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Hard Drive Clunking Issues

Okay, so I'm hoping this is just me and I can just get it replaced, but I want to see if anyone else is having this problem:

(1) Click to start a video.
(2) As soon as the iPod starts accessing the hard drive, move the iPod around in the air and turn it back and forth.
(3) Note clunking sounds and feel the clunking in your hand.
(4) Repeat any time the drive is being heavily accessed.

I noticed this yesterday when I turned the iPod over to look at the back while an episode of Lost was starting up--I felt a clunk and heard it too and almost spit out my gum.

I can reproduce it just about every time the drive is being heavily accessed (it's easier to do it when video is loading rather than music, but it still happens then sometimes too).

Please let this just be a bad drive and not a design flaw...

Posted on Oct 19, 2005 8:09 AM

60 replies

Oct 27, 2005 3:00 PM in response to Jen_Neva

You would really know it if it is making a clicking/clunking sound. This usually indicates the hard drive is damaged internally.

Certain occasional SOFT clicking sounds are normal for disks like this. If you can hear it across the room, then you're right, it's probably a sign of a severe problem.

-- Mark

Oct 27, 2005 3:26 PM in response to Mark Wilkins

I have the normal soft clicking and whirring that a hard drive is supposed to make, but I also have the clunking noise that is much louder. It sounds and feels like a marble is thudding around in there. It only does it when loading a movie or "thinking." How many others besides the ones posting here are experiencing similar behavior? I'm going to call the Apple store where I bought it and see what they say about an exchange. I don't want this thing going out on me in a few months.

Oct 27, 2005 7:49 PM in response to Herbet

Very well could be a problem with the file, the freeze doesn't always occur at the same place.

It does play fine on my Mac, but who knows how fault tolerant the iPod is.

I have experienced a couple of other freezes with a movie I ripped myself (MPEG-4) but nothing as reproducible, as the other file I mentioned.

danielh

Level 2

245 points

Oct 28, 2005 12:35 PM in response to Garrett Murray

I hear a soft sound coming from the bottom area of my iPod. It is somewhere between a click and a chirp and it is definetly when you "request" something beyond what is stored in flash memory (a couple songs a head, for example). I am pretty sure this is very normal hard drive noises. Am I correct? I would also speculate that in previous models and the 60gig the hard drive might be "shielded" by other components so it is more difficult/impossible to hear.

H.J.

Level 2

426 points

Oct 28, 2005 12:39 PM in response to danielh

You may need to see this review;

http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/video-ipod.ars/6

Oct 28, 2005 12:39 PM in response to danielh

sounds from their descriptions like the clunking noises people are worried about here are more serious than the normal hard drive noises, but that's just my guess.

-- Mark

danielh

Level 2

245 points

Oct 28, 2005 1:37 PM in response to Mark Wilkins

OK I went to a quieter room and put it up to my ear. I hear spinning then a click then click and spinning stops. Isn't this just the head engaging? I am not too worried about it, it is not metallic or very hard sounding, sounds like my external hard drive. Plus, I would have never heard it if I hadn't been reading these posts!

Oct 28, 2005 1:55 PM in response to danielh

Daniel: those sounds you're hearing are nothing to worry about, and not what people here are describing.

-- Mark

danielh

Level 2

245 points

Oct 28, 2005 2:04 PM in response to Mark Wilkins

That is what I thought, I was pretty sure they were normal and things I had heard before. Thanks for the reassurance.

Oct 28, 2005 2:24 PM in response to danielh

Yeah, these aren't the normal hard drive sounds you would have to listen closely for. I'm bringing mine to the Apple store this afternoon so they can listen to it and decide what to do.

Oct 28, 2005 2:48 PM in response to danielh

Ditto that! I didn't notice anything and I watched an episode of Lost during the first 24 hours I had the iPod; I was up at like 4 AM on a day I needed to travel so there I lay on the couch with the iPod in my hand over my head so I could watch the first episode of Lost. I moved it around and heard nothing. I tried to duplicate what others have noticed and frankly, I'm not concerned. I don't have a need to waive the iPod through the air when watching a TV show. Other than insomnia, I used it on the plane to watch the next two episodes. Other than power consumption, I'm happy with the unit.

Hoai An

Level 1

65 points

Oct 29, 2005 4:16 AM in response to Robert Bellomy

Is there any one sharking your iPod and hear the soft clicking sound came out? (regardless it turn on or not)
Many thanks

P.S. the sound you hear when it tried to play songs is normal 🙂 dont worry

Oct 29, 2005 8:30 AM in response to Hoai An

I'm not hearing many sounds from the ipod drive, but I can feel a slight bump or thump and vibrations coming from the lower back area of it. I never noticed this with my 4G ipod. Is that what one would expect?

JetRanger

Level 4

1,200 points

Oct 29, 2005 2:50 PM in response to Roger Barton

It is normal to hear some clicking/whirring sounds from your iPod's HDD. Don't worry.

Nov 23, 2005 9:55 PM in response to danielh

I have a 60gig, and this same problem just started today, video banding and hard drive making a loud tapping noise, feels like its hitting the case when its accessing the drive (im sure its not, but it really taps loud).

Hard Drive Clunking Issues