Maxtor's DiamondMax 10 A Jewel Reviewed

Hard Drive Comparison Table

In our comparison table we only included hard drives that are actually available. So, for example, while Hitachi has announced the DeskStar 7K500, it has not hit the shelves yet, so it is not here. While Seagate's latest hard drive family starts at a minimum capacity of 200 GB, Maxtor offers drives as small as 80 GB. Western Digital even has a 40 GB model. In contrast, Hitachi's DeskStar 7K400 is not even a whole drive family, just a single 400 GB hard drive.

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Header Cell - Column 0 Maxtor Maxtor Hitachi Seagate Western Digital
Desktop Product Line DiamondMax Plus 9 DiamondMax 10 DeskStar 7K400 Barracuda 7200.8 Caviar, Caviar SE
Capacities 60, 80, 120, 160, 200, 250 GB 80, 120, 160, 200, 250, 300 GB 400 GB 200, 250, 300, 400 GB 40, 80, 120, 160, 200, 250, 320 GB
Spindle Speed 7,200 RPM 7,200 RPM 7,200 RPM 7,200 RPM 7,200 RPM
Seek Time < 9.3 ms < 9.0 ms 8.5 ms 8 ms 8.9 ms
Cache 2/8 MB 8/16 MB 8 MB 8 MB 8 MB
Interface UATA/133, SATA-150 UATA/133, SATA-150 UATA/133, SATA-150 UATA/100, SATA-150 UATA/100, SATA-150
Geometry 80 GB per platter, max. 3 platters 100 GB per platter, max. 3 platters 80 GB per platter, max. 5 platters 133 GB per platter, max. 3 platters > 100 GB per platter, max. 3 platters
NCQ support (SATA only) No Yes No Yes Yes
Fluid Dynamic Bearing Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Are you looking for a quiet drive? Seagate's eighth generation Barracuda is a calm companion.

The Western Digital WD3200JB currently is one of the fastest 7,200 RPM desktop hard drives.

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Patrick Schmid
Editor-in-Chief (2005-2006)

Patrick Schmid was the editor-in-chief for Tom's Hardware from 2005 to 2006. He wrote numerous articles on a wide range of hardware topics, including storage, CPUs, and system builds.