27" iMac hard drive noise

Is it the hard drive or sound like a rattle? Mine sounded like a rattle. I could also hear the hard drive as well. Maybe they are fixing the issue? I sent my comp back over a week ago and my new computer isn't set to ship until Dec 2. I hope so because that sound will drive me nuts.

It seems some of the 1TB HDD suffer this issue, MacRumours has a thread discussing this. The best description that many have described is that it sounds like your stomach rumbling - it really is most disconcerting and intrusive. I cannot imagine Apple designed such a wonderful piece of kit with such silent fans only for the HDD to obnoxiously announce it's presence constantly.

Currently have Applecare looking into it and to be fair they have so far been very responsive to the issue, however I know I cannot live with this awful noise so it looks like I will have to exchange for a new iMac - my only worry is I get another noisy HDD in any exchange.

My first 21.5-inch iMac had a 1TB hard drive that made this chu-chug sound. Really quite loud and obtrusive, not at all Apple-like. But it probably wasn't a hardware defect, and simply a characteristic of the model of hard drive used in that particular iMac.

My second 21.5-inch iMac doesn't make this sound. The model of the hard drive is ST31000528ASQ. Apparently this is a Seagate hard drive.

The only problem with returning your iMac to get one with a quieter hard drive is that you could get a DIFFERENT problem, such as a whistling screen! In returning an Apple product you're often swapping one problem/annoyance for another.

Oh my God, I am freaking out. Should I order my i5 now or wait until Apple says something about these problems and have them fixed? (The screen flickering and DOA machines)

I live in El Salvador, Central America and I am having the machine sent from the States from a friend and as you may imagine, the returning may be a pain in the butt... Please help

Mine is doing the same. Sounds like a grinding noise. AppleCare asked me to take it to a Genius Bar.
They couldn't hear it because it was so **** noisy in the Apple Store. So I played the recording of it from my iPhone.
Anyway, he said it was probably a fan for the hard drive, since that's the only moving part in the machine. Of course, these machines are so new they don't have parts in the repair dept. yet.
So I wait till they call.
I hope that will fix it.

Drummer:

Cancel the order and wait till all of the dust has settled. As you mentioned, sending it back will be a mess. There seems to be a number of problems: cracked glass screen, HD noise, and monitor problems. I was anxious to get one but I'm going to wait even into next year if necessary.

Hi all,

There are multiple threads on macrumors.com regarding this issue.. Here is what I have been able to piece together based upon all of the feedback:

1) The noise is indeed like a stomach grumbling, and it is happening often. When surfing the web, scrolling a webpage, typing an email, etc. It is annoying and distracting.

2) It seems limited to the Seagate 1 tb drive within the iMac, and is happening with both the 21.5 and 27 inch models. There are a few iMacs with a Western Digital drive, and it seems that is not making any noticeable noise, however the Western Digital drive iMacs seem to be few and far between.

3) It also seems that the 2tb Hitachi drive on the Build To Order iMac is completely silent (again based on feedback from folks)

Many folks have been returning their machines (including myself) to attempt to get another one with a quieter Seagate drive or the elusive Western Digital drive. A few folks have reported success, but it seems that most of us doing the swap are getting another noisy Seagate drive.

I took my iMac back to the Apple Store on Wed and had the same experience as someone else on this post. The Genius tried to troubleshoot it at a noisy and crowded Genius bar rather than taking it to a quiet room in the back. He heard the noise but did not understand the true impact of how noisy it is in a quiet environment, but did agree to switch out to a new iMac. My new iMac is even a bit louder however my experience has shown that it is sometimes louder than other times.

As my new iMac also has a gray shadow like bar at the bottom of the screen and considerable yellow shading on the right side of the screen, this machine is going back tomorrow and I will special order a 2tb drive as I do want a quiet experience when using the iMac (and a clean LCD screen of course). Actually, I will most likely wait until after the holidays once Apple has this stuff sorted out.

I have confirmed (as of Wednesday) that Apple has not addressed this in a knowledge base bulletin, so my guess is that this sound falls in Apple's normal noise limits. As someone else mentioned here, I find it really, really hard to believe that Apple would go to the trouble of creating this big, beautiful, elegant machine with virtually silent fans only to have a hard drive grumble, grumble, grumble at every visit to a website. I know folks will say, hey, its a hard drive, it makes noise, but this sound is aggravating, and happens a LOT. Also, as the feedback has been that the 2tb drive is virtually silent, it does appear that it is possible.

My Mid 09 20" iMac also has the exact same problem but I have been unable to get Apple to look at it due to how far I live from a Apple store. Talking not Apple like my iMac came with a loud HDD, dead pixel and a buzzing fan. Though I have come to ignore them I'm still not happy.

Hi SeminolesFan and everyone on this forum:

Facing the same ANNOYING issue on my brand new i5. The grumbling is quite disturbing. I am also willing to upgrade my HD to 2TB.
Since my local store does not carry the 2TB model in stock, what are the steps that you or anyone else in this forum, recommend that I follow to exchange this i5 1TB for a 2TB?

ALL help is truly appreciated it!
Thanks

Mine (WDC WD1001FALS-40U9B0) makes the 'crushed beetles' (sorry vegans!) noise - never noticed it on the three iMacs I've had before, but common enough on a PC.

Quite annoying after the near silence of my last 24" iMac. Otherwise, stunning.

Hey guys,

I have a 2tb hitachi drive in my imac 27 inch core I7 it does make a little noise I can hear it work but it's normal. But some hard drives do make more noise than others I've been a apple tech for many years Ive noticed that a lot of hard do have a "break in period" which means that the first 70 to 100 hours of use might be a little bit noisier but that's normal because as the head of the hard drive arm mechanism is brand new so when it get's used up a little bit it won't be as loud as when it's brand new. Also the bearings get used up a bit so it operates more smoothly.

Cheers
Jeremie

Hi Sobemen,

I brought my (second) iMac back to the Apple store on Saturday, and explained the situation to the Genius, as well as the fact that my screen had some of the yellow tinting issues explained on the threads. I told him the 2tb drives seem to be less noisy (based upon feedback from the macrumors threads) and I wanted to give it a shot. They were totally cool about it, and issued me an apple gift card on the spot in the amount of the money I spent on the iMac, and I worked with an Apple Specialist to order the 2tb drive on line. No re-stocking fee applied. (I think the gift card scenario works better for the Apple store as well as they are not losing revenue on the purchase)...

Now I am waiting for my 2tb drive to arrive, and I can certainly update everyone once I get a chance to test it out. Bottom line is that some users have stated that the 2tb drive can be noisy as well, but the majority of 1tb Seagate users (including myself) have complained about the noise... I am hoping not to experience the constant grumbling with the 2tb drive!

Message was edited by: SeminolesFan

Well, I threw caution to the wind today and walked into my local Apple Store to pick up a new Core i5 iMac to replace the disaster that was my 1st Core i5.

Asked them to let me unbox it in the store (after purchase, of course) to try it out so I could deal with any defects in the store. Turns out that only saved me the potential hassle of carrying it back to the store, there was no advantage in terms of customer service, as I was to find out.

The store was noisy so I couldn't evaluate it for screen whine at reduced brightness or hard drive grumble.

The system is, for lack of a better word, awesome. The only complaint I have is that the top couple of inches seem to be the most teeny tiny bit fuzzier as compared to the rest of the screen. So the Safari gray title bar seems a little 'gritty' or 'screen door' or 'moire pattern', not the smooth wonderfulness that looks if I were to move the window down a couple of inches.

I'm at a loss to explain why, and I would have preferred that they swapped it out for another one, but the smarmy store manager was completely not going to do that without a 10% restocking fee, he was a real jerk. This despite my expressed feeling that for over $2K the machine should be able to whistle dixie and should be the most fantastic clear and vibrant display I've ever seen.

What I loved was the quote "Well, since you returned your first Core i5 without a restocking fee, we'd be hard pressed to let you return/exchange this without charging you the restocking fee on this one."

How pathetic... Nice customer service there, bud...

Regardless, I put him out of my mind and came home with it and other than the weird effect I'm pleased as punch. I thought I saw a stuck pixel in the store but I'm at a loss to find it now...

I've got until Jan 9 to decide if the coarse grainy slight weirdness on only the upper part of the screen, really only noticeable with the gray window dressing of, say, a Safari screen, becomes a deal breaker or becomes something I don't notice. Time will tell.

Why is this relevant, you ask, to this thread? =)

The 1TB hard drive is dead silent. OK, I can hear it seek when it's got lots to do, but there's no stomach grumbling sounds like others have reported. And according to System Profiler, I really lucked out and got a Western Digital model WDC WD1001FALS-40U9B0. I absolutely love WD hard drives, my last i5 was a Seagate and it was noisier than this but still quite quiet as compared to some complaints I've read about here. The fans are quiet, the system doesn't feel scorching hot on the top, and the screen color seems uniform. I will consider this my birthday gift from the universe in honor of my birthday tomorrow.

Thank the lord I'm not the only one with a 'grumble hard drive' (might copyright the name).
Mainly when on the web, and in a silent environment it is a pain.

I have Apple Care, so will phone and see what they'll do. I didn't pay £2k for a resolvable problem.

Hi Pinthea,

Great post, thanks for the feedback.. I am really surprised that the Apple store manager was so inflexible, my Apple store let me swap out my second on the spot without even firing it up...

Congrats on the WD hard drive, feedback has been pretty consistent regarding the fact that drive is much quieter running.. The WD drives have been few and far between..

The screen issue would annoy me though, as my main reason to buy the new iMac (versus a quiet and portable MacBook Pro) is the 27" inch screen... If you realize that it bugs you, I would open a case with Apple Care.. They may be able to authorize a switch/return, but then of course you will probably end up with a Seagate drive... (-: