4A300J0 A.k.a. Diamond Max Plus: Technical Details
| Technical Data | |
|---|---|
| Capacity | 300 GB |
| Geometry | 4 Platter, 80 GB pro Platter |
| Rotation speed | 5,400 |
| Cache | 2 MB |
| Access time | < 12.6 ms |
| Interface | UltraATA/133 |
| Warranty | 1 Year |
The technical details leave no room for criticism. This largest DiamondMax is based on platters of approx. 80 GB. Four of them are used, raising capacity to around 320 GB. However, "only" 300 GB is used - the remainder is probably reserved for error correction.
With four platters, Maxtor is aiming pretty high. Several years ago, IBM put up to five platters per drive in its DTLA series. That offers the advantage of being able to construct very large drives. However, the increased friction causes more heat loss so that hard drives with four platters require cooling sooner than models with only one or two. Large SCSI drives are usually based on multi-platter configurations.
An UltraATA/133 controller was also included in delivery of the retail kit. Although it's labeled as a Maxtor, it in fact originates from Promise. The Maxtor website, meanwhile, contains the information that this controller is not standard in the retail kit but has to be purchased extra.