Q: Mac mini (late 2012) HDD ticking/clicking noises

I have often wondered if that to be the case as I did not slide the mother board out of the back of the case to do my drive swap.  Those guide pins are a PITA to get seated just right.  I think with that who antenna grate being half moon shaped as it is also plays a part just due to how it is designed with trying to get two points on a curve to line up just right.

I am glad to hear about your success with your upgrade.  I am very pleased with both minis that I did.  Also note that I am a first time Mac user switching from Windows with these machines and so far I am impressed with what I see, but that said don't feel compelled to say that I think one platform is better than the other as both have their good and bad points.  I just wished everyone would get on board and make things work together easier.

Did you do these upgrades to late 2012 minis or were they older? With the "doubler" did your drives reman discrete or are they now Fusion Drives?

Yes, late base model 2012 minis.  I didn't use the data doubler kit. I just replaced the stock drive with a 128 GB SSD.  I also upgraded to 8 gigs of RAM while I was at it.

Same problem with me. I bought late 2012 mac mini with i7 and 1TB HDD, I can sometimes hear the noise, do you have a method to low down the noise？

It might be the same sound as on mine late 2012 Mac mini with 1TB Fusion drive. Is it a very deep sound, like you get when knocking on top of the case, of course not that loud? Except for the deep frequency the occurences of the sound is the same as you would expect from the harddisk head moving as it appear only during disk activity caused by file scanning or similar.

Hello everyone. My first post here. I've been an Apple user since the very beginning, that is from the Mac 128K. I've worked with many Apple computers and I've never had any problem... Until I bought my mac mini(s) (2.3 GHz, i7, 1 Tb, 3615QM). My first mac mini had the video issue referenced above. Apple replaced it. My second mac mini had the ticking issue. Apple replaced it again. Now I'm with my third mac mini and it's got the ticking issue too. I've got an external Iomega drive which is as silent as a mouse and that brand new mac mini is ticking like a clock! Never has an Apple computer been ticking.

The video issue definitely is an issue. I believe the ticking issue is an actual issue too. In fact, it's been an issue for long and it's not right Apple didn't correct the firmware to get rid of it. The issue's described here:

http://mymacfixes.blogspot.fr/2009/06/how-do-i-stop-clicking-noise-from-hard.htm l

As you can read "Even when this isn't loud enough to annoy the user, it causes excessive wear and premature aging of the drive."

I don't know what to do now because I don't trust that mac mini any longer. The HDD may not last for long and there is nothing worse than an unreliable HDD. A true sword of Damocles. I'm thinking of calling Apple again to get a refund, and wait and see. Would Steve Jobs have let that mac mini out?

For the record, I'm also unpleased with the Finder and the Mail application. Both are bug-ridden. The worst bug being that the finder can't memorize a window size and presentation. Only when I log as root can I make the finder remember windows properties.

I'd be glad if you could give me your opinion.

Incidently, I'm French.

I installed the hdapm software (downloaded here: http://mckinlay.net.nz/hdapm/) that is mentioned in your link and it has worked so far. No more annoying water droplet torture.

I must admit I thought about it for a while but I eventually refrained from installing hdpam. Two reasons. The first is that software is  older than the mac mini and you can't know what side effects it may have on the HDD, you know something like "The cure is worse than the disease". The second reason and the most important is it's not proper/correct/appropriate to have to do something like that on a brand new computer. If hdapm were any good, why Apple didn't implement it? hdapm has been out for long. Also, if/when I return my mac mini to Apple, I don't want to have made matters worse.

I am having the same random clicking sounds. I just purchased a custom MacMini - 2.6Ghz processor upgrade and 1 TB fusion drive. I added Crucial 3rd party RAM to get it to 16 GB. The MacMini was very snappy, I transfered my User from my Mac Book Pro and started to push it by loading up After Effects, Photoshop and Maxon Cinema 4D. The MacMini was doing great. Perfect for what I needed at home to mess around. Then I got the clicking. So since it was brand new I took to the Apple store in Brea, CA. The Genius thought the problem was weird so he ordered a replacement drive. A few days later I drop it off. When I get it back the techs had removed the SSD part of the Fusion drive and put in another 1 TB HDD, giving me 2 TB HDD. So I took it back complained and they assured me it would be replaced correctly. The main genius said the HDD was fine and that it just need a firmeware update and he had no idea why the other tech did this work. This time I made them create a user and verify that it was back to the Fusion setup like it was from the factory. I get it home and load up everything from my Time Machine backup. Which I might add is pretty slick! Now it is clicking again. So I am going to try this hack and see it if fixes it. I sounds like it will work fine, it just makes an annoying sound. I am done with the Apple Store for repairs. It is why too noisy and hecktic. The people are nice but I had to explain what was happening 4 times. I shoudl just take it to Melrose Mac or something.

pixel_pimp, here is the end of my story. I'd my MacMini replaced 3 times!

- the first wasn't clicking but it had the video issue

- the second was clicking (I didn't keep it long enough to know if it had the video issue as well)

- the third was clicking too (I didn't keep it long enough to know if it had the video issue as well)

- the fourth and last doesn't click but sometimes it's got little video troubles when waking up, even after I installed the patch that was supposed to prevent that issue.

I can live with that minor video issue but I couldn't stand the nagging clicks.

Also I ended up with installing hdapm after making sure it was innocuous. Because even an unclicking hard disk keeps silently moving heads back and forth.

Then my piece of advice is keep asking for a silent HD. They do exist. 2 out of 4, in my experience, would imply 50% of them are silent.

I'm amazed Apple hasn't sorted out that clicking matter after so many months of complains.

Same thing with my new mac. Apple service sad that every thing with my hard drive is allright. So that meens that for apple theas clicking noises is fine, fine for mac. I'm very dissatisfied customers

srpawski:  I trick that I found when installing the upper drive to align the two pins in the side of the case is to use a piece of cardboard (or business card) and slide that under the drive before trying to slide the drive into position.  The cardboard will support the drive and keep it from lowering down.  The drive pins will then align with the holes and should just slide into place.

I just purchased the mac mini 2.5 core i5 500gb model and I too have a sudden clicking sound coming from the hard drive.  I also wanted to mention that this Mac is my first entry to the world of Apple computers.  I love everything about it, including it's performance and design.  But the hard drive is making a clicking sound, even during idle.  Now I work for an internet service provider, so I'm surrounded by techies and developers.  When asked about my situation, I get almost the same answer, "clicking means bad hard drive".  A brand new hard drive shouldn't make any clicking sounds, especially from an Apple product.  I never thought that I would have to return an Apple product ever, especially my first Mac.

It is OK, I have the same model for 6 months and I hear the same noises, it is normal. First I was scared of bad sectors lit you did, but it is all right.

For your peace just scan in with SMART Utility (the trial one) and you'll see if there is something wrong.

Alright I just exchanged my Mac mini I5 for the I7 model at bestbuy, hope it doesn't turn out to be a lemon.  I have no time to be running around exchanging stuff, since I dread visiting large department store like the horror which bestbuy is.  If there is any clicking sound on this new model, I will give up on Mac and continue using Thinkpads.