Maxtor MaXLine Plus II
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More than eight months have passed since Maxtor's initial announcement. While it was originally supposed to top out at just 160 gigabytes, the DiamondMax Plus 9 has since hit 200 and even 250 gigabyte capacities. The MaXLine Plus II initially was to pick up the 200 and 250 GB points but has since been reduced to only the 250 GB size. At the time of this writing, MaXLine Plus II drives are finally trickling into the mainstream distribution channel.
There are actually two MaXLine series- the standard MaXLine features 5400 RPM operation while the MaXLine Plus incorporates 7200 RPM operation. The MaXLine Plus II features three 83-gigabyte platters along with the 7200 RPM spindle speed. Maxtor specifies average read seek times at 9.0 milliseconds. Though announced at the outset with both ball bearing and fluid bearing models, in practice (like the DiamondMax Plus 9), all MaxLine Plus drives feature quieter fluid dynamic bearing motors. The family comes equipped with a performance-standard 8-megabyte buffer.
What differentiates the MaXLine Plus II from a 250-gigabyte DiamondMax Plus 9? Though the firm has carefully maintained that the DiamondMax Plus 9 has been built to standards just as high as its predecessors, Maxtor claims that the MaXLine series goes above and beyond the ATA norm. It features a 1.2 million hour mean time between failure (MTBF) figure, matching the spec sported by the top SCSI drives. For those about to protest that they do not believe a drive will "run 137 years continuously" before failing, remember that MTBF is the total cumulative amount of hours a large group (500 to 1000) of the given drive should run before one of them fails. Maxtor rates the MaXLine for "24/7" operation. Many readers may remember the flack that IBM took for specifying the Deskstar 60GXP series with a "333 power-on hours per month" recommendation. Does the MaXLine's 24/7 claim imply that other drives such as the DiamondMax Plus 9 or even the Deskstar 60GXP should not be powered on continuously? The issue remains somewhat fuzzy.
Finally, the MaXLine Plus II explicitly features a three-year warranty. In announcing the DiamondMax Plus 9, Maxtor fired the first salvo in reducing standard drive warranty lengths from three years down to just one year. To reflect its increased reliability, however, the MaXLine was to be protected by the previous three-year standard (though, interestingly, not by the SCSI-standard 5-year period). Like many issues surrounding Maxtor's latest drives, however, the distinction is somewhat blurry. While all MaXLine drives are backed for three years, there have been many reports of readers receiving DiamondMax Plus 9 drives that, either in the packaging or through information provided on Maxtor's website, appear to feature a three-year rather than the expected one-year warranty.
Why "II"? What happened to the MaXLine I? According to Maxtor, the 120 GB and 160 GB DiamondMax D540X drives were actually built to an elevated standard and hence, retroactively, are the first-generation MaXLine drives.
With the MaXLine, Maxtor aims to carve out a segment previously serviced by high-capacity, expensive SCSI hard disks and tape drives. Such secondary storage has traditionally been used to store or backup enormous amounts of data that users do not need to access as regularly as "first line" data. A reliable, high-capacity ATA drive ostensibly offers speed and cost advantages over traditional solutions. The MaxLine Plus II, of course, also serves as Maxtor's premiere ATA offering to compete with drives from other manufacturers for use in mid- to high-end desktop systems as well as entry-level servers.