Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 40 Ultra ATA 66 HDD

Conclusion 

The Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 40, 20.4 GB hard drive, is a solid performing drive and turns in impressive results due to its 7200-RPM rotational speed and 10.2 GB per platter data densities. With an solid 2MB/s plus advantage, over the other tested drives, in the disk transfer tests, along with a top showing in almost all of the remaining tests, of the five 7200-RPM units reviewed so far here at AnandTech, the Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 40 series is a sure bet.

 As far as the temperature tests goes, since this is the first drive we have reviewed using the new temperature testing method, we really do not have anything to compare it with yet. As far as the readings we recorded, the results seem to be within the reasonable limits that one would expect a hard drive to operate within. Although it may seem meaningless to include our temperature results at this point, we do intend to include this test in all of our upcoming reviews, so eventually we will have some data with which to compare the results.

The Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 40 (52049U4) was a very quiet drive in operation and in our opinion, as quiet as the IBM units we evaluated. While at the present moment, the noise level evaluation is a subjective opinion, we do plan to come up with someway to isolate the drive being tested and measure its noise level in a controlled way.

The impressive performance delivered by the drive, coupled with Maxtor’s standard 3-year warranty and No–Quibble guarantee, lends peace of mind that you will be buying a high performing and reliable product for years to come.

 As the reviewed drive, model number 52049U4, is in the same family and has the same specifications as the rest of the DiamondMax Plus 40 series of drives, its excellent performance is indicative of the entire model line and any of the units from this family should perform similarly.

Whether you use you machine for data transfer intensive tasks such as video or sound editing, or simply use your computer for tasks such as gaming or general business applications, the Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 40 series of hard drives will do a outstanding job and is highly recommended. If you were choosing an Ultra ATA/66 drive, we would defiantly recommend that you take a look at the Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 40 series.

Reviewed Drive: Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 40 (52049U4), 20.4 GB hard drive.

Main Features: 7200-RPM, Ultra ATA/66 interface, 2 MB SDRAM cache, 10.2 GB per platter data densities, sub 9 ms average seek times and capacities of 10.2, 15.3, 20.4, 30.7, and 40.9 GB’s.

Warranty: 3-years with No-Quibble return policy.

Estimated Price: $170.00