Maxtor in disk mounting spindle shake-up

70% fewer parts in latest drives

By Lucy Sherriff • Get more from this author

Posted in Business, 13th February 2001 12:40 GMT

Increase your knowledge of the latest threats to your busines

Maxtor has abandoned the pursuit of ever-larger areal density and gone for a simpler design and increased reliability with its latest family of drives.

And so it the company has added load/unload technology to the 531DX family of drives that began shipping yesterday.

The line is the first from Maxtor to incorporate the technology, which it says will limit returns in the channel and increase reliability. An inner diameter load/unload ramp locks the recording head in a "protective" carrier whenever the drive is not in use, the company said.

The drive runs at 5,400rpm and is available at both 10GB and 15GB capacities.

The drive family has 70 per cent fewer parts than other offerings from Maxtor. This is down to a new way of mounting the disk on the spindle, among other design changes. For example: the recording head is now on the under side of the disk, to avoid problems from dust on the disk surface.

Maxtor says that the changes have also allowed it to reduce the form factor - the height is now 17-mm making the whole drive a third smaller.

Mike Cannon, CEO of Maxtor, said that the drive was aimed at consumer and entry PC markets, and marked a move into new segments of the market for the company. ®

See what The Register's experts have to say on application security