Hitachi's 7K400 Hard Drive Capacity Reaches 400 GB, Maxtor's MaXLine III Advances Serial ATA

Hitachi DeskStar 7K400 / HDS724040KLSA80

The 7K400 is the first model that can provide 400 GB of storage capacity. However, in contrast to its predecessor, the 7k250, the technology that Hitachi uses this time around is not fundamentally different. The new model uses five platters of 80 GB each, which effectively makes the high storage capacity possible. Smaller versions - for example, a 320 GB model - are currently not available.

While solutions with several platters are quite common in the realm of SCSI, the number of platters in the ATA sector is kept small when possible. The reason is that the risk of damage increases as the number of movable components increases. The problems that IBM encountered with the DeskStar 75GXP a few years back were not due to mechanical reasons, however. The main problem was caused by condensation that built up inside the drive when it was operated over an extended period of time. And IBM simply did not take this factor into consideration at the time.

Be it as it may, the DeskStar 120GXP and the 7K250 series have no problems with high failure rates. In addition, Hitachi would not have made the move to the 7K400 if there had been an increased risk. The bottom line: a good overall impression and, by today's standards, good performance. It comes as no surprise that the 7K400 didn't beat its predecessor, the 7K250, by miles, considering the two models use similar technology.