MILPITAS, Calif. - Maxtor Corp. [NASDAQ:MXTR] announced the
DiamondMax 4320 series of hard disk drives, the latest addition to the award-winning
DiamondMax family. The DiamondMax 4320 offers capacities up to 17.2 GB, UltraDMA
compatibility and an average seek time of 9.0 ms.
The new drive has been in volume production at Maxtor’s Singapore plant for several
weeks and will begin shipping this month. The DiamondMax 4320 is one of the first
4.3 GB-per-disk desktop drives shipping in volume from any manufacturer, continuing
Maxtor’s time-to-market leadership established over the last several quarters.
"The new DiamondMax 4320 series of drives continues to demonstrate our consistent
execution in delivering new products to market ahead of the industry," said
Mike Cannon, Maxtor’s president and CEO. "The quality, capacity and performance
of this new drive will provide outstanding value to our customers."
17.2 GB DiamondMax 4320
The DiamondMax 4320 drives hold 4,320 megabytes per disk
and are available in capacities up to 17.2 GB. They are Maxtor’s seventh-generation
drive series with magneto-resistive (MR) heads. Other features shared by DiamondMax
4320 and its predecessors are a digital signal processor (DSP)-based electronics
architecture, partial response maximum likelihood (PRML) read channel technology,
and Maxtor’s exclusive Formula4 four-disk head disk assembly (HDA). Combined, these
technologies result in a higher-capacity, higher-performance drive with a lower
cost per megabyte.
New Interface and Technology
Initial shipments of the DiamondMax 4320 drives feature UltraDMA
33 compatibility, with later shipments featuring advanced UltraDMA 66 interface
technology. The DiamondMax 4320 drives will be the first of Maxtor’s drive series
to incorporate UltraDMA 66 compatibility. UltraDMA 66-compatible DiamondMax 4320
drives will carry a "U" in the model number. UltraDMA 66 improves throughput
speeds by doubling (from UltraDMA 33) the data transfer rate to/from the interface
to 66 MB per second. UltraDMA 66 also improves data integrity by performing cyclic
redundancy checks to detect transfer errors between the system and the hard drive.
Additionally, the DiamondMax 4320 also premiers the introduction of Maxtor’s unique
MaxSafeTM System for automatically detecting, isolating and repairing hard drive
problems. The MaxSafe System is supported by several key technologies including:
Enhancements to Maxtor’s S.M.A.R.T. technology;
Error Correction Code (ECC) with 33-bit on-the-fly hardware correction and 81-bit
software correction;
Improved thermal asperity handling and recovery for higher data reliability;
Maxtor’s unique "error event logging" mechanism that provides better customer
support. The MaxSafe System operates constantly in the background, but it does not
adversely affect drive performance or require the user to perform any configuration
or system modifications. In fact, this system can provide increased benchmark performance,
higher data reliability and better customer support.
The DiamondMax 4320 incorporates some of the most advanced disk drive features and
performance specifications available today, including:
9.0 ms average seek time;
5,400 RPM spindle speed;
up to 512 KB cache buffer;
Magneto-resistive heads;
UltraDMA/ PIO Mode 4/ DMA Mode 2 compatibility;
Exclusive Formula4Ô HDA;
PRML read channel technology;
DSP-based electronics architecture;
Compliance with the Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T.)
system;
Custom on-the-fly Error Correction Code logic, capable of correcting multiple error
bursts without performance loss;
Low power consumption and ATA power saving commands that support EPA Energy Star
"Green PC" standards;
Mean time between failure (MTBF) rating of >500,000 hours;
Minimum start/stop cycle rating of 50,000;
Three-year warranty.
Breaking the 8.4 GB Capacity Barrier
Due to BIOS and operating system limitations,
many of today’s PCs are not equipped to handle hard drives with capacities greater
than 8.4 GB. Maxtor addresses this limitation with its exclusive MaxBlastTM installation
software, an easy-to-use solution for breaking the 8.4 GB barrier. MaxBlastTM Plus
makes it possible for most computers to work with the 17.2 GB DiamondMax 4320.
The DiamondMax Legacy
Maxtor’s DiamondMax family of drives has been extremely well
received since its introduction in late 1996. The 5.1 GB DiamondMax 1280 was named
to Windows Magazine’s WinList -- a first for an EIDE drive -- and to the magazine’s
"Win100" list of the 100 best hardware products of the year. The DiamondMax
1750 and DiamondMax 2160 were named to the magazine’s "Win100" this year.
The DiamondMax 1750 has received recommendations from Computer Reseller News, PC
Computing and Windows Sources.
In its February 1998 issue, BYTE Magazine also recognized the DiamondMax 1280 and
the 8.4 GB DiamondMax 2160 as the best overall desktop drive and best overall server-class
drive, respectively. The 8.4 GB DiamondMax 2160 also received PC World's "1998
Best Hard Drive of the Year." VARBusiness has also named Maxtor as its "1998
Product Report" winner.
Pricing and Availability
Estimated retail pricing for the DiamondMax 4320 17.2 GB
drive is $399. Maxtor’s retail-packaged drives contain all the necessary equipment
for fast and easy installation, including hard drive interface cables, illustrated
installation guide and MaxBlastTM Plus, Maxtor’s exclusive installation software.
Like all Maxtor products, DiamondMax 4320 drives are backed by Maxtor’s exclusive
No Quibble® Service, which includes two 24-hour automated services: MaxInfoTM
automated technical assistance system, and MaxFaxTM automatic fax-back service.
Additionally, technical assistance is available via Email on the World Wide Web,
and live telephone assistance is available Monday through Friday.
About Maxtor
Maxtor Corp. [NASDAQ:MXTR] develops, manufactures and markets
hard disk drives for desktop computer systems. Maxtor’s other current products include
the DiamondMax 3400, the DiamondMax Plus 2500 and the DiamondMax 2880 series of
drives. Maxtor can be reached by phone at (800)2-MAXTOR or on the Internet at http://www.maxtor.com. @Macarlo, Inc. @Macarlo's Shareware & Web OS/2 Java Lobby Member
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