MBP Hard disk "clicking" sound...

Dagon · 03-09-2008 1:35pm #1

This has been very much publicised on the Mac forums, and there is still no solution. Do any of the rest of you have this problem? Does your Macbook pro hard disk make a little click, or plink, or tick sound when it parks the heads every minute or two? Especially when idle, or searching the web?

My Mac makes the sound once or twice every minute. I guess a hard drive replacement could be necessary in a year or two because of this problem. Apple still haven't really addressed it, and have said that it's "normal behaviour" to those who have gone the apple care route.

Some links (please read these before asking questions about the problem):
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1234166
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/914688.html (this one has info on the "fix")

Replacing your hard disk:
http://jwdunn.com/2007/10/28/how-to-upgrade-your-macbook-pros-hard-drive-and-live-to-tell-the-tale/

luckat · 04-09-2008 1:30pm

I hope you're backing up?

One may also be surrounded by Clondalkin, Krishnamurtiji.

Dagon · 10-09-2008 3:34pm

luckat wrote: »

One may also be surrounded by Clondalkin, Krishnamurtiji.

Very true! The gf is from there, and it is definitely a good test if you're alive or not...

F.A. · 10-09-2008 6:07pm

I got my MBP in November and experienced the issue above. I was quite nervous about it, but after a while the noise seemed to have stopped. Or am I just so used to it that I don't notice it anymore?

ZENER · 11-09-2008 2:26pm

Is it not just the drive going into power save mode ?

In the System Preferences go to Energy Saver and see if

Put Hard Disk(s) to sleep when possible

is ticked. Try un-ticking it and listen for the noise, is it still there ?

ZEN

F.A. · 11-09-2008 5:35pm

Mine is not checked, and I think I did uncheck it very early on... I don't remember. What is the default?

Chardee MacDennis · 11-09-2008 7:56pm

run SMARTReporter, it just sits in your menu bar and constantly monitors your HD, if its about to die it will change colour giving you time to back up! i installed it as soon as my Samsung drive in my MB started to click and it just gives a bit more peace of mind along with Time Machine!

nialler · 11-09-2008 7:59pm

Back up now if you can. Generally that clicking means HD failure is imminent in my experience. I've been able to rescue a few once they started doing that repeatedly but generally most of em are dead and unrecoverable even when I've passed on the drives to specialist recovery firms.

F.A. · 12-09-2008 9:59am

BastardPrince wrote: »

run SMARTReporter, it just sits in your menu bar and constantly monitors your HD, if its about to die it will change colour giving you time to back up! i installed it as soon as my Samsung drive in my MB started to click and it just gives a bit more peace of mind along with Time Machine!

Wow, great stuff! Thanks!

Elessar · 17-09-2008 8:29pm

I have been having this problem for many months now. The problem is that the OS is parking the read/write heads every few seconds, which is bad for the HDD. It literally happens several times a minute with my 2006 MBP. I also hear the reading/writing of info as it has become quite loud. Every few seconds the entire computer freezes for a split second while info is read/written to the HDD. It's only a split second but I don't think this should really happen?

On top of that the hard drive spinning has become very loud, it sounds likea third fan. In fact all of the noises from the drive are becomming louder over time. And my system seems to be a lot slower than it used to be.

To be honest I think it is failing. I am going to call applecare (I'm covered until 2009) to get them to replace the drive.

see here: http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=5874789

Dagon · 22-09-2008 12:08pm

So it's quite a common problem then! And it also happens on Dell machines, Linux machines, and many other combinations... not just Mac. It's got to do with the new perpindicular read / write hard disk technology, coupled with aggressive power saving.

I'm going to use that hpadm tool (mentioned in some of the posts on this) to change the power save settings manually. This will stop it parking the heads.. but if I drop my MBP, I think all data will be lost. So gotta be careful...

Dagon · 24-09-2008 2:34pm

For the record; I'm after running hdapm and it has solved the problem

I used this fix, worked a treat:
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/914688.html

fitz · 29-09-2008 1:08pm

I just replaced the drive in my macbook after the first one died 3 weeks outside of warranty. I've also run hdapm and no clicking with the new drive now.

Dagon · 30-09-2008 10:43am

Nice one fitz.

We should be free to use our MBPs constantly now, for years on end, without hard drive failure..

But I will backup just in case anyway!

Dagon · 30-09-2008 10:44am

ZENER wrote: »

Is it not just the drive going into power save mode ?

In the System Preferences go to Energy Saver and see if

Put Hard Disk(s) to sleep when possible

is ticked. Try un-ticking it and listen for the noise, is it still there ?

ZEN

By the way, I've tried this and it doesn't solve the problem.

The only way to fix it is by using hdapm

Dagon · 20-10-2008 3:13pm

Anybody have any updates on this?

MBP Hard disk "clicking" sound...

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