Occasionally, when I jostle my MacBook Pro a bit harshly, I hear this mechanical clicking noise. Is this a safety shutoff?

It has a built in censor that locks the hard drive to prevent damage when it senses the computer is falling. I am not sure if that is what you are hearing but it is likely.

Yes, the noise definitely occurs whenever i let my laptop free-fall in my hands, so you are probably right. More entertainment for ADD people like myself, damn clicking noises…

@Dog sensor. Sorry, had to.

I wouldn’t recommend making a habit out of dropping your computer, though. Says someone who just had a hard drive crash.

@dverhey I’m not letting it hit the ground, it’s always in my hands. Does the actual locking of the HD cause the crash or is it the actual drop?

@dverhey Ha! You should see me with the word “capitol” I am pathetic! Andrew and Ben keep me around to fill the “challenged” quota. ;)

@Fred931 Neither can be good for the computer. If it was the drop that hurt the HD, it would lock upon drop, but when it locks upon fall, it’s still hitting your hands. The locking is not to necessarily stop the HD from crashing, but to protect the data on the HD in the event of a crash.

Hard Drives respond to trauma, not gravity, but even hitting your hands could be enough to mess it up a bit.

the fan may be out of place, or the hard drive may be damaged… if everything is ok so far, take your computer, download carbon copy cloner (mac os x snow), then clone it to somewhere else to save it… send it to applecare, or if youre like me, open it and search for the problem yourself…. but then you break the warranty… i warned you….