaced. Yes, it is audible all the time the disk is being accessed.