Mini noise

Sorry I have been slow getting back to you with a response. This is a new behavior I have not previously encountered and I have been removing files from the LaunchDaemons folders for many years. I suspect this new behaviour is security related. I have been looking for a workaround that does not require several Terminal commands because, quite honestly Terminal commands are not my strong suite.

• Have you run for an extended period of time while booted in "Safe" mode

  If so were you ever able to replicate the buzzing noise?

• Have you run a surface scan of the HDD?

  If so did you or did you not notice the buzzing sound from the HDD?

• Have you run a "stress" test of the HDD?
  • If so did you notice the buzzing sound?
  • If you did notice the buzzing sound, during what "stress" test function did the sound occur?
• If you have an external HDD available...
  • Clone your system to the external HDD
  • Boot from the external HDD
  • While you are booted from the external HDD your internal Fusion drive will be inactive unless you intentionally copy a file directly to or from the internal drive. If the sound is heard during this mode of operation then it is NOT coming from the internal Fusion crive. In that case the most likely cause of the noise would be a cooling fan -- perhaps occuring only at a specific fan speed. Insturmenting the fans and monitoring their RPM when the sound occurs could help narrow that down.
• If you have an external HDD and the sound occurs when you are booted from that drive...

  You can try downloading and reinstalling OS X 10.8.3 to the external drive. CAUTION: I have had problems getting my Late 2012 Mac mini to boot from a downloaded copy of OS X 10.8.3 because the download version is not compatible with the latest Mac minis. For that reason I cannot in good conscience suggest reinstalling OS X on your Fusion drive unless and until you can demonstrate the ability to download and install a bootable copy of 10.8.x.

Unless the genius had several hours to test your drive he did not do a surface scan. However, from the tests you have performed...

1. it is not absolutelyimpossible, but highly doubtful the sound is coming from your Fusion drive. Not absolutely impossible but highly doubtful.
2. at 1790 rpm the fan should be silent. I don't hear mine until somewhere around 3,000 rpm. However that does not rule out a chattering bearing or fan blade vibration

You have just about run out of moving parts as a source of your soind. I have heard, on very rare occassions, a very light buzzing from the power supply. In fact, it is very quiet in my office at the moment, and I am hearing an almost inaudible 60 cycle hum. I would think it was coming from a flourescent light if I hadn't replaced them all with LEDs. It just cycled off so it was apparently coming from the power supply in my Mac mini or external HD.

I can't tell you what to do about a reinstall, but if you do decide to download and reinstall, First try it on your external HD and boot from that just to be sure it is going to work. You would not be a happy camper if you installed to your internal Fusion drive and then found out you could no longer boot from it.

Seems I have similar problems. I also reinstalled the system twice. No change. The second time I broke up the fusion drive: Now I have a single SSD and a single HDD with my data on it. But the "seeking noise" is still there. Still no clue what could generate it.

CR

Hi nigmia,

I can't say the "noise" is related to any action or running programs on the mini. So, also if I just do nothing I can hear the sound, that's what is a little bit annoying. On the other hand on other occations I can't here any sound at all. I bought mine about three weeks ago.I didn't try the safe mode yet. I also assume you have the same drive build in (HTS541010A9E662) which is a Hitachi device?

So, I did a reboot in safe mode and the noise was gone, I observed it for about 30 min, but the noise didn't come back during this period. Then I did a reboot in normal mode (no power off!), but the noise is still gone. I'm confused ...

I will see tomorrow, what happens if I do a cold start ...

After the cold start (serveral cold starts since then) I nearly can't here the hard disk any more 😉 I only once heard the "old" noise when iTunes started and had to load all the covers but that's it. I hope it will stay this way *crossfingers* ... I will post an update when the situation changes.

so, the sounds are back 😉 I will again boot into safe mode and see if the disapearance is reproducible ...