This is a used Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 8 Hard Drive (NAR61590) from a working system. In good working condition.
Introduction
Announced simultaneously with the firm’s performance-oriented DiamondMax Plus 9, the Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 8 aims to service entry-level storage needs where price and ease of integration outweigh capacity and raw speed.
Building upon a paradigm established by the 5400 RPM DiamondMax 531DX and 541DX, the DM+8 utilizes just one side of a single 80-gigabyte platter to deliver capacities up to 40 GB.
Unlike the 531DX/541DX, the DM+8 features a 7200 RPM spindle speed. Maxtor specs the drive’s seek times at under ten milliseconds. A standard two-megabyte buffer rounds out the offering. Through minimizing part counts, Maxtor ostensibly increases reliability- after all, there are simply less things that can break in a simpler design. All DM+8 drives come equipped with fluid dynamic bearing motors.
The drive’s reduced part count permits an extra low-profile chassis. At just 0.7 inches (17.5 millimeters), the drive shaves off a full third of the height normally associated with today’s drives. This thinner profile promotes better air circulation within the case.
Low-Level Results
For diagnostic purposes only, StorageReview measures the following low-level parameters:
Average Read Access Time– An average of 25,000 random accesses of a single sector each conducted through IPEAK SPT’s AnalyzeDisk suite. The high sample size permits a much more accurate reading than most typical benchmarks deliver and provides an excellent figure with which one may contrast the claimed access time (claimed seek time + the drive spindle speed’s average rotational latency) provided by manufacturers.
WB99 Disk/Read Transfer Rate – Begin– The sequential transfer rate attained by the outermost zones in the hard disk. The figure typically represents the highest sustained transfer rate a drive delivers.
WB99 Disk/Read Transfer Rate – End– The sequential transfer rate attained by the innermost zones in the hard disk. The figure typically represents the lowest sustained transfer rate a drive delivers.
The DiamondMax Plus 8’s access time measures out at 14 milliseconds even. Subtracting 4.2 ms to account for the rotational latency of a 7200 RPM drive yields a measured seek time of 9.8 milliseconds and beats the advertised 10 ms spec.
Equipped with an 80 GB platter, the DM+8 turns in an impressive 60.2 MB/sec transfer rate in its outermost zone. Its inner-zone mark of 40.0 MB/sec also sets a record for an ATA drive.
