"Ticking" 5400 rpm HDD on new MacBook Pro?

S

Simon Young

macrumors member
As I sit here and type this on my new MacBook Pro, the HDD is emitting a faint but noticeable "tick" sound every 10 seconds or so. It only occurs when there's not a lot of HDD activity. For example: I started a big render going in Final Cut Pro before I slept last night, and it wasn't ticking; when I woke up this morning the render had finished and the ticking had returned. I'm therefore assuming it only occurs when the HDD is relatively idle. I didn't notice it until the day after I bought it, probably because I was installing a lot of software updates initially.

Has anyone else noticed this noise? My old PowerBook G4 occasionally made a sound or too but nowhere near as regular or high-pitched. I'm finding it hard to sleep because the noise is slowly driving me insane! At first you don't think it's a big deal, but it quickly becomes like Chinese water torture! My first thought was a 7200 rpm HDD might fix the problem, being a different drive and all. I'd love to hear from new MacBook Pro owners of both 5400 and 7200 rpm drives so I can decide whether I should take the machine back and swap it.
 
My old gen Mac Book Pro does the exact same thing, and it still works fine and is nearly a year old. N idea what it is but it hasn't hurt it.
 
I've had a few 2.5" drives do this as they spin up to access the disk. I haven't heard one for a few years though.
 
The ticking sound usually is an indication that the drive is about to fail, but that's strange on such a new machine. I'd do regular backups if I were you.
 
just check with other people if DiskWarrior is the best HD utility for the MBPs

I know on my PB G4's at least it is the best. My PB15 drive just went dead after too much eyeTV writing. it just ticked, the system wouldnt even load up. just a black screen with 'tick' 'tick' 'tick'.. almost like the head was stuck or hitting a track continually. anyways i feared the worst, thought the drive was a gonna. tried the DW CD boot and it rebuilt the directory and it worked! :D

got access back to all my files. made my day :D:D:p

anyways, with the MBPs you might want to check what is the best HD utility. but for sure I'd start backing up any important files NOW
 
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