Hi! "Clacking" is generally the hard drive, which is in the front-right of the computer. In the case that the hard drive is making this noise, it's very likely going to fail sooner than later, so I'd back up your data just to be safe. There is really no way to fix it other than replace the drive. You can go to Disk Utility (Applications\Utilities) and run a check on the drive to see if it comes up with any problems, but if it comes up clean that doesn't necessarily mean there isn't a problem.
I wouldn't think it's the optical drive, especially if it's a working optical drive. They generally don't make a lot of unexpected noise when sitting idle.
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The only other moving part is the fan, which is toward the back of the machine, where you said the noise seems to be coming from. However, fan noises tend to be whirring and vacuum cleaner-like. It may be that something is stuck in the fan, or the fan is very dirty. You can follow the instructions on this site to take the topcase off the machine, and it's possible that spraying out the fan with canned air would help.
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The only other moving part is the fan, which is toward the back of the machine, where you said the noise seems to be coming from. However, fan noises tend to be whirring and vacuum cleaner-like. It may be that something is stuck in the fan, or the fan is very dirty. You can follow the instructions on this site to take the topcase off the machine, and it's possible that spraying out the fan with canned air would help. Sometimes fans get out of alignment, and cause a noise similar to when a kid puts a playing card in the spokes of a bicycle. In this case, the fan just needs to be replaced, if blowing it out with air does not help.
If it's under warranty, I'd suggest going to an Apple store and having them deal with it. Anyway, I hope that helps!
Hi! "Clacking" is generally the hard drive, which is in the front-right of the computer. In the case that the hard drive is making this noise, it's very likely going to fail sooner than later, so I'd back up your data just to be safe. There is really no way to fix it other than replace the drive. You can go to Disk Utility (Applications\Utilities) and run a check on the drive to see if it comes up with any problems, but if it comes up clean that doesn't necessarily mean there isn't a problem.
I wouldn't think it's the optical drive, especially if it's a working optical drive. They generally don't make a lot of unexpected noise when sitting idle.
The only other moving part is the fan, which is toward the back of the machine, where you said the noise seems to be coming from. However, fan noises tend to be whirring and vacuum cleaner-like. It may be that something is stuck in the fan, or the fan is very dirty. You can follow the instructions on this site to take the topcase off the machine, and it's possible that spraying out the fan with canned air would help.
If it's under warranty, I'd suggest going to an Apple store and having them deal with it. Anyway, I hope that helps!