Safari makes hard drive noisy

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Level 1

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Safari makes hard drive noisy

Is this normal? Every time I launch Safari my hard drive starts to be noisy. It's this usual hard drive clicking but it's really fast and noisy clicking. What's worse that it takes few minutes. It's really annoying in quiet room. It looks like hard drive try to read some data for using Safari. I cleaned everything I can using MainMenu app - cache, history, temporary files. Nothing happened. I use MBP 2,2GHz, 2GB RAM, 120GB HDD - late 2007.

Have you got the same problem or know reason and solution?

Really thank you

MBP 2.2GHZ 2GB RAM, Mac OS X (10.5.5)

Posted on Nov 7, 2008 2:27 PM

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Answer 1

Mac-Medic

Level 6

17,301 points

Nov 7, 2008 8:34 PM in response to da.master

Try logging into another User account. Does it do it there? Also, check your Disk Activity in your Activity Monitor.

Dave M.
MacOSG Founder/Ambassador  An Apple User Group  iTunes: MacOSG Podcast
Creator of 'Mac611 - Mobile Mac Support' (designed exclusively for an iPhone/iPod touch)

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Answer 2

da.master Author

Level 1

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Nov 11, 2008 8:00 AM in response to Mac-Medic

Hi, so I tried another user account and it's better. There is still some hard drive clicking but it's not that bad. But I think that clicking noise could be something with temporary files, cache or browser history. That would explain why is new user's browser clicking less frequent. But I tried to clean up all temporary files via MainMenu so I don't get why is still clicking on my regular account.

One more thing, I'm talking about really annoying clicking. It is very loud!!!

Thanx

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Answer 3

Mac-Medic

Level 6

17,301 points

Nov 11, 2008 6:56 PM in response to da.master

You may have an issue with that hard drive starting to go bad if it's getting real loud. Make sure you have it backed up!

Dave M.
MacOSG Founder/Ambassador  An Apple User Group  iTunes: MacOSG Podcast
Creator of 'Mac611 - Mobile Mac Support' (designed exclusively for an iPhone/iPod touch)

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Answer 4

da.master Author

Level 1

0 points

Nov 17, 2008 9:06 AM in response to Mac-Medic

I don't think so. It can't be hard drive problem. I tried Mozilla Firefox and Opera for few days and it's absolutely ok - HDD is quiet. So it's just Safari what makes HDD get noisy. What could make Safari write or read from HDD that often and loud??? Apple?

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Answer 5

da.master Author

Level 1

0 points

Dec 3, 2008 1:06 AM in response to da.master

I just came back from Apple Store (Apple Premium Reseller) and they told me that hard drive looks ok and it's just normal noise. They told me that some exact models from hard drives could have different noise.

Well I hope it's not going to crash anytime soon. I'll let you know then.

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Answer 6

G$R

Level 1

24 points

Feb 10, 2009 8:53 PM in response to da.master

Does your HD still make noise when you use Safari? It started happening to me a few weeks back. I tried clearing the cache, etc, but it still make noise and sometime I get the spinning beach ball.
I've since switched and been using Firefox exclusively, but every so often try Safari - where the problem remains.
The explanation that it happens to some computers is unsettling, since I've had my computer for 1.5 years and it just started happening. Also, I ran disk utility and had no problems. I did try a new users, since I don't want to create a new user.
I'm thinking about reinstalling Safari - have you done that?

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Answer 7

da.master Author

Level 1

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Mar 9, 2009 2:05 AM in response to G$R

Hi, sorry for late response. Yes, it still does the weird ticking noises. I tried to reinstall operating system and not just Safari and it still does that. 🙂 I was talking to my colleagues (they're hard drive specialists) and first time they told me that my HDD is going to crash any day soon. Then I told them that the HDD is doing it for several months. They were confused. They told me cause of this noises is that HDD is writing and reading from multiple sectors of the disk.

So, my HDD still does it and I got used to it. What about yours HDD?

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Answer 8

Apr 24, 2009 3:37 AM in response to da.master

I have tried safari 4 and chrome.They both make horrendous hard drive noise.I believe they are downloading multiple links and perhaps scripts to possible websites you may choose to next visit.This also uses up much bandwidth and you can see the extra needless megabytes downloaded when you hover over the moniter icon in xp. Apple calls this speculative loading.I do hope firefox keeps clear of this "improvement" as it seems unavoidable/unremovable from safari 4 and chrome.So it seems the answer is use firefox.

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Answer 9

Jun 21, 2009 5:29 AM in response to da.master

For future users with this problem...I had it, too, but I think I solved it...

In the Safari Preferences area...go to "RSS". Under "Check for Updates"...choose..."Never".

That seems to have worked for me.

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