Maxtor DM 10 250GB, how many platters?

[Xaphias]

I saw in a review here http://www.tomshardware.com/storage/20050418/diamondmax_10-01.html

"The 80, 160 and 250 GB models are cut down versions of the one, two or three platter designs, with some storage space left unused for marketing purposes. As a result we expect these models to be slightly faster in terms of minimum data transfer rates, since the slower inner media zone is not used."

my question is how do u know how many platters a drive has? Maxtor doesn't seem to write that information in any PDF spec sheets on their site. and would it be the same thing to format a 300GB to only use 250GB. or would that use 2½ platter instead of 3x0.83 platters. just a few thoughts. I'm more interested in speed then in size.

 

[fishmahn]

You need to know the platter density for that drive series, then you can figure out how many platters (i.e., 100gb platter, 250gb drive = 3 platters with space left over). That's not something they put in PDF spec sheets, though it may be retrieveable from other published data.

The performance differences are so slight that you wouldn't notice them in 4 out of 5 benchmarks, let alone with a bare eye.

I think formatting a 300gig to only use 250 will be the same as the 250 version, but I'm not sure - it would make sense to do it that way over the other.

Mike.

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