Hard Drive Hum on brand new IMac i5

All,
Just settling in with my new IMac, and a very noticeable, persistent hum comes from the machine. It is not read/write noises, but very clearly it is the 2tb Hitachi Drive (Hitachi HDS722020ALA330) making the majority of the noise (I can hear the fans, but those are acceptable). The noise is a steady, persistent hum. I can hear read/write noises when accessing files, but these are very quiet.
The reason I know its the hard drive, is that during shutdown, while the screen is still lit, the noise will die and then a second later the machine goes off.
The noise itself kind of sounds like a transformer hum, and is noticeable even when playing music on the machine (at a fairly low level). In a silent room, this noise is noticeable from across the room. The noise does not fluctuate with changes in screen brightness, or even putting the screen to sleep.
Anyhow, I am considering calling AppleCare, but wanted to see if there is a way to quiet this drive down. Some IStat info:
HD: 55°
CPU 50°
GPU Diode 64°
GPU Heat sink 60°
Mem Controller 56°
Optical Drive 48°
Power Supply 2 61°
Ambient is 27°
the fan speeds are:
Optical Drive 999 rpm
Hard Drive: 1099 rpm
CPU Fan: 1199 rpm
There are a ton of threads around humming, clicking, fan noises...etc... after reading them (some anyhow), I think I have accurately noted the sound I am hearing. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Greg

I confirm that my iMac 21.5'' Core i5 2011 has a constant HDD humming as well. It's not too loud, but very recognizable in a silent room even from some meters away. the HDD access noise does not bother me as it's quiet enough. Actually all Apple coomputers I have had a crappy loud hard drives, which is weird for the computers of such price. While the silent drives do exist on the market, Apple prefers to install a cheap hard drives to save some bucks. I am really disappointed that 2011 models have a proprietary hard drives, which limit the upgrade. I tried to listen to this Mac at the shop where I purchased it and heard nothing, but the room was not perfectly silent. When I ran it at home I've got the noise immediately. I have Hitachi 2 Tb drive (it's pretty old model to install in 2011 computers, what a shame Apple). While the drive speed is good, the humming just kills the entire iMac idea , because you have it right at your face. I don't wish to go back to the shop cause it's actually in another country and it will be not easy to move it back and forth.. And I doubt they will be able to help me.
I am just curious is this humming in every iMacs with 2 Tb Hitachi, or mine is not OK?
BTW there are LOTS of complaints on noisy iMAc HDDs for years, and it's weird Apple does nothing to fix it.
I would probably prefer to have a 1 Tb HDD without a humming, than pay so much extra for BTO iMac just to get this problem. I think I will try to replace my HDD at some moment, but with 2011 iMac limitations that could be some problem if you are not in the USA.

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Message was edited by: Eels290776

Eels290776 wrote:
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