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MBP HD 'Ticking' Is Driving Me Insane

S

Sdao

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 12, 2007
336
0
Ever since I installed Leopard, my hard drive (which is located under my left palm as I am typing this) has been making this ridiculous ticking noise. It sounds like its processing data, therefore the noise occurs every half a second.

This is driving me absolutely insane. I'm a university student, my desk is about 5 feet from where I sleep and I can no longer sleep with the computer on. I turn it off at night to spare myself from hearing the ticking as I go to sleep.

It's obviously the hard drive that is causing this ticking noise. Is there anyway to stop it?!!?
 
MacUser1 said:
If it's loud ticking, I'd back up your data immediately.
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I back my data up consistently. Its not loud, its fairly faint but I can hear it if there isn't too much background noise going on.
 
gusapple said:
Wait for an SSD drive to come out for Macbook Pro?
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I already spent generously on this laptop. I was just wondering if there are any immediate solutions (i.e. repairing the drive via software) that would remove this annoying ticking sound?
 
Sdao said:
I already spent generously on this laptop. I was just wondering if there are any immediate solutions (i.e. repairing the drive via software) that would remove this annoying ticking sound?
Click to expand...

I know that this sounds like I have no immediate answers, but if you take it to the Apple Store, tell them what is going on, then ask what you can do, they will most likely do something about it. I personally can say that this used to happen with my eMac and I had to live with it. I do have a question, does the hard drive make that noise while it's in sleep mode?
 
gusapple said:
I know that this sounds like I have no immediate answers, but if you take it to the Apple Store, tell them what is going on, then ask what you can do, they will most likely do something about it. I personally can say that this used to happen with my eMac and I had to live with it. I do have a question, does the hard drive make that noise while it's in sleep mode?
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No, it does not make the noise while in sleep mode. I'm looking into buying a new drive (I'm slowly running out of HD space) however, if I decide to stick with what I've got, I will definitely bring it to the apple store.

My sister and I purchased our MBP's at the Apple store around the same time and thus far, her original HD (160gb, same as mine) has died, as did the replacement HD that Apple installed for her. Needless to say, after some complaining, she's getting an entirely new laptop.
 
my old 1st gen MBP used to make super loud noises when data was being accessed. It sounds like your HDD is just showing its age. There is no real software fix since its probably mechanical thats causing the noises. But if its making louder sounds than normal, especially ticking sounds, its probably signs of HDD failure.

-JoE
 
MacBookJoePro said:
my old 1st gen MBP used to make super loud noises when data was being accessed. It sounds like your HDD is just showing its age. There is no real software fix since its probably mechanical thats causing the noises. But if its making louder sounds than normal, especially ticking sounds, its probably signs of HDD failure.

-JoE
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Thanks Joe. I'm concerned, my MBP was purchased in August, its 6 months old. These types of problems shouldn't be happening (at least, not yet). I'm going to contact Apple regarding the situation.
 
Even if you're replacing it with a bigger hard disk, I recommend sending it back to the Apple store and fixing your somewhat-loud harddisk in the MBP. That way, you can buy a casing for it and use it as a portable external drive.
 
Sdao said:
Thanks Joe. I'm concerned, my MBP was purchased in August, its 6 months old. These types of problems shouldn't be happening (at least, not yet). I'm going to contact Apple regarding the situation.
Click to expand...

Yea, unfortunately it happens. i've seen a lot of new computers with failing hard drives right out of the box. This is b/c i work at *****(retailer i shall not name). good luck with apple

-JoE
 
Is the ticking sound there all the time? My has a faint ticking noise too, but usually only at startup and afterwards it silent except for the spinning noise and when its writing to the drive.
 
I'm experiencing the same thing.
whenever I open an application or do anything my HD starts to "tick." When I let my MBP sit, it starts to whirr and I the ticking becomes less frequent.
 
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