MBP "ball dropping" sound on the left side?

Could just be your hard drive....

Yes, I hear this noise also on the same drive and also on a Toshiba 120GB 5400rpm (although it's a much quieter noise on that one). It seems like it's part of the normal operation (it's not the drive parking while sleeping) and doesn't cause any problem. I know some drives do something they call thermal recalibration which involves moving the head around and I think this could be related although I don't know for sure.

I've not heard this sort of sound coming from other
Apple laptops. Is anyone else hearing it? It's
certainly happening right where the hard drive is.
I've got the 100GB 7200 RPM drive.

I have the 100 GB 7200 RPM upgrade and hear this occasionally as well. I think it is normal.

If so, this is the same "noise" I have heard and have been discussed over at the MacMini forums. It's the nature of some hard drives (namely Seagate). I've had my MacMini for over a year and no problems with it having this clunk...knock on wood.

-Imo

Hi there mate,

I have exactly the same noise on my 2Ghz stock model. It is exactly as you described as is extremely annoying when the computer is used in a quite room.

I tried switching the power save hard drive sleep option off but that does not solve it.

I was beginning to think i was the only one. It basically sounds like one of the icons bouncing on the dock except no icons are bouncing. It occurs on my laptop every few minutes.

I would love to know if this is a fault.

I think we are getting a little hypersentive and maybe hypochondriacish over noises in here 😉

I believe the noise is the hard drive. It's normal. My much older PB makes the same sound and it's been running strong for over 2 years. I get the noise in my MBP. I guess it's just background noise to me at this point.

Hi there Harry,

Your right, noise with the macbook has become a bit of hot topic at the moment.

I am a new mac switcher and have in the past used IBM, toshiba and dell laptops and i have to say none of them emmitted this strange noise from the hard drive, so to me it is not normal.

I know it will not damage the hard drive but the questions is whether i am prepared to live with it. I guess only time can tell as i shall give the macbook a fair trial period to gage this.

As long as it doesn't happen while the drive is seeking data, and causes the computer to freeze momentarily, it is completely normal. Laptop hard drives park their read/write heads on a ramp besides the platters (called rampload technology). The sound is coming from the locking mechanism that locks the heads in place on the ramp.

The drive parks its heads during periods of inactivity for two reasons:
(1) Power conversation - keeping the heads aligned over a specific track on the platters requires the drive to constantly monitor and correct their position. Parking the heads on the ramp eliminates this and, therefore, conserves power.
(2) Data safety - dropping or bumping the drive can cause a headcrash if it occurs while the heads are loaded, whereas the same thing happening while the heads are unloaded is unlikely to do any harm.

I have this sound as well - I have the dispatch box in hand and am now reluctant to send the laptop in to be repaired..

If you were thinking of sending it in just because of the "ball dropping" noise, and your computer works fine, and the noise doesn't bother you if you know it's normal - then you don't need to send it in for repair.

there is also the heat issue when the laptop is charging..

but again, reading the forums here, seems to be normal.. it does get very warm and I never hear the fan spin up to the next level from the idle spin..