Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 40 GB 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive

by Maxtor

Product Details

Product Manual [3.94mb PDF]

• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00004R7OI
• Item model number: ST0154000U
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (56 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 21, 2002

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

If you're looking for a large, high-performance hard drive, look no further. The Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 40 delivers both capacity and performance in droves. The unit is built with Maxtor's proprietary DualWave controller, which combines a Texas Instruments DSP (Digital Signal Processor) to control drive functions and a specially designed 50-MIPs RISC processor for host commands. This allows the DiamondMax 40 to offer the fastest spindle speeds available and pack enough data per square inch to make it both the fastest and largest drive in its class.

There are two technologies that make the DiamondMax Plus the screamer that it is: spindle speed and areal density. (For more information on these technologies, see our FAQ.) The DiamondMax Plus 40 boasts a spindle speed of 7,200 RPM, which is currently the fastest spindle speed for ATA-based hard drives (drives that utilize an IDE interface). The DiamondMax Plus 40 also has an areal density of 7.245 gigabits per square inch. With the ability to pack 7.245 Gb of data into a single square inch of hard drive media, the DiamondMax 40 can store 10.2 GB per platter; and since it has four platters, the DiamondMax 40 can hold over 40 GB of data. Why is this important? Because the spindle speed is a constant, the only way to get more data passing under the drive's read heads is to pack the data closer together; that way, the read heads can read more data on each rotation.

In our benchmark tests, we found the DiamondMax 40 delivered an average sequential-read speed of around 24.4 MB per second and a write speed of 17.3 MB per second. While the read speed is close to that of Seagate's Barracuda ATA II (another drive in its class), the write speed is faster by 1 MB per second. The DiamondMax Plus 40 also has an excellent read burst speed, which is a measurement for the amount of data the drive can pump from the 2 MB of onboard memory buffer (cache) across the UltraDMA 66 bus. Since this bus has a bandwidth limitation of 66 MB per second, the read burst speed won't be higher. We measured it at 58.8 MB per second, a full 10 MB per second faster than Seagate's Barracuda ATA II. CPU use was negligible at a relatively standard 3.3 percent. Only the random access time left us desiring more, as its 14.3-millisecond score was 1 millisecond slower than the Barracuda ATA II and upwards of 3 milliseconds slower than Quantum's last generation Fireball Plus hard drive. Fortunately, it didn't affect the DiamondMax Plus's other scores, such as the real-world copy test, which times the copying of a directory containing 644 MB of data (a typical CD's worth of data) to another directory on the same drive. The DiamondMax Plus 40 came in at 1 minute and 34 seconds, which was 30 seconds faster than Seagate and minutes faster than others, including last-generation drives from Quantum, IBM, and Fujitsu.

We found the performance of the Maxtor DiamondMax 40 to be first rate and the heat and noise to be minimal. This is an excellent combination for a 40 GB behemoth that delivers state-of-the-art hard-drive technology, unparalleled performance, and ultimate bragging rights. --Sean Cleveland

Pros:

• High areal density--largest drive in its class
• High data throughput
• Built on the latest drive technologies
• Runs quiet and cool

Cons:

• Slower random-access speeds

Amazon.com Product Description

The DiamondMax family is Maxtor's mainstream line of 3.5-inch hard disk drives, featuring Maxtor's enhanced ShockBlock mechanics as well as Maxtor's DualWave multiprocessor controller for enhanced performance. The DiamondMax 40 has capacities up to 40.9 GB. These drives are designed for desktop systems that demand maximum storage capacity and performance.

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Hard Drive, April 30, 2000

By 

edrisk (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 40 GB 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive (Personal Computers)

I have bought many Hard Drives this past year, and let me tell you Maxtor is one of the best. This hard drive, is one of the fastest you will find without going towards those expensive SCSI drives. The capacity is the biggest I have seen for less than $300, plus the fact that this Hard Drive comes from a great company. In my opinion Maxtor is the BEST Hard drive manufacturer. The only draw back is that the size of the hard drive makes it hard to maintain without splitting the drive into at least 2-3 partitions. It takes about 10 hours for this hard drive to be defragmented (optimize) when it is 90% full. Of course, this is always the issue when buying a huge hard drive. This is the best Hard Drive yet, both quality and price.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best Hard Drives On The Market Today, February 21, 2002

By 

"wogeson-pattiwhack" (Nenana, AK - United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 40 GB 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive (Personal Computers)

The Maxtor DiamondMaxx 40 Gigabyte hard-drive is, quite simply, one of the best hard-drives I have ever seen in my life. While I've seen faster and better drives, none are as affordable dollar-for-gigabyte, and all have some inherent flaw(s) which make them unsuitable for data backup and recovery. The DiamondMaxx is a very stable hard-drive, able to survive all kinds of temperature extremes (though it is not recommended that you test this theory). I have purchased them for many different clients, and all agree that this drive is the workhorse of their companies. I, myself, am using one of these drives in the computer I am writing this review from.
Bottom line: if you want dependablility and overall good performance in your hard-drive(s), than look no further than the DiamondMaxx 40 GB hard drive.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Maxtor's Mixed Reputation, June 5, 2001

By 

R. Geroski "lynxspyder" (Louisville, KY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 40 GB 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive (Personal Computers)

I've talked to a number of people about Maxtor drives, and quite a few have told me to avoid them like the plague. I furrow my brow questioningly at these people because my experience has been quite the contrary.

Over the years I have purchased and installed several Maxtor hard drives and have had few problems with them. I have an old Pentium 166 at home that has a Maxtor drive in it, and it's been running solid now for several years. I've only purchased one Maxtor drive that gave me trouble, and it was a bare drive I purchased at a computer show from a less-than-reputable vendor because of the low price. When I discovered that the drive was bad, Maxtor held up its end of the bargain quite nicely. I phoned them about the bad drive, they told me to ship it to them and that they'd ship a new drive to me simultaneously. They took my credit card number in case I tried to stiff them but did not charge the card. I got my new drive in a couple of days and it worked great. In fact, I still have it.

For novice upgraders, the MaxBlast software makes it a snap to format the drive. Essentially, all you have to do is plug the drive in, insert the MaxBlast disk and then install whatever software you want on the drive after its formatted.

If you need information on any of their drives, it's easily accessible on their Web site, along with any software you may need. For example, if you purchase an OEM bare drive, you can download the MaxBlast software from their Web site.

In spite of all the bad reviews Maxtor seems to get, I have to say that I like their drives. They work fine for me. And when you look at Maxtor from a bang-for-your-buck standpoint, I think they stand above the rest of the hard drive crowd because you can get more storage for your money and, depending on the drive, more performance too.

I give Maxtor my stamp of approval.