27" iMac hard drive noise

I have fixed the grumbling disk problem on my iMac! The regular disk activity/grumbling is gone, and the iMac now just softly hums which is fine! 🙂

turned out the culprit wasn't an mds process; it was a process due to a background programme which was running and the demo time had expired and it needed authorising.

So I'd recommend checking what demo-mode third-party software you have installed/running on your iMac.

You could use 'Activity Monitor' (in Utilities) to view processes.

The ones running as 'root' are probably best left alone but the processes running under your own user name should be examined more closely; for example by checking the '% CPU' for them.

Through this process I was able to determine which software was causing the 'grumbling' on my iMac, and then subsequently deinstalling it.

i just received my new 27" iMac with 1TB hard drive last week. it was manufactured only weeks ago at the beginning of April 2010 and shipped directly from China. i, too, have noticed that my hard drive is audible when a large application or file loads. however, it has become much less noticeable over the past week and was never even close to being considered loud. it's not that i think it's quieter based on having become use to it. i noticed it once when i started up the computer for the first time, installing software, etc. and just now when i came across this thread i tested it again by turning off my music (which i'm always listening to on very low).

i would assume that this is normal based on the manufacturer of of hard drive. just like how some super drives sound different than others when a DVD is inserted/ejected.

Just adding my +1 to this issue.

Picked up my new 27" i5 a few weeks ago. Funnily enough, this issue was not there from the start... it seems to have appeared somewhere along the line.

I can't quite pin-point exactly when it appeared but it might be around the time i updated by Bootcamp drivers to 3.1 although having read this thread it doesn't seem to be a dual-boot only issue. The noises are there whether I am running Mac OSX or Windows 7.

Really REALLY quite annoying, i'm at a loss for what to do. A small part of me hopes that this is fixable via driver update because I really cannot be bothered lugging a 27" computer around to a noisy store where the person looking at it probably won't even be able to hear it. But in a silent room, with an (otherwise) silent computer it's very noticeable, and very VERY annoying 😟

"After all, a grumbling hard drive is not stopping you from using the computer"

On the contrary the grumbling is hindering me from recording audio - especially when recording acoustic instruments - because it is actually loud enough for the mic to pick it up.

I've just gotten my i7 back after a 2 week stint in an apple store (new fan, new superdrive that hopefully won't scratch all my cds/dvds, and a new HD). On initial boot up it didn't have anymore grumbling but when I restored my old user profile the grumbling was back (albeit less severe).

This would lead me to assume it is a software issue

i bought a new imac and had to return it due to heavy backlight bleed. it was working perfectly. turns out the first one was manufactured in the US and had a WD drive, the new one was made in China and came with a Seagate. i also had to do a fresh install of the OS after a few days, it's worked fine since though (what's up with that? the install is corrupted right from the factory????). i did several days worth of stress-testing in OSX and Windows, the hardware is all good, no problems except for the noisy drive.
i'm a PC technician and i've learned 2 things, 1) Seagate drives are usually noisy and 2) they're no more prone to failure than WD drives. if anything i probably see more bad WD drives. if your iMac came with a Seagate that isn't noisy you're just not noticing it or it's a fluke (and of course it SHOULDN'T be noisy constantly)

Hi, I might be posting this in the wrong thread but...

I have a 20-inch Early 2008 with a 250GB WDC WD2500AAJS-40VWA1 hard drive. This has been bugging me lately- whenever I try to access Finder, or any of the folders in it, it makes this weird rumbling noise, not tapping though.

My warranty ran out February, and how much would a HDD exchange cost at Apple?

We have leased through Apple/Quickrent two top of the line iMac i7's and have already returned one of these machines and received a replacement - the new iMac has the same problem.

Research tells me that this is a well known problem since 2009 and there has been no fix for it so far. I can only imagine that it is a fault with the HDDs themselves or e way they interface with the iMac.

Like I said, we have had three brand new machines delivered now and two of them are noisy - not good enough Apple!

I will be calling again tomorrow to organize another replacement or a HDD upgrade when possible.

Taffy2112 wrote:
We have leased through Apple/Quickrent two top of the line iMac i7's and have already returned one of these machines and received a replacement - the new iMac has the same problem.

Research tells me that this is a well known problem since 2009 and there has been no fix for it so far. I can only imagine that it is a fault with the HDDs themselves or e way they interface with the iMac.

Like I said, we have had three brand new machines delivered now and two of them are noisy - not good enough Apple!

I will be calling again tomorrow to organize another replacement or a HDD upgrade when possible.

can you confirm the 2 noisy ones are Seagate drives?
like i said in my previous post, it's the technology. i think we're noticing it more because the iMac is otherwise so quiet. if you had a standard desktop with PSU and case fans spinning you wouldn't notice the HD noise as much. my first one with the WD was fairly silent but i know Seagate drives do tend to be noisier

I have a 20" 2.0GHz 250G HD which I recently upgraded to a 1.5T Seagate ST31500341AS hard drive on my own. I then started noticing a very low "grinding" noise - similar to the one you hear with disk access but not quite as loud. I am not positive if this noise was present with the old HD which was also a Seagate (I may have just started listening closer for any problems there may be). I've also monitored the temperature and it usually runs at 49C using SeaTools - I'm curious what temp some of the others with this problem are running at and if this may be related to the noise.

Is the sound like a ticking? My iMac 27" i5 makes a sound like a HD write about every second. Like a clock. I also have nothing running. I also noticed if I put the iMac to sleep within a few minutes it pulls itself out of sleep.
I have filed a help request with Apple Support.

Is this ticking write noise what others are hearing?
I have a 1TB Drive. Model: ST31000528ASQ

Mine is not a ticking noise - upon further investigation I think it may be a slight vibrating noise from the case. If I place my hand on the back or bottom of the computer right below the usb ports, the noise immediately stops. It sounds pretty much identical to a grinding hard drive though. Still a bit worried about the hd temp though, it has gone as high as 52C recently.

Add me to the list. I turned this on and said to myself "Wow what a display!" 2 minutes later I asked my mum to listen to the noise the hard drive was making. 1 minute after that I was online. First webpage I opened -on my brand new 2.93ghz i7 27inch with 1tb Seagate- was a google search for other people with the same problem. My happy day becomes a sad day. All other macs I've had were nice and quiet. In my experience this was one of the things that set macs apart from windows machines. It's uncomfortably loud and the same grumbling/percolating noise that has been described here.

Same here - love the new iMac - hate the Seagate drive noise. Can't beleive Apple still use the same drive as last years model knowing how many people returned them because of the noise. It is really annoying despite knowing the hard drive itself is fine.

I believe the hard drive itself is not at fault. At first, my Seagate was silent. The noise appeared after a few days. Then I replaced the Seagate with a Velociraptor. At first, the Velociraptor was silent too. Then after a few days, the same "grumbling" sound appeared. It doesn't seem to really impact anything, but it is driving me nuts because every time someone visits my house they are asking why the iMac is making this "coffee making" sound. Maybe this is an issue with the I/O controller? Mine is an Intel ICH8-M AHCI.