I bought an early 2011 (the current model at the time of writing) 15 inch, 2.2GHz MacBook Pro.
I had a previous generation model, pre unibody model which I loved and performed like a star.
Performance wise I am loving the machine but the hard drive makes such a noise under normal operation it's untrue. It sounds like a fan, but I assume there is no cooling where the HD is, but it bellows. It's not the fans – they are happy sitting there at 2,000 RPM. It can be reduced to what I would consider normal levels but putting my right hand directly above it. Very gentle pressure is enough to stop this happening. I am not sure if it is pressure or touch (e.g. grounded) related.
There are a bunch of people on the Apple discussion forums with the same issue, but nothing from Apple, not help from the geniuses/applecare and no obvious "fix". I just dropped a big chunk of change on the machine – I don't want to have to open it up or replace the drive just to make it bearable.
Any suggestions?
Best Answer
I can tell you, this isn't normal.
You shouldn't hear the hard drive very much at all, and only a little chatter when you're using it extensively.
Since you've clearly established that it's a hardware problem (because pressure fixes it), you should probably try to get it fixed. Rather than open the machine and do it yourself (violating your warranty), you should get Apple to fix it.
Since your computer is pretty new, it should definitely be a free repair.
You can take it to the Apple Store and tell Apple what happens. They'll take it and do some tests, then replace the drive (or whatever part they think needs it).
Make sure you back up all your data first; you won't get your old drive back.