MBP 17 inch Noise

[bigdb11]

My girlfriend recently bought a 17'' Unibody MacBook Pro (the one with the built-in battery). Yesterday, we noticed that the computer was making a noise from the left-hand side.

It sounds like the hard-disk accessing information. Pretty much the sound all PC's make, however, we had never heard the machine make the noise before. She has had the computer for about 2 months.

Our concern is primarily because my older 15'' MBP Unibody is virtually silent and never makes a similar noise.

Is this something that should be checked out by a genius?

 

[gr8tfly]

Some drives are noisier than others. My 17" Early 2009 stock drive was rather noisy when seeking. I think it was a Fujitsu. I've since replaced it with a WD 7200RPM 320GB drive, which is virtually silent.

If it seems noisier than normal, then by all means bring it to a Genius and have them check it out.

 

[bigdb11]

Some drives are noisier than others. My 17" Early 2009 stock drive was rather noisy when seeking. I think it was a Fujitsu. I've since replaced it with a WD 7200RPM 320GB drive, which is virtually silent.

If it seems noisier than normal, then by all means bring it to a Genius and have them check it out.

But, hearing the hard drive noise on a MBP is normal? It happens even at random times when we aren't really doing anything. If you are familiar with PCs, it seems to be acting a lot like that. This is my first experience on a Mac and my MBP makes is almost inaudible.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[gr8tfly]

You can check disk activity in Activity Monitor. It might tell you whether you're hearing head load/unload or head seeking sounds.

The system might access the drive even when you're not using it - to swap memory pages, for example.

The 17" might have a different model/manufacturer drive than your MBP's, which could explain the difference in sound. Like I mentioned, my stock 320GB drive was pretty loud (relatively speaking), compared with the drive I had in my older MBP (which was virtually silent) and compared with the drive I replaced it with. I don't think there was anything particularly wrong with the stock Fujitsu - it's just the way they are.

 

[Csmitte]

But, hearing the hard drive noise on a MBP is normal? It happens even at random times when we aren't really doing anything. If you are familiar with PCs, it seems to be acting a lot like that. This is my first experience on a Mac and my MBP makes is almost inaudible.

Thanks for the reply.

Take it to a Genius, Loud to you and me might be different than everyone else. My MBP is also silent to an extent. My old MBP was a little noisy after I put in a 320GB 7200k, I upgraded to a 500GB 5400K and I have no issues.

 

[Mintin8]

You can hear the HDD when it's got some load on it. But it shouldn't be that noticeable. If in doubt, take it to apple. Don't chance it.