[kshack]

I bought the new powerbook 17 1.67 and I love the machine to death. I get this very very light "bonk sound" every 2-3 mins it seems. I believe its hard drive related because if I do a hd intensive program like indexing it stops until its over. Is this somethign to worry about or is it normal. Any idea what causes this?

[Crusoe]

My old TiBook 500 and my new Lacie Porsche Mobile make this sound. The TiBook has been doing it since day 1 so I wouldn't be concerned.

[iluvmymactoo]

You don't say which HDD you have. If you have the 100GB HDD it's a Seagate. The noise you here is "STIR" (Seek to increase Reliability), a technology built into the drive controller that randomly seeks when the drive is idle in order to keep the drive head from sitting in one place too long (which creates heat that can potentially harm the integrity of the media).

This is a patented Seagate technology which helps to protect your HDD not only in the event of sudden movement but from excess heat. The Seagate 5400rpm HDD also uses less power, similar to a 4200rpm drive. By increasing the APM (as is possible using something like APM Tuner) you will use more battery power. Other branded 5400rpm may not be this power efficient. On my PowerBook I get about 4.5 hours battery life.

I verified this by sending a recording of the sound to Seagate. Two of their technicians advised this is a normal sound.

[cryer]

im wondering if this is the same sound im hearing from my 17" braned new powerbook

it sounds kind of like a ball bearing dropping from a short height onto a table

is this the same sound? and is it safe, as iluvmymactoo says?

it occurs every so often, like the original poster specified

[NeXTLoop]

I just upgraded from a Toshiba 80GB HD to a Seagate 100GB in my PB 1.5Ghz. As soon as I upgraded I started noticing the same sound. If you do a search on these boards, you'll notice that the Seagates are a little louder than other brands. But as iluvmymactoo pointed out, it's because of the technology that Seagate uses to make their hard drives more reliable and efficient.

So in short... nothing to worry about.

[sadpandas]

I have the 100GB drive and I hear it after i wake from sleep sometimes. BOING.

[TimothyJay]

I've just recently had this noise going on my PowerBook. It makes an odd sounds every now and then, It's very faint, but it gets annoying when the surrounding is quiet. It makes a similar sound when you lightly tap on the surface around the trackpad.

[CobraNT]

My new 17" 1.67 does the exact same thing.....