Ive, never gotten a definative answer on what could be causing this noise im having from my iMac. Basically, about 4 years ago my family bought 3 imacs at the same time and mine just happened to be twice as loud as everyones. Now 4 years later (even tho i have switched to the dark side "pc") i keep the iMac and use it for video editing and multimedia production. Well when i press start it sounds like a Boing 747 starting up and you would not belive how bad it is (afraid its gonna get the neibors upset)...... Basically i have come to the conclusion that there is a balance problem with my hardrive? Whatever the case my iMac hasnt missed a beat and still runs strong.... I guess im gonna install some Dynamat sound absorbsion or something in it geeesssshhh!

Is the sound it makes a high pitch sound that comes and goes with HD activity or is it more of a constant humming?

yes definatly comes and goes with the hd kicking in. it is best described as a whirrr, whistle, then a bad vibration sound.... been doing it for 2 years this bad and it still goes strong. Being an automotive machinist, ANYTHING outta balance enought to make noise wipes itself out pretty fast. Theres gotta be a good bearing system in the mac hardrives :P

It would be funny to put it on our Sunnen dynamic balancer in the machine shop, alongside all the cranks. flexplates and flywheels

Wow I'm definately impressed. I would have thought a HD that bad would have died long ago

Yeah. I've been through 2 loud hard drives on my powermac G4 at work. Usually they act up and that's it! Lucky you, in some sorta strange way. :-D

Sam you should have claimed that on your waranty as soon as you heard something! Now its a bit late. Go to ebay, and buy yourself a hard drive to replace that one, same size, for as little as 30 bucks. They have got to be really cheap now. Or better yet, upgrade to a larger one and start using your imac more! Let us know howit goes.

No, do not go to eBay and buy a "used" HD ... just buckle down and buy a new drive so as to obtain warranty and support. Drives are cheap so, don't buy someone else's problem. Save yourself the aggravation.

You should have brought it back when it was still under warranty...I had sound issue's with my G4 tower....I brought it back and everything was sorted out....

I agree with the new drive, it just seems that if someone is putting up with an old imac thats making strange noises and has been for a while that the last thing they are going to do is go out an buy a new drive. But you are right MacDaddy that would be the "smart" thing to do.