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imac
I don't have time to write out my whole experience right now but, I had a gurgling, grumbling sound that was misdiagnosed as a loud hard drive by a "genius" the first time . When I got the computer back after having the hard drive replaced the identical sound was still there. A second diagnosis from a genius that I knew, who replace my iMac once before, properly diagnosed the issue as the optical FAN. Once this was replaced, the sound was gone (only to be replaced with other noises, but none anywhere nearly as bad as that gurgling sound).
Tip: Put your ear right up against the back of the iMac and check out the sound of each individual fan in their specific location. The optical fan is in the bottom left, facing the back. I heard it there, and even disputed with the first "genius" who convinced me that it was the Hard Drive, way up at the top where the sound was not. A "genius" with a good acoustical perception should compare the sound with another model in the store.
Yes, Apple makes noisy products. For sure they know they are noisy (hard drives) and they don't bother. Surely that's a savings solution, just to make some more bucks on all of us. There are many solutions on the market which has almost no noise. Why not use WD Green HDDs at least in a custom built iMacs with SSD as a primary drive? Why should I hear the buzz from this noisy Hitachi monster? C'mon Apple, that's just a shame!
And the most sad thing with 2011 iMacs is you cannot replace your drive easily cause the drives are intentionally proprietary!!!
So Apple now mean NO FREEDOM..
That just stinks!
if someone was able to replace the HDD to less noisy one (WD Green series for example), please share your experience here. Since Apple now uses a proprietary drives with a custom firmware and extended SATA power connector, people report some side effects after installing non-Apple HDD. There is still no any info in the Internet regarding how to overcome the side effects (HD fan goes nuts). OWC is currently the only company who knows the secret. Can anyone share if they were able to install non-apple HDD in 2011 iMacs without any issues?
Well, I should share my experience. I had a silent 27-inch iMac that I bought September 2011 with a 1 TB Western Digital HDD installed. Too bad I had to replace the hard drive because of an error I was getting with Apple Hardware Test. This new one is a WD1001FALS-403AA0 (I think the old one was the same, but definitely WD), and yes, it is noisy! This is not Apple quality I'm used to. Humming and vibrating my desk...
Anyway, I think that there are definitely silent 27-inch recent iMacs. I had one! This sunday I'm taking it to the Apple Store to have it looked at and have the drive replaced.
hi deepnarc, can you tell me the year/model number of iMac that you changed hard drive on?
you mentioned changing the temp sesor. did you have to change the temp sensor due to apple's hard drive temperature sensors causing the drive-cooling fan to constantly run at top speed?
i bought my imac in december of 2009. maybe i won't have the issues that dizzydown describes.
Product Name IMAC 27"/4850-512MB Product Number Z0GF
| Model Name: | iMac |
| Model Identifier: | iMac11,1 |
| Processor Name: | Intel Core i7 |
| Processor Speed: | 2.8 GHz |
DizzyDown wrote:
if someone was able to replace the HDD to less noisy one (WD Green series for example), please share your experience here. Since Apple now uses a proprietary drives with a custom firmware and extended SATA power connector, people report some side effects after installing non-Apple HDD. There is still no any info in the Internet regarding how to overcome the side effects (HD fan goes nuts). OWC is currently the only company who knows the secret. Can anyone share if they were able to install non-apple HDD in 2011 iMacs without any issues?
I did the replacement without issue. The info is on page 27 of this discussion.
puddytat wrote:
hi deepnarc, can you tell me the year/model number of iMac that you changed hard drive on?
you mentioned changing the temp sesor. did you have to change the temp sensor due to apple's hard drive temperature sensors causing the drive-cooling fan to constantly run at top speed?
i bought my imac in december of 2009. maybe i won't have the issues that dizzydown describes.
Product Name IMAC 27"/4850-512MB Product Number Z0GF
Model Name: iMac Model Identifier: iMac11,1 Processor Name: Intel Core i7 Processor Speed: 2.8 GHz
imac 27" 2009
what I reported circumvents the issues.
DizzyDown wrote:
Well, 2009 iMac is not the same as 2011 - there are no proprietary hard drives used.
BTW 2007 iMacs could use any HDDs without issues, so Apple intentionally makes things harder and harder.
The 2009 27" iMac uses a proprietary fan to hard drive sensor cable. What I posted is the work around so that when you replace your hard drive with a different model drive the fan does not go crazy.
deepnarc, please let me know if there are any gotchas when restoring from time machine? i found this set of instructions linked below. thanks for your patience.
puddytat wrote:
deepnarc, please let me know if there are any gotchas when restoring from time machine? i found this set of instructions linked below. thanks for your patience.
I didn't run into any issues.
My new iMac 27, purchased last November has a Hitachi 2TB HDD. Since I first started it, it has make a randomish grumbling sound when accessing. This is probably normal activity (seeking), however it is louder than expected. Even with the noise, I could have been happy with the product.
But then, when it stops accessing, the HDD made a similar noise, except with a constant rhythm that sounds like a deisel engine idling, or an old car trying to start. It happened once every 30 seconds, or 3 times in a row every 10 seconds, but whenever it made that noise, Activity Monitor showed no disk activity.
I took the drive to an Apple Store and the genious tried to hear it, but ambient noise drowned it out. However, he had no problem writing down my complaint of "hard drive too loud" and quickly offered to replace it under warranty. I thought this was excellent service, as expected from Apple. But after reading these posts, it seemed like maybe he had heard about the problem from others.
The store replaced the drive with an identical Hitachi model, and as soon as I started it up at home, it made the exact same noises. I had to conclude that the units were not defective, but the brand and/or model of drive.
I took the iMac back to a different Apple Store and said I would not accept Hitachi as a replacement. As before, they assured me they had no way to specify a replacement part brand. Now I just got a phone call saying Hitachi is all they have, and if it passes their diagnostic tests (which it will), I will have to take it to an Apple Authorized Reseller to try and get a different brand.
What I'm going to do instead is insist that Apple fix the problem. The drive should be virtually silent. If you bought a brand new car and the fan belt squealed, you would expect the problem fixed under warranty. This is the same kind of problem in my book.
It's stupid that you have to pay for a solution that Apple should provide. Today I had a very intense and tiresome fight with a genius at Apple store Regent Street. They didn't replace the HD and were not willing to try again. Then I asked for the store manager. After some half an hour the manager agreed to replace the hard drive. But I don't know if I'm going to get the same or worst.
This is unbelievable! Hello Apple??? I'm a user for fifteen years and never had this kind of issue. The iMac is supposed to be ultraquiet: "And the three fans inside iMac have been tuned to be ultraquiet, so you hardly know it’s on." Hardly know it's on? With these noisy hard drives you'll know it's on even from a distance.
These WD drives, the 1001FALS are junk and noisy. I know that the first one I had was WD but, I knew today that is was another model. Then I took a look at some non-vibrating iMacs around the store and they all had the ST31000528AS seagate drives fitted. Well, I can't replace tha hard drive myself because of voiding warrranty and also because the fans would go crazy!
So hoping to get a good hard drive this time... otherwise I'll be a very unhappy Apple user. Probably I will ask for a refund.
Spinnn wrote:
Well, I can't replace tha hard drive myself because of voiding warrranty and also because the fans would go crazy!
It's not where you want to go, probably, but there is software out there that controls fan speeds.
My 27" mid 2010 iMac has the ST31000528AS Seagate drive..... and its very noisy. Its all hit and miss. Not had chance since i got the comp last july to take it to apple and get it replaced (use the comp for work everyday) but even when i do, i know it will still be a gamble whether i'll still have the same noise but from a different drive
Its *****, especially when my previous 21" 2009 model with the 500gb Seagate drive was silent..... and actually still is!
...And what's the point of having a SATA 6 Gb interface, fitting the iMacs with SATA 3 Gb, and then not enabling the user to upgrade the hard drive? I mean, Apple invests in recent technology (SATA 6 Gb), underuses it by fitting slower hardware, and then doesn't enable to user to upgrade in an easy way. Very strange policy...
27" iMac hard drive noise
