The StorageReview Leaderboard has been updated with a new category, our pick for budget installations. Just around the corner- a look at 500 GB SATA drive from Maxtor and WD!

Just a reminder that drives are not available to rate in the StorageReview Drive Reliability Survey until they’ve been formally reviewed. Though there were some technical problems getting the Deskstar T7K250 into the database, both Hitachi’s drive as well as Maxtor’s long-standing DiamondMax 10 (never reviewed until recently since it’s virtually identical to the MaXLine

WD has edged forward to join other major players in offering a half-terabyte drive in its newly announced Caviar SE16. The new drive combines 4 125-gigabyte platters with a 16-megabyte buffer and a native 300 MB/sec SATA interface that incorporates NCQ. More information on the WD5000KS may be found in WD’s press release.

Seagate recently announced the 500 GB NL35.2, a SATA drive intended for nearline deployment. Earlier this year the firm introduced the original NL35, a 400-gigabyte design based off of the three-platter Barracuda 7200.8. The NL35.2 borrows from the newer 7200.9’s construction, bumping capacity up by 25% and standardizing on a more roomy 16-megabyte buffer. For

We’ve updated the Leaderboard with an entry for the 150 GB Raptor, a drive that seems to have hit availability a bit sooner than anticipated. It’s interesting to note that while the 36 GB and 74 GB Raptors were leading performers in their day, neither unit managed the right combination of performance, capacity, and price

The rumors are true. Today Western Digital formally announces the successor to its beloved (but rather small) Raptor WD740GD. The new WD1500 doubles capacity to 150 gigabytes and features a host of improvements aimed at elevating the family’s performance and reliability to a new level. Here’s a link to WD’s press release and one to

Today Seagate announced its intentions to acquire Maxtor Corp. for $1.9 billion in stock, once again consolidating an industry where razor thin margins brutally penalize any missteps. Here, though Maxtor’s enterprise division has done relatively well, the firm’s desktop/consumer division has struggled to regain its footing after some quality-control issues centering around the DiamondMax 8/9

Now that we’ve taken our first look at notebook drives, the SR Leaderboard has been expanded with a new category. In addition, as a reminder, the 7 drives covered in the roundup may now be rated in the Drive Reliability Survey. Remember that disks become eligible for entry after SR’s product review has been formally

A while back we noticed that Seagate’s web page buried the Barracuda family’s seek time several links deep. Consider, for example, that Seagate no longer lists the Barracuda’s claimed seek time on its model detail page or on the product’s spec sheet. While the firm’s motive may be somewhat questionable (Seagate’s ATA drives traditionally do