Frequent delays, hard drive noises

Hey there everyone, I was wondering if anyone had a clue what might be causing the problems that I've been having with my PB lately.
Ever since I installed 10.4 (a clean install as I had a ton of stuff that I wanted to get rid of) I've had issues with what I think is the hard disk thrashing. When I'll go to open up a new program, for example, I'll all too often get the spinning beach ball of death and sit and wait as a sound gets emitted from the hard disk. I can only describe it as being two short chirps followed by one that lasts about 1.5 seconds.
I've read elsewhere that this could be caused by Apple lap tops not running their cron jobs in the wee hours of the morning (like a good BSD system tries to) if the PB is allowed to go to sleep all night every night. I've installed Mac Janitor and run it for a few days, I'm really not noticing any difference in the performance.
My PB is about a year old, never been dropped, always carried in a padded Timbuktu case. Is anyone else having these problems? If so, what did you do for a work around? Any help/advice is greatly appreciated and thanked for in advance.

Well it depends on how "crackle-y" those sounds are. It could be that you just have a lot of data to sort through, and it's taking a bit of extra work for the drive. It could also very well be the drive getting old; they do get noisy as they age. When you start hearing metallic clicks, it is probably time to start considering a new drive.
Best preliminary advice is to do regular backups. I've learned that one the hard way. As for the 7200rpm drive, I believe that I have heard of those causing too much heat for the CRT iMacs.
iMacDV Mac OS X (10.2.x)

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Disharging with USB, Freezing on Sync, Hard Drive noise on Line Out

I have been dealing with three issues with my 60GB iPod click wheel with color display (Photo).
The first is something that slowly creeped in, which is hard drive noise that is audible through the line out when the iPod is charging in a dock. I'd like to say it's like a ground loop issue, but it's in my car, on my iHome, and on my apple dock when plugged into power on a stereo system. It sounds like the spinning of the hard drive is correlated to the noise.
Second, over the past year or so, I've noticed that when I have the iPod plugged into any mac using USB, the iPod discharges. My friend has noticed the same problem on her 40GB 3rd generation iPod. We've tried them on several computers. Firewire connection, no problem, only USB when plugged into a computer, not the power adapter.
Just recently, the iPod froze up iTunes and the rest of my Mac (G4 MDD Dual 1gHz, OS X 10.4.10, iTunes 7.4.2) during sync. I made reformatted the iPod using Disk Utility, Restored to iPod, making sure to plug into power to finish the restore, then attempted to resync. Two attempts of this and I get the same result, a freeze.
The first two issues, I've adapted with, but this last one is just frustrating. I will attempt to sync using a firewire cable, but that should not be the solution. This iPod came with a USB cable, it should charge and sync with one. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. Thank you!

ok I went here for instruction on how to take it apart since I wasn't having much luck on my own:
http://www.flexbeta.net/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=20&t=8269
his tip worked for me so far. hopefully this won't be just a temporary fix:
Good tip: if your iPod seems dead and the hard drive is throwing errors pull out the connection at the bottom of the ipod mainboard and plug it back in, this will hard reset your ipod and worked a few times for me

Hard Drive noise on iMac

Seems if I tilt the monitor down more the hard drive noise gets louder... Is this a common issue with the new Intel based iMacs? I will have to check but computer was also in sleep mode for awhile so not sure if this still happens... It isn't too loud... but if it says like this it will be annoying...

Happened today on my new Macbook Pro, 15-inch i7 while editing in final cut. Has happened several times before this, as well. Never had this problem while editing on other computers, including an older Macbook Pro and also a 2.26 Ghz dual Quad Core tower.
The clip that caused the blowout had the following audio: 16-bit integer (Big Endian), Stereo, 19.2 Khz.
My sequence settings for audio are currently 16-bit, 48 Khz, Channel grouped.
Please get around to fixing this, folks at Apple. I work as an editor and I currently can't wear headphones for fear of blowing out my eardrums.

Why my Mac Pro hard drive noise and too slow?

Why my Mac Pro hard drive noise and too slow? Totally 8 gb speed system but now very slow . Please give some suggestions

Another thing you can do in Lion (and ML) is click on the "Info" button in Disk Utility to get the SMART status of the drive.It's more detailed now than it used to be and it might tell you if something is wrong.
A lot can go wrong with a hard drive which is why I tend to point people to the downloads section of the following web site:
http://scsc-online.com
They have a free hard drive troublleshooting download book there. I reccommend people download that before asking questionis because there are tons of problems that can act like hard drive problems when there's nothing wrong with the system at all. For example, how full is the drive? How many applications are running? What's the status of Spotlight indexing? How many apps are you running? How much memory do you have?
I could probably think up 20 or 30 more if needed.

Is your mpb 17" c2d hard drive noise acceptable?

I got 17" mbp two days ago, i even couldn't notice the hard drive noise while daily using since I either turned my tv on or playing music. But in the mid night, I have to turn off the TV, trun off the music or at least turn down the volumn, then I noticed that the hard drive noise. While downloading files, or opening some big files, it just sounds scary and horrible, I have the stocked 5400rpm 160GB hitatchi hard drive. Do you guys get the same issue? Is that acceptable?
btw, I'd use a compaq laptop for 3 years, no that sound at all. Just dont know why Apple couldn't put a quiet hard drive into the mbp.

Unfortunately not all drives are quiet, or in extreme cases even quiet. There is even variance within the same model drives. The thing is, what you need to determine is what is considered "reasonable". Drive noise, which is normally head chatter (the drive head moving backa and forth) is inevitable and to some degree we all have to live with it.
If you are truly concerned over the noise your drive makes then I would contact AppleCare and discuss it with them. I had a drive replaced due to noise although that wasn't "head chatter" rather a squealing spindle.

My 7th generation ipod classic is making some hard drive noises...it makes me feel so worried that it might be a hard drive issue!

Please help me and advise if i should be changing my ipod.
is there any ipod 7th generation that does not make this hard drive noises? or is this the case with all the ipods???
I'm not feeling well about this issue, as i just noticed while surfing through my songs!

What you are hearing is the sound of the iPod's internal hard drive spinning up to read data from disk for playback. So basically, what you are hearing is completely normal for the iPod Classic. If you still feel that it is unusually loud, find another person with an iPod Classic and compare them. If your iPod is louder, it could be signs of a faulty/damage drive, but don't be sure quick to jump to conclusions.
B-rock

IMac 2009 (21 inch) making hard drive noises during sleep mode - normal??

Hi there guys,
I have an iMac 21 inch (2009) , 3ghz C2D, 4GB Ram, 1TB hard drive (the hard drive was upgraded straight thru apple, when i bought it i paid extra for a 1tb hard drive, its not a DIY hard drive upgrade)
aniways, I recently noticed that during sleep mode, occasionally (not all the time) I can hear some faint clicking / hard drive noise, which is really weird because i put the imac in sleep mode and it really shouldnt be doing that no?
My 13 inch macbook pro 2010 never does this in sleep mode, its always dead silent
Im just wondering if this hard drive accessing / clicking noise during sleep mode is normal in imacs??

Im just wondering if this hard drive accessing / clicking noise during sleep mode is normal in imacs?
No it should not be doing anything but sleeping. The SMC controls sleep, try resetting it.
Reset the SMC
• Shut down the computer.
• Detach the computer's power cord.
• Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds.
• Release the power button.
• Reattach the computers power cable.
• Turn on the computer.
Dah•veed

Z68MA-ED55 (B3) SSD Caching - hard-drive noise

I have MSI Z68MA-ED55 (B3) with three hard-drives
  (1) Intel 320 Series SSD 40 GB
  (2) Intel 320 Series SSD 120 GB
  (3) Seagate Barracuda 1TB .
I use the 120 SSD for Windows 7 and programs. I use the Seagate for storage and games and the 40GB SSD to accelerate the Seagate in Maximized mode (for performance: write to SSD first, and delayed writing to spin disk). This set up is about a week old.
I have noticed that the hard-drive makes a clicking noise, very audible, a couple times per 10 minutes. I suspect that the Z68 SSD caching might doing this. When I turn off the SSD caching via the Intel Rapid Storage Technology program, the Seagate went 'crazy' and was clicking every other second for about 1 to 2 minutes while it is unloading the cache. I have turned SSD caching back on, so far no clicking.
I am concerned about the noise if it comes back. Anyone have experienced this?

To me, it sounds like a bad disk drive. I would swap out the Seagate before fussing with the SSD.

Hard drive noises on my 400 mHz iMac G3

I have a 6 year old iMac G3 slot loader CD/DVD (read only) 400 mHz processor, 250 MB RAM, running OS 10.4.7
The iMac is making more and more frequent "popping corn" type noises whenever I call for any data: switching web pages, sending something to the printer. The noises occur even when "idle". Is this normal? - do most iMacs with older hard drives (13 gig 5400 rpm installed) do this? It's not a "grinding" sound, kind of a crackle/popping sound.
I have thought of replacing the drive with a newer 7200 rpm drive.
Thanks for any input, confirmation re: these sounds.
Bill K
Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Well it depends on how "crackle-y" those sounds are. It could be that you just have a lot of data to sort through, and it's taking a bit of extra work for the drive. It could also very well be the drive getting old; they do get noisy as they age. When you start hearing metallic clicks, it is probably time to start considering a new drive.
Best preliminary advice is to do regular backups. I've learned that one the hard way. As for the 7200rpm drive, I believe that I have heard of those causing too much heat for the CRT iMacs.
iMacDV Mac OS X (10.2.x)

27" iMac processor / hard drive noise

I just picked up a 27" iMac with the 1 T HD. I can hear the hard drive any time the computer is "working". Took the first one back to the Apple store and exchanged it, thinking I had a defective machine. The replacement makes the same noise.
Anyone else having this issue? Are these things supposed to be this noisy?

Same problem with my iMac 27" C2D 3.33 with a ST31000528ASQ HDD.
Always working, but no Spotlight indexing and Activity Monitor reports no activity.
Every 5 or 10 seconds, there's write or a read.
Very annoying.
Any idea?

Hard drive noises on new MBP

Hi everyone,
I just got my new macbook pro a few days ago and I'm loving it!
But unfortunately, the harddrive seems to be making some odd noises in response to movement.
For example, while my laptop is on my lap and I remove my hands (causing the machine to move upward) and then put my hands back down on the machine again, sometimes I hear a clicking coming out from the (I presume) harddrive.
From the best that I can tell, it seems the noise is coming from the right half by the trackpad, which further fuels my belief that it's the harddrive.
Now, I'm not sure if it's a bad thing or not. It's not a constant noise, but it's in response to movements. My guess is it might just be the sudden motion detector playing it safe, but I'm not sure.
Has anyone else come across this? I just want to make sure it's not a problem I have to worry about.
Thanks,
Matt

That is the sudden motion sensor, which parks the hard drive if it detects a potential fall.
That is a good thing, and it means that your computer is working perfectly!

Hard drive noise -- slow computer

Hi folks. If anyone can give some advice that would be great.
My hard drive seems to be acting up. Every so often (probably 4 five-minute periods in 3 hours of use per day) I'll hear loud noises coming from the hard drive (a series of "grrrrs," "beeps," and "clicks") and when that happens, the computer will freeze, pinwheel/beachball will appear and I won't be able to do anything on the computer for a couple minutes.
I took my issue to the genius bar, they ran some tests, said it wasn't a hardware problem (therefore hard drive is ok physically) and did something to fix some problems in the hard drive. For a few days after, everything seemed to be working fine but now the problem has returned.
The only programs I have run since then are Safari, Firefox (which is always slow), MSN Messenger, iChat and MS Word.
When I go to the Disk Utility, the "Repair Disk" button is not clickable.
Any ideas?
Thanks.

First, in order to run repair disk, you need to boot from your OS X disc, since you can't repair a drive you've booted from. Insert the first OS X disk that came with your system, and holding the C key down, reboot (boots from the OS X disc). Choose disk utility from the menu bar, and you can run repair disk.
When you bring up disk utility, does the S.M.A.R.T. status say verified? I use a utility called smartreporter which provides a SMART status on the menu bar. This may give you warning before a hard drive failure. It's at http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/systemdiskutilities/smartreporter.html
You can use a utility like OnyX to clean things up on your hard drive. It's available from http://www.titanium.free.fr/pgs2/english/download.html . Use the cleaning and maintenance tabs.
Difficult to say if you're hard drive is in fact on it's last legs, or if there is a fundamental issue with the data or indices on the hard drive. A utility like TechTool Pro or Disk Warrior can do things that Apple's Disk Utility can't do, in terms of analyzing and fixing issues on the hard drive. That might be worthwhile also.

Can you fix the whirring hard drive noises that are heard on the Classic?

I'm aware that hearing the noises when selecting a playlist or song or browsing is normal, but to be honest, it can be a little irritating. I got my Classic for Christmas, and I have no other issues with it (no white screens, troubles calling up a song, or charging/syncing difficulties - nothing). The noises have been present since I first started using the iPod. Is there any way I can fix the whirring without buying a new hard drive?
Thank you!

You might want to check out these two threads:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5325838?tstart=0
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5369545?tstart=200
This topic has been discussed ad infinitum and these threads might give you some ideas on dealing with the changes. Also, as stedman1 suggested, be sure to leave Apple your feedback on the matter: http://www.apple.com/feedback/ Good luck!

Hard drive noise and system performance.

Just like normal, my hard-drive makes noises (normal clicking, etc). When I'm doing something though, like typing, the system slows down for just a split second once a noise it made, stops registering my letters and then types all the letters that weren't regestered. (Keep in mind, this is over a one second period).
For another example, when I launch dashboard, the widgets will start to appear on screen, stop for a (not even a) second, then the widgets will fall into place like they should. I have run disk utility multiple times, and each time it says that the HD is fine.
Is this behavior normal? I can live with it, it's just kind of annoying.

lol, I was going to add "as long as it's not doing that all the time" ...but was hoping for the quick fix. You might want to check your Activity Monitor and see which program or background process is causing the activity ...have you installed anything lately that coincided with this problem? You also might want to try booting into Safe Mode to see if things still persist.

MacBook pro 15 inch Hard drive noise - 2.4ghz vs. 2.53ghz

Hi,
I finally re-purchased a mid-range MacBook Pro 15 inch (500hd, 2.53 ghz). I had first bought it in September from the online store but it was scratched right out of the box and the bottom panel wasn't put in properly so I sent it back.
Anyways... I turned the new one on yesterday to find that the hard drive was very VERY noisy (in my opinion). I could hear it running (like whoosing air) while the TV was running from across the room. It was much much louder than my 4 year old MacBook (it's dead silent except for when the fan gets going), and much louder than both of my parents last gen MBPs (you can hear the hd in theirs but only very close to the computer).
I took it in today and they said it was normal, all hard drives are different, yada yada yada. They gave me a new one, but I haven't opened it yet because I want to know whether a low end 15 inch (2.4ghz) would be quieter than the 2.53.
My question is: *Would the low-level 2.4 ghz be any quieter than the 2.53 mid-level? Should I downgrade to the 2.4 or should I just accept that any MBP I get will be louder than I'd like it to be?*

Thanks for the description. My old (and I think my dad's MBP) has a Fujitsu, and I'm pretty sure the MBP I returned had a Toshiba HD.
I'm wary about opening the box because if it is noisy I'll have to pay the obscene restocking fee to return it. I suppose the only way I'll find out the noise level is to turn it on though.
I was thinking that if it is normal and it's just too loud for me, I could return it, swallow the fee, and just get the cheap MacBook. That may still make noise I'd still end up saving over $1000...
Anyways, if the general consensus is that they just make noise I'll have to open the box up and test it out and see if I can live with it.

Frequent delays, hard drive noises

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