What's this sound I'm hearing?

[2499723]

Hey there. I'm running a 13" 2011 MBP. I'm noticing a quiet whir, which I thought was the fan. However, the fan is running at only 2000RPM. My 2009 MBP 13" made no noise at all when the fan was that low. If I raise the RPM just slightly, I can distinctly hear the fan as separate from this other whir. There is no disc in the drive. Am I hearing the hard drive spin? Is there another small fan in the 13" I wasn't aware of? Should the HD be making that faint whir when my previous model MacBook didn't? Are their others out there experiencing the same thing? Thanks.

 

[CloudSE]

Yup, that's the hard drive you are hearing. It's considerably louder in the 2011 models. Only way to kill it is to go SSD (which is what I'm planning, because it's driving me nuts).

 

[Al Coholic]

Yup, that's the hard drive you are hearing. It's considerably louder in the 2011 models.

Why is it louder than previous models? Same spin rate of 5400rpm - same unibody.

It shouldn't be. (Note: I don't own one).

 

[Vook]

I have the same MBP and never heard a thing except when converting video format. You guys are freakin me out like its about to happen to me now.

 

[snaky69]

Why is it louder than previous models? Same spin rate of 5400rpm - same unibody.

It shouldn't be. (Note: I don't own one).

Not all drives are made equal, some are nearly silent while others are noisy. My scorpio black is pretty noisy, I hear it over the fans when the computer sits idle and it likes to loudly park it's head whenever it feels like it.

I've heard the same model drive in a few other computers and some are noisier than others, that's what happens when you mass produce electronics. Quality is hit or miss.

 

[Al Coholic]

Not all drives are made equal, some are nearly silent while others are noisy. My scorpio black is pretty noisy,

You obviously didn't read my post. I know drives are not made equal. Yours for instance spins at 7200rpm so it's going to be more audible than the "stock" 5400rpm drives which one has to assume the OP is talking about. (And subsequent posters).

7200 vs 5400... apples to bananas.

 

[Legion93]

People repeatedly criticise sound issues with HDDs about making abnormal sounds. Most conventional, in fact all hard drives makes noises, whether It be a slight whir or clicking noises. These are absolutely normal and it's just the way the hard drive behaves physically since it has moving parts such as rotating discs. If you want absolute peace of mind, install an SSD in your MBP to eliminate the noise issue, and it will greatly increase performance and they have lower power consumption.

 

[snaky69]

You obviously didn't read my post. I know drives are not made equal. Yours for instance spins at 7200rpm so it's going to be more audible than the "stock" 5400rpm drives which one has to assume the OP is talking about. (And subsequent posters).

7200 vs 5400... apples to bananas.

I had a 7200rpm from apple previously, it was a fujitsu, it was silent, and it died, so I WAS comparing apples to apples. Sorry if I failed to mention that.

 

[brentsg]

You obviously didn't read my post. I know drives are not made equal. Yours for instance spins at 7200rpm so it's going to be more audible than the "stock" 5400rpm drives which one has to assume the OP is talking about. (And subsequent posters).

7200 vs 5400... apples to bananas.

Not all 5400 drives make the same noises, nor do the 7200RPM drives. Often they're made by different manufacturers.

The drive in my 13" was silent this year as well. They're using multiple vendors now too.

 

[2499723]

My hard drive is a Toshiba 500GB 5400RPM. I think I had a Hitachi 250GB 5400RPM in my last MBP (mid-2009). This one makes more noise than that one did. If this is normal, then I'm done worrying. I can go on to think about what I'm going to do with this machine when the remodelled MBPs come out next year. =)

 

[2499723]

If you want absolute peace of mind, install an SSD in your MBP to eliminate the noise issue, and it will greatly increase performance and they have lower power consumption.

I will most certainly do this when the GBs are more and the £s are less. =) Of course, by the time reasonably priced SSDs with decent capacities crop up, there will be a new MBP. I think the perfect solution for me would be to have about a 250GB SSD and a 500GB HDD and I could ditch the DVD drive. Apple makes a perfectly decent external Superdrive from what I hear, though I'd probably just stick an internal drive into an enclosure and have a burner for about a third the price. Thanks for all the input, everyone. =)