This is Maxtor’s sole disk in this Labs, but we’re not convinced that this Seagate-owned brand is worth consideration.
Average read and write times of 88.6MB/sec and 80.6MB/sec respectively leave the DiamondMax sitting half-way up our results table, and access times of 13ms and 5ms aren’t much cop.
Other test results hint at the same unpredictability that plagued the 750GB Seagate Barracuda: a burst speed of 127MB/sec is barely above half of what we’ve seen from most other drives, and a 13ms random access time and 93.1MB/sec average sequential read speed are mediocre.
One area where the DiamondMax excels is value: at 7.2p/GB, it’s the cheapest 1TB drive on test. However, when the unpredictable performance is factored in, this seems like a false economy. The Barracuda 7200.11 1TB disk may cost £8 more, but it’s quicker and has a better range of features.
Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Capacity | 1.00TB |
| Hard disk usable capacity | 930GB |
| Hard disk type | Mechanical |
| Cache size | 32MB |
| Spindle speed | 7,200RPM |
| Seek time (ms) | 13ms |
| Cost per gigabyte | 7.2p |
Noise and power | |
| Idle power consumption | 11W |
Performance tests | |
| HD Tach burst speed | 127.0MB/sec |
| HD Tach random access speed | 13.0ms |
| HD Tach average sequential read speed | 93.1MB/sec |
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