Conclusion: Consistent Development
The Atlas 10K V is Maxtor's way of consistently strengthening its main pillar in the hard drive market. Maximum data transfer rates of almost 90 MB/s are worthy of respect, and compared to others, Maxtor also is on top when it comes to access times. However, when it comes to I/O performance, Seagate's 2.5'' Savvio can be considered a serious competitor, since its more compact dimensions mean the heads have shorter distances to cover.
It is hard to say how much MaxADAPT features will affect real life performance without making a series of complex tests. However, the ideas behind the functions are sound.
It won't be difficult for the 300 GB version of this drive to become accepted for applications that need high storage densities. The other two models, with 74 and 147 GB, will presumably replace the former Atlas 10K V fairly quickly, since they are cheaper to produce and offer better performance and features.
