2011 Macbook Pro Hard Drive noise.

I received "It's performing as expected" as the short and final answer from Apple's engineers on this matter. That was after a short odyssey in trying to resolve my disappointment in hearing a constant, fan like, noise from my my new, 2011, MBP 15" (MC723LL/A) in a quiet office. First, I called Apple Support and the rep had me reset the SMC and PRAM. The support rep showed concern and tried to help, but the resets did not resolve the noise that I later localized to the hard drive. The rep suggested taking the laptop to a local Apple Authorized Repair Center and I did. I emphasized that the tech needed to listen to my laptop in a quiet environment before leaving it. I picked it up, after several days, with the issue unresolved. I checked it before leaving the store and could still hear the noise. I called attention to the noise and the tech said even if he could hear it he couldn't do anything because MBP passed all the diagnostic tests. He told me to call Apple Support and arrange for it to be sent in. I did that. I dutifully backed everything up, cloned the OS and BootCamp partitions, and sent it off. The turnaround time was very quick, but the only thing that changed was that it came back with a clean install of OS X. I called back and spoke with the same tech that arranged the shipping to the Apple Repair Center and reported that the noise issue was still unresolved. I attempted to record the noise from two different digital cameras, but the built-in mics produced too much distortion. Finally, I captured it using a Zoom H2 digital recorder. I put the mic on the right side of the laptop (hard drive location), next I put the recorder 1" to the right of the laptop. I rested my palm on the right (which dampened the sound), then took it off. I did that a couple of times. Then I put the MBP to sleep and woke it up a couple of times. I repeated the same procedure with the recorder positioned about a foot away from the laptop. I checked the MP3 recording and the difference was unmistakable. I emailed it to the Apple Support Rep and that's when I got the reply above. I have since replaced the stock Toshiba 750GB (MK7559GSXF) with a Hitachi 160GB, and lastly with a Western Digital Scorpio Black 750GB. The noise is noticeable in a quiet room from all of them. A SSD would likely fix this issue, but the cost is too prohibitive. I'll leave the Scorpio in because I've realized a definite improvement in performance with little difference in temperature. I've listened to one friend's 2010 13" MBP and another's 2010 15" MBP and neither make this noise when idle, before logging in, surfing, or checking email. I'll live with the annoyance when I'm in a quiet environment, but I don't believe a sound like this should present in a machine of this caliber and expense. Other thoughts: All of the drives I tried were secure. However, there is uninsulated, open, space between the top of the hard drive and the palm rest. My guess is that the aluminum acts as a good sound conductor. I hope this saves some time and frustration for the next person who approaches Apple Support with this issue.

I had the same problem with Outlook 2011. For those that had the same problem I fixed it by loading Outlook, go to Outlook -> Preferences -> Notifications & Sounds, and disabling the "No new messages" sound. If you click the play button for that sound it sounds like a little scratching noise.

This is exactly like mine, although yours seems a bit louder. Is this something to be concerned about, the general consensus seems to suggest that it is just the more powerful hard drive working at a 'much' faster rate, which is what is creating the noise. Quite annoying though. Thanks for making me think that my hard drive isn't in meltdown after just 3 weeks.

Same problem on my MBP 15. Hitachi HD HTS545050B9A302. I had a HD issue (it broke down) a few days after receiving my laptop and I thought the noise I could hear before that was caused by the almost broken HD. I took it back to the Apple store and they kept it for more than a week to replace the HD.

I've just received my MBP back with a new HD but the noise is still there though the HD doesn't have any issue. Actually I'm very disappointed by Apple. Hopefully they will address this problem.

Greetings, thank you to kibbynet for going through all the stages of troubleshooting that I would rather not (see May 2 post for a comprehensive post detailing kibbynet's methodical approach to resolving the problem of the noisy 2011 MBPs only to have Apple respond with basically 'just deal with it'). Now that I know that it would be pointless to replace a HD (aside from gettting an SSD, which probably would fix the problem), I have tried to tackle the issue from the outside. Kibbynet suggests as I speculate that the aluminum body acts as an ideal sound conductor. I suspect that Apple will address this in the near future by putting in some insulation on the newer models and possibly recalling ours to add some insulation. In the meantime I have experimented with various materials to act as exterior sound absorbers. The best thing that we have found so far is a human hand although the problem is that we can't keep one there the whole time. So, I tried some 'Moongel' sound dampeners used on drums to absorb sound vibrations. It was a waste of time sime they don't have enough mass to absorb vibrations on metal. Thus, the best thing that I have found is Silly Putty. No joke. I am using one eggs worth of Silly Putty placed over the right side under my hand and it brings the sound down to about 50% of what it is when my whole hand is placed on that spot. I know, Silly Putty, not the best idea for fixing a problem with a $2000 computer but it appears as though Apple can't come up with anything better. So far it is coming off of the aluminum just fine; I will repost if I find any problems with it. I am going to get more, I suspect it will take about 3 eggs of Silly Putty to really get the sound down to match my hand. NOTE: if you try this remember to always pull the putty off when you close your computer. It's probably a very bad idea to get it on your screen especially the anti-glare screens.

peace...

You are quite welcome Mr. Meowgi. I think you are on the right track with the Silly Putty. However, I want to attack this problem internally. Ideally you'd want a material that is silicone based, like Silly Putty (but more solid), so that it dampens the sound and allows heat conduction. I'm considering placement of a silicone pad over the hard drive (e.g. like this). That may dampen the sound and keep the aesthetic of the palm rest. I think that some user engineered fix is the most likely resolution to this annoyance until higher capacity SSDs become more affordable.

At what distance was this recording made (mic to source)

I have the same noise. Got a MBK Pro 15", 750HD a few weeks ago. Hear the noise, returned it as a DOA and just got a new one back a few days ago. Same problem, however, but this time I was able to locate the problem. If you press with you fingers on the right handrest, just below the arrow keys about an inch from the lower edge of the chassis (just about where you would naturally rest your palm when writing) the noise dissapears!

It seems this is an acoustic vibration from the HD that's being amplified by the aluminum body. I guess this problem is a combination of the specific harddrive (I don't know if this noise also appears on 500GB versions of the 15" MBK Pro) and the design of the aluminum body.

This noise is very noticeable in a quite environment, like my office, and I am surprised to see this in one I consider to be the best laptop on the planet.

Apple, how can you solve this problem?

thanks

So I have the same problem and agree with your findings. Perhaps putting the moongel or similar inside your MBP, on the harddrive, between the drive and underneath the palmrest, would fix the problem. My only concern is my warranty....

Apple, you can do better, help us fix the annoying problem.

thanks

Just an update on my hard drive noise issue. I had the hard drive noise on my new 2011, it was driving me crazy. Had it replaced (very helpful customer service at the SoHo store), but all my hopes and dreams were killed again when the second macbook had the same hard drive noise. I returned the second machine and am back to my very old G4. I keep checking these posts to see if there is any apple solution (silly putty doesn't count!). I really need (want?) the new macbook. Please Apple reduce the SSD price or fix this.

I'm experiencing the same problem. It's the soft, whirring fan-like sound that is only noticeable in a quiet room ... but it's still pretty annoying, especially given the $2000 + I paid. It's interesting to read how the sound seems to start two weeks into it -- mine did as well. Any thoughts on why? Should I expect this mac to die prematurely? I bought this a few weeks ago for FCP. This is my first mac, so aside from the annoying noise... worth the money? Thanks.

15" MBP 2.2 GHz quad i7

Hitachi 500gb 7200 rpm hdd

I think we can tend to be too forgiving of Apple, because it's Apple. But if you pay $2000 for a new MBP and it makes a lot of noise - that's substandard. Forget the silly putty. Return it and insist on a replacement.

Of course that one might just hard freeze 😉

Hey BYOH. I just bought my Macbook Pro 13" brand new off the Apple website and I'm have the same problem with the Hitachi 500gb 5400rpm HD. What did you end up doing? What should I do? Any advice would be great! Thanks for contributing!

Update: I'm returning my current MBP (the noise is just too annoying in a quiet office) and I ordered a new MBP with the oem 128gb SSD....hopefully this will get rid of the constant whirring sound???

After 3 weeeks, I lost patience with this annoying clicking that occurs especially when in a quiet room. The noise occurs every approx. every 15 seconds. When I approached the authorized re-seller and apple, neither woud accept the return for the noise bc it was after the 14 day sale. So after 2 hours arguing with apple cs dept., they finally agreed to send a new 750 GB Toshiba HD replacement, which did exactly the same thing.rrrrrr.

so, i decided to replace it on my own with an old toshiba 500gb hd from my previous mbp, now this spendy $2500 system is finally quieter using a 4 year old used HD!

Apple should look into a recall of all 750 Toshiba HD's for 2011. Until then, I've lost a great deal of respect for Apple's once great CS, and lack of consumer action to intiate a recall of all Toshiba's 2011 750GB HDs for mbps.