27" iMac hard drive noise

Derek, you may try to reinstall your Mac OS from scratch on a clean drive, if you ever upgraded it from a previous Mac OS X version. Sometimes after the upgrade the files become poorly aligned and that causes more seeking noise from the drive. I am not sure for 100% though, but clean install is always working better.

Here is another thread which may be useful

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=850375

people claim that replacing Seagate drive with Hitachi 2 Tb HDD (which I have) helped them. Some claim they changed Seagate to other Seagate and it was dead silent as a result, so there are different Seagate drives. But anyway it won't be fully silent they tell - earlier iMacs were more queit. But I confirm that Hitachi drive does not have a hungry stomach rumbling, it mostly has a spinning white noise.

I also found an interesting detail that the seeking sound depends on which HDD partition your system is placed (if you have more than 1 partition on your drive). The disk speed vary between partitions in test for about 20-30%! And the read/write sound tone is different..

You can also try to clone the contents of your drive to an external drive with Disk Utility (it's very easy to do), then run the system from external drive, format your internal drive and reinstall mac os x from scratch on your internal drive. That helped me some time ago to speed the system up and get rid of some seeking noise. That's useful in case you had OS upgraded over a previous version (Lion over Snow Leopard).

Thanks Dizzydown,

This post is interesting. I have again forwarded this to the senior apple care member that I'm complaining to (no luck though so far). Thanks for providing me with this. As I've said before, we all need to work together here and keep going to try and get the problem solved for us.

I the post you gave me the last person on the page talks about how you can't concentrate due to the noise - this is EXACLY my complaint. How can I undertake detailed music editing with this noise in the background? This is exactly why I got a mac, because I was used to near silent machines. Why was I used to this? Because they were! (or still are depending on the model). So, no wonder I can't get used to this clicking/tapping/grumbling/growling as I've never experienced it before with a mac and, therefore, I shouldn't have to experience it now!

A simple solution is the following:

- get your iPhone or other recording device and hold it near the botto, record a boot up. Hold it on the top of the iMac (without touching) and record a boot up. Your iPhone should clearly catch all the grumbling.

- next, start up a podcast recording where you would typically demonstate some app -- say iPhoto. During the podcast, launch iPhoto...the native microphone of the iMac should catch the grumbling sound (to a lesser extent though). Clearly a podcast recording shouldn't catch the grumbling sound of the harddrive -- what is an iMac for if you can't even do that!

- next, buy a set of headphones which isolate noise (those with the cups that enclose your ear) and take the iPhone, iMac & headphones to the genius bar. The genius will gladly put on the head phones and listen to the bootup -- NOTE: This it the only way they can acknowledge the problem as the Apple store is quite loud. Let them hear the boot up and then tell them it also appears on the pod casts -- preventing you from using the computer as expected.

The genious will order a warranty replacement under those conditions as it's correctly diagnosed and demonstrated.

Thanks.

Mike

OK DeepNarc, I have all of my parts. I'm ready to do the swap this weekend.

But I did read in a few places that the Green drives are considerably slower than the current drives.

I'd like to know if since swapping out the drive for the caviar green, you have noticed a change in speed when running multiple applications? I do video editing on some occasions with this iMac.

thx.

Mike95,

When I took the machine itself into the genius bar I got the guy to put his ear against the machine. He agreed that it needed replaced so someone has heard the sound. The problem is that they simply replace it with another 1TB seagate - took it home, did a time machine restore and it started to make the same sound again.

I have been back into the same mac store and they have told me that they MUST use this drive - the grumbling model. I've no choice. So, all I'd get is another seagate 1TB under my apple care. This is my 3rd 1TB seagate in this machine and they all make the same noise. I've a 1TB seagate (same model) on a mac pro at work and it too makes this noise. So, unless I pay for another drive and get this sorted myself (which I'll probably in the end have to do) apple care are no use.

Dizzydown,

This is a very interesting page.

More evidence of the same issue I and so many otheres are going through. Good to see that the posts in your link say it's not normal to hear this level of noise from a mac and people have had the drive changes by apple due to this noise issue.

Also, the last post is very interesting about someone going to John Lewis and placing their ear right up against a machine that has the same model number of hard drive but hearing nothing. This is exactly what I have done, in John Lewis Glasgow and the Glasgow mac store. I know these stores are not very quiet but I can assure you you'd be able to hear my macs grumbling about the level of noise in these stores. I know this because the guy at the genius bar during my first repair visit heard it. In addition, I can hear it with my headphones on! However, I had my ear right against the back of the 27'' imac in these stores while someone was operating the mac for me (running programs such as garage band) and, with one finger in my other ear I couldn't hear anything

I simply cannot work out why some macs using the seagate ST31000528AS drive are quiet (like the ones on the shop floors I'm talking about) and others like my mac produce the annoying grumbling sound. The shop floor macs have computer demanding programs such as logic. I also ran logic (in the mac store, John Lewis macs don't have this installed which is why I used garage band here) and heard hardly anything from an apple store shop floor mac (having my ear right up against where the hard drive is located) - yet at home mine is unbelievably noisy.

Also, when I first got my drive replaced I insisted on taking my mac through into a back room of the store and clicked on a number of sites that I knew produced the loud grumbling noise. I didn't hear anything, thought - bingo problem solved, and took my mac home happy. Did a time machine restore and back to square one! Noisy grumbling. However, I'm not sure if the restore has is the problem as my mac made this grumbling noise straight out of the box.

So many questions I know but can anyone answer any if these?

deepnarc, I've got a 2 Tb Green drive, and one more qustion - I want to defeat my spinning noise. I know when the HDD is not rotating the iMac is dead silent. So do you hear any spinning noise from your green drive? I.e fan-like sound? I just want to make it dead silent, I don't want to change one sound to another one. So do you hear your iMac when it's loaded and is idle? I also assume your room is perfectly silent.

The iMac has been everything I wanted again since I replaced the drive. I have no complaints whatsoever. There is no trading one annoying noise for another. Believe it or not, it's dead silent as I type these words. Once in a very very long while the system does enough work for the fans to be audible. This is rare. Once in a while I do hear a seek noise, but it's an agreeable sound, lasts about a half a second, is not very loud, and doesn't happen consistently. There's just no downside.

deepnarc, thanks alot for the answer, I hope I'll eventually get rid of this noise without any new problems.

I've recently read the book about Steve Jobs and almost every page says how demanding he was for every detail inside his products. Some computers even had no fans to be silent. I just can't understand how they could start selling these "silent" iMacs. It's especially weird because Apple makes a very good profit reselling these "great" components.

What I understand is why they tell the problem does not exist and it's fine - after you point them to the problem. That's what Steve was doing in such cases according to the book.

Derek,

You have an iMac. If the store isn't giving you satisfaction, try to contact Apple directly.

Mine is dead silent since the hard drive was changed. It may be a Seagate for a Seagate,

but it worked for me.

Michel,

I have been in contact with an apple care senior member, but still no luck in getting this issue solved. Silly question I know but do you have a 1TB seagate model number ST31000528AS?

I've tried seagate for seagate twice but it's not worked for me I'm afraid. It's my 3rd seagate in my machine but there's been no change to the level of noise. I know it's hard to believe that apple are now just ignoring my complaint but this is what is happening. I've been back into my mac store and they have told me that, if I bring my mac back in they will not fit any other drive apart from the above model. No matter how much I stand there and complain. I'm at a dead end but stuck with a noisy grumbling mac.

Derek, if you have 2010 iMac it would be possible to replace your hard drive without issues with running fans. Here is a guide and I think any Apple service can help you. You just need to buy an optical drive sensor online and maybe WD Green 1 , 1.5 or 2 Tb which are very quiet. The services typically charge from USD 100 for hard drive replacement.

http://www.amfiteatar.org/content/view/155/57/lang,en/

DizzyDown,

As apple are contuning to ignore my emails there's no doubt that my only solution to this is to spend the money and get it sorted myself. I know other Hard disks are noisy but there is no doubt that the main problem here is this 1TG seagate. I just cannot understand how i can put my ear to a mac in the mac store, get someone to open up logic or garage band and hear nothing. These machines have the seagate. If I did this in the mac store with my machine (as I have done when I first took it back in) you can clearly hear the grumbling even with all of the noise in the store. It makes no sense and I've asked apple for an answer to this question and they've not got back to me. Thanks though for your suggestions, much appreciated. I'll just need to wait until I've the available funds to get the thing sorted myself, even though my apple care agreement is still valid. What a sad situation from a company such as apple.

I think that Seagate drives in 2011 iMacs were updated (probably firmware), but you simply cannot install 2011 drive in 2010 iMac because Apple changed the connector there to a proprietary.

The problem is after some years it would be impossible to find a compatible HDD for replacement.

I think it will be my last iMac , because Apple systems are becoming too much locked and proprietary for the money you pay. They obviously assume people should buy a new computer every 2-3 years without possibility to upgrade it. And they claim themselves a "Green" company.