I just upgraded the hard drive in my son’s MacBook 6,1 from the stock 250GB Toshiba 5400 RPM drive to a Seagate Momentus XT 750 7200 RPM Hybrid Drive. The difference in performance is amazing, but his MacBook now has a slight vibration, which resonates throughout the laptop. It’s not extreme, but I never recall this with his stock drive.
Is this normal or could the drive be defective?
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At 06:34 -0500 24/2/13, RavenManiac wrote:
I just upgraded the hard drive in my son’s MacBook 6,1 from the
stock 250GB Toshiba 5400 RPM drive to a Seagate Momentus XT 750 7200
RPM Hybrid Drive. The difference in performance is amazing, but his
MacBook now has a slight vibration, which resonates throughout the
laptop. It’s not extreme, but I never recall this with his stock
drive.Is this normal or could the drive be defective?
A disc drive should be perfectly balanced so that there is no
vibration. You could expect to hear motor noise, but if you’ve got
120Hz vibrations you can expect problems.
David
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David Ledger - Freelance Unix Sysadmin in the UK.
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I use Seagate Momentus mechanisms in my external usb drives. They have been
wonderful performers and I will keep using that drive. However, I’ve
noticed they have vibration issues - on some surfaces more than others.
This can be annoying over time, so what I did was go to the hardware store
and purchased some of those self-adhesive felt pads for the underside of
furniture, then cut them smaller and fit them under the drive enclosures so
they sit on the desk or table or whatever with a little cushion. There’s
one idea for you to experiment with.
My wireless keyboard doesn’t vibrate, but my “desk” is uneven and the kb
constantly “tips” back and forth - so I have a small hand-towel folded
underneath. This slightly raises the kb, but absolutely dampens it on my
work surface.
The problem with a laptop is the bottom gets warm, even hot. While a towel
would dampen vibration, it’s not very good a dispersing heat – so
experiment.
The only concern I would have with vibration of the internal drive is worry
whether I had seated it correctly when I installed it. Rule that out, then
any vibration issues become “normal”. It’s a good drive - faster, consumes
less power.
–
Ernie Simpson
On Sun, Feb 24, 2013 at 6:34 AM, RavenManiac email@hidden wrote:
I just upgraded the hard drive in my son’s MacBook 6,1 from the stock
250GB Toshiba 5400 RPM drive to a Seagate Momentus XT 750 7200 RPM Hybrid
Drive. The difference in performance is amazing, but his MacBook now has a
slight vibration, which resonates throughout the laptop. It’s not extreme,
but I never recall this with his stock drive.Is this normal or could the drive be defective?
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At 09:10 -0500 24/2/13, Ernie Simpson wrote:
I use Seagate Momentus mechanisms in my external usb drives. They have been
wonderful performers and I will keep using that drive. However, I’ve
noticed they have vibration issues - on some surfaces more than others.This can be annoying over time, so what I did was go to the hardware store
and purchased some of those self-adhesive felt pads for the underside of
furniture, then cut them smaller and fit them under the drive enclosures so
they sit on the desk or table or whatever with a little cushion. There’s
one idea for you to experiment with.My wireless keyboard doesn’t vibrate, but my “desk” is uneven and the kb
constantly “tips” back and forth - so I have a small hand-towel folded
underneath. This slightly raises the kb, but absolutely dampens it on my
work surface.The problem with a laptop is the bottom gets warm, even hot. While a towel
would dampen vibration, it’s not very good a dispersing heat – so
experiment.The only concern I would have with vibration of the internal drive is worry
whether I had seated it correctly when I installed it. Rule that out, then
any vibration issues become “normal”. It’s a good drive - faster, consumes
less power.
If there is significant vibration at rotation speed then the platter
is out of balance and the bearings will have a shorter life than
normal.
David
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David Ledger - Freelance Unix Sysadmin in the UK.
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www.ivdcs.co.uk
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Unfortunately, I can tell if it’s significant. It’s clearly noticeable.
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‘Significant’ is a fuzzy term, and meaningless - I’ve used them for years
with my succession of 17" MacBook Pros - yes, they actually outlasted the
computers I’ve used them with!
If it’s just annoying, reduce the annoyance. Simple. Keep your invoice,
note your vendor’s warranty, and backup regularly. Those same drives in an
external usb enclosures make great Time Machine backup drives for a laptop.
Like all things computer, nothing lasts forever - warranty length is a good
measure of a product’s end-of-life, so budget to replace them down the
road, and use them cautiously after they reach “old age”.
–
Ernie Simpson
On Sun, Feb 24, 2013 at 10:22 AM, RavenManiac email@hiddenwrote:
Unfortunately, I can tell if it’s significant. It’s clearly noticeable.
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At 11:58 -0500 24/2/13, Ernie Simpson wrote:
‘Significant’ is a fuzzy term, and meaningless - I’ve used them for years
with my succession of 17" MacBook Pros - yes, they actually outlasted the
computers I’ve used them with!
But that’s the best we can do. We have no idea how ‘significant’ the
vibration is. If a vibrating drive lasts well then the vibration
wasn’t significant 
Of all the many hundreds of drives I must have come across in my
working life I don’t think I’ve felt anything other than a very
slight vibration in any modern small sealed drive. Even the old 300MB
19 x 14" platter drives didn’t vibrate when the heads weren’t moving.
If it “resonates throughout the laptop” I’d call the supplier and ask
them about it. Record the date, time, who you spoke with and the
response (unless they say that they’ll ship you another). If it fails
early you can go back to them with that.
David
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David Ledger - Freelance Unix Sysadmin in the UK.
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