Comments on: Complaint Desk: Whose MacBook Pro 7200RPM Drive Sounds Like R2D2?

By: Gavin

Gavin — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 10:42:34 +0000

Apple replaced my hard drive just the other day. So far so good. The only time it makes a noise is when I put the machine to sleep. Other than that it hasn’t made any weird R2D2 noises. Fingers crossed it stays that way.

By: AJ

AJ — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 23:25:20 +0000

And here I was thinking of converting from PC to Mac. Everyone I know who has a MacBookPro has praised it, but since I’m a freelancer who travel a lot with my laptop I can’t really afford it to either breakdown or have HD issues.

I would wish to believe that out of thousands of MacBookPro owners there are few unlucky ones who have this problem.

Seems like Apple’s return policy is also very poor.

I was planning to get a new 17″ MacBookPro but will wait now few weeks and read a bit about it online – unless any of you can recommend an alternative.

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 18:27:48 +0000

My new MacBookPro will be delivered July 16. It has the 320 GB (not 500 GB) 7200 rpm HD, and we’ll see what happens. I have the resources to replace the HD myself if necessary, though I don’t know what that would do to the warranty.

By: Tom

Tom — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:03:06 +0000

Just to mention the ongoing macrumors thread- there are >130 odd users with problems – including vibration, heat, small pauses/ferezes associated with the click beep problem, but also some are seeing much longer 10-30 second system wide freezes.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=8052338&postcount=85

By: Gavin

Gavin — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:06:58 +0000

Yep I have this problem also. I have a 15″ Macbook Pro w/ 500GB 7200RPM. I hadn’t realised it was so wide spread. I thought I was the only one. I called up Apple Support to which they couldn’t tell me why it was making those noises so they arranged an appointment with an Apple Genius. The Genius said that they would order in a new HDD and give me a call when it’s in so that they can replace it. Not sure if this will actually fix the problem though.

Also just to mention it’s not just the noise I experience but also when I copy files from folder to folder it can take up to 20mins for only 10Mb of data. My screen also freezes on me at random times and the machine gets very hot.

I’ve told them that if replacing the HDD doesn’t work I want a full refund. Lucky I paid it on my credit card so they should be able to sort it out if Apple won’t.

By: DT

DT — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 13:29:12 +0000

I have this problem on a 3-week old 3.06Ghz 15″ MacBook Pro w/ 500GB 7200RPM. Every 3-4 minutes, the drive clicks and all I/O activity stops for several seconds. It’s really problematic because it happens during Keynote presentations and looks really bad. It also makes the machine useless as a media player because music and video suffer horribly from stuttering, skips, and gaps. Who ever heard of an Apple machine that couldn’t play rich media reliably? Come on!

I haven’t dealt with it yet, because I’ve been giving Apple time to figure out a fix. Hopefully it is a conflict between the Seagate and Apple drive head parking routines and they can solve it via a firmware update. If they don’t come up with a fix, you can bet I’ll be fully taking advantage of my AppleCare coverage and making sure that Apple fixes the problem for me.

By: Customized Marketingi

Customized Marketingi — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 13:18:44 +0000

After spending a mint and getting all that could be upgraded, I have the chirps and am frustrated. Did anyone actually get a good resolution? Don’t want to be without my mac for days as it is my primary machine.

By: KM

KM — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 04:13:18 +0000

Got an instruction on how to return it. However it will take 1 to 2 months for full refund. Better than nothing I suppose, I spent close to US$ 4300 for this MBP and disappointed with the issue especially with the whole thing freezing. I upgraded everything to the max (CPU, RAM) and my 3 year old Thinkpad is faster than the MBP.

I still have 1 problem with the return though. It’s registered under Apple care and Apple has not given me the clear information yet on how I can reuse it (if I ever buy Apple MBP again).

By: curt

curt — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 03:40:48 +0000

I’ve had a new 15″ MBP / 500GB / 7200 RPM just a few weeks. When it first chirped, I thought it was an audio glitch coming through the internal speakers. Then I realized it was the drive. I’ve also noticed the OS intermittently freezing for a second or two several times per day, and that is definitely a frustration that demands attention from Apple. It does seem have the symptoms of the heads parking, and if so, they’re parking at inappropriate times – right in the middle of my priority processes.

By: KM

KM — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 02:50:45 +0000

I have the 3.06Ghz 17″ MacBook Pro w/ 500GB 7200RPM. Just receive it last week. Loud, freeze a lot . And it’s unusually hot even I’m not doing anything disk intensive.

Talked to Tech support, visited Genius bar and no resolution. Since it’s in 2 weeks window, I’m returning it and asking for a refund. Still waiting on Apple on it at the moment

By: Laura

Laura — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 23:46:19 +0000

I too, am suffering from this. I have NEVER had so much trouble with a mac in all my days. Apple has blown me off about 46 times now… stlll trying to reach a resolution…
Thanks for the article. Knowing I am not alone means maybe apple will handle this soon!

By: Adam

Adam — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 22:30:00 +0000

Well, knock on wood, but I just got my machine Friday, and so far…. no problems yet with my HDD.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 22:24:23 +0000

My 500gb 7200rpm drive does not make the noises but my co-worker’s does. My screen is screwed up though so they are replacing the whole machine and I’m afraid I’m going to get a noisy replacement.

Oh well. It’s easier to get them to replace the drive than it is to get them to replace the screen when you’re outside of your return window.

By: Jason Montilla

Jason Montilla — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:35:41 +0000

I got my MBP 17″ last week with the upgraded 7200 RPM drive which I use for multi-track recording and video editing and the like. That is the only reason I got the 7200 (plus I can’t afford an extra $600 for the SSD).

I spent 4 or 5 phone calls back and forth to AppleCare. They told me the sounds were normal with these drives. After telling them its not the sounds, its the halting of the system while the sounds are happening, they called me back after the weekend of “getting an answer from the Engineers” and told me its normal… when the heads park, the system will halt.

This is normal. Pausing in the middle of a video edit is “normal.” Pausing while playing music is “normal” pausing while even scrolling down a webpage is “normal.”

I am very upset and willing to walk away from Apple on this one. Why should I have to go out and buy my own drive for something THEY won’t admit to or are willing to fix?

By: Adam Jackson

Adam Jackson — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:29:47 +0000

Thanks Howie but I’m not concerned.

As a former ASM at an Apple Retail Store, I know how things go and it all depends on who you talk to.

By: Scott

Scott — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:55:24 +0000

I’m glad I stuck with the 500GB 5400RPM drive in my new 2.8Ghz MacBook Pro. Knew the 7200RPM drive could get hotter and couldn’t see the extra value for the faster drive. Most users would never see or feel the difference in speed.

By: Howie Isaacks

Howie Isaacks — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:39:33 +0000

Adam,

Don’t let those guys push you off. Contact customer relations, or send an email to sjobs@apple.com which will get you to Executive Relations. Go above the MGs at the Apple store. Make sure to tell customer relations and executive relations that the store refused to fix the issue for you. Shit will roll down hill. I’m a former Mac Genius at an Apple store. If you had dealt with me, I would have made it right for you.

By: taffer

taffer — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:56:56 +0000

I went through six (!) 5400 rpm 320GB drives in my MacBook Pro over four months. Apparently there’s _something_ in my usage pattern that kills them, or Hitachi sent a batch of bad 320GB drives to Apple’s manufacturing plant at one point.

I got pretty sick of visiting the Genius Bar. :-\ Had the machine replaced twice during this fun four months, too.

When the last one killed itself, I bought a similar 7200 rpm drive built by Seagate. End of problem.

Still trying to figure out where I can send the last dead disk to (Apple? Hitachi? they both ignore my email). I don’t really want a replacement, but you can never have too much storage… I’d put it into an external case for backups or whatever.

By: Adam Jackson

Adam Jackson — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:51:24 +0000

Why are you the crusader of Mac user happiness?

Why assume that I haven’t tried getting it fixed. I have to no avail. “When the drive dies I can get it replaced” That’s what I’ve been told.

It’s a CTO MacBook Pro and it’s my only computer so replacing it or repairing it takes way too long.

I’ll just continue running Time Machine every hour and wait to buy an SSD.

By: Howie Isaacks

Howie Isaacks — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:46:34 +0000

It’s very much worth it. You can either suffer with the problem and talk about it on blog forums, or get it fixed. Why delay it?