What started with one post on our main news page has ballooned into a decidedly unhappy trend for 8 gigabyte PowerBook drive owners. Whatever the cause, many drives either become mind-jarringly noisy after a few weeks of use, or fail altogether.

We received email after email that went like this:

I am sending in my PBG3/300/8G for the second time. The first HD was quiet when purchased, but within 3 weeks the whine started. Had to send the PB in for repair - Apple replaced the drive (took 6 weeks...), and the new drive was quiet, but now, 5 weeks later, the whine has started again. This is getting on my nerves, and I am in fact worried about my hearing, the noise is VERY intense in a small room, and I have to listen to it all day (this is my main machine).

Disk First Aid reported "unexpected errors" when verifying the first HD, but this was not 100% reproducable. I have not seen this problem with the second HD. I was hoping that the problem was with the mechanical drive mounting (so that is could be repaired/improved), but it seems to a problem with the HD itself, because:

1) Apple chose to replace the first drive (I checked the serial no)
2) Disk First Aid reported "unexpected errors" when verifying the drive.

This is not an isolated drive or two. While this may only be 50 or 100 drives out of the thousands of 8GB drives Apple shipped with the Wallstreet 292 MHz and PDQ 300 MHz, that's still a disturbing ratio given that many reported out of our readership. Surely there are many more experiencing the same problem.

What can you do about the problem? First, always make sure all your data is backed up. If you have most of your drive filled, tape backup is probably the most cost effective solution. If you only have a few gigs on there, backing up to CDs using a CDR or CDRW drive may be your choice. If your drive is noisy to the point of annoyance, or reports unrepairable errors in Norton Disk Doctor or Apple's Drive Setup, you should look into getting the drive repaired or replaced as soon as possible. If your PowerBook is still under its original one year warranty or any sort of extended warranty, either take it to an authorized Apple service center in your location or send it back to Apple's central PowerBook service facility in Texas. Beware however, that the latter takes at least a month by most reports. If your PowerBook is no longer under warranty and the drive is giving you problems, your best bet may be to upgrade the drive to a 10 GB or 14 GB variety, both available from a reseller such as MCE. Either size will fit in Wallstreet/PDQ.

We don't know the cause of these problems with 8GB drives. We haven't heard of any trend such as this one with any of the 2 or 4 GB drives that shipped with WS/PDQ. Whether this is a flaw that the entire line of 8GB drives has, or just a batch, we again do not know. We can only offer a warning that the problem is out there, that Apple has not confirmed it or any repair/recall strategy, and that you should always back up your drive. Likely

Below are a sampling of the reader emails we received in response to our June 9th call for information on this issue on the site. The first is part of the original email we received on the topic:

Cruising through the tech forums at Apple will tell you something is generally wrong with Wallstreet hard drives. Particularly the 8gb variety. I'm having to replace mine for the second time now. The drives are quiet as a mouse when first purchased and then within a month they are so hideously loud that it induces headaches in bystanders.

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I too have a Wallstreet with a loud 8GB drive. Just as your article described, it was very quiet at first, but after a couple of weeks or a month it began a persistent and annoying whine. I have not yet contacted Apple, but since this is apparently a common problem, I will.

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I have a PDQ300 and the drive noise is a nuisance. I am even thinking of replacing it (if I was only sure what to replace it with). The drive in my wife's 250 G3 series is MUCH quieter. I never really thought there was a time when it was much quieter (maybe in the first week it was).

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It's well known that some of the 8 GB HDs are very noisy. I heard this over and over from dealers as well as Apple reps. It's really a lottery when you get your 8 GB drive PowerBook. Is it quiet or noisy? And noise levels vary to a strong degree!

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I lost _2_ 8GB HDs in my Wall Street 292 inside of one month, back in December/early January. Not a pleasant experience by any means. Fortunately I had backed-up essential docs, etc. As far as noise goes, yes sometimes mine is noisy, but I can't tell if that's the fan or not.

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Just wanted to let you know that my 292 MHz Powerbook's hard drive has also increased in noise significantly since it was new. However, I live with it and have had no other problems to cause me to replace it. My normal office environment is fairly noisy, so I don't notice it much till I take it to a quiet place to work.... then I always wonder.....

Written/Edited/Published by Doug B. Landry
Logo by Jon Iverson
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©1998 Doug B. Landry. All rights reserved. All or part may not be reproduced or distributed without prior consent.
Coded on a Apple Macintosh Powerbook G3 Series from Baton Rouge, LA