Maxtor L01R300 300GB Ultra16 Internal Hard Drive Kit (Parallel ATA, 7,200 RPM) Review

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(More customer reviews)I was fairly puzzled why this drive is designated a P-ATA when the thing installs like a regular S-ATA. The Drive Designation and the package on the box I have are exactly the same as the above advertised item.
I was looking to consolidate threeexternal drives on to one internal, so I can use a much larger backup drive.
Anyway, the Drive slots in to a DELLDimension 8200 easily, and simply... you do NOT even need a screwdriver( but it can help with two side clips, but not essential).
After booting back up, the Maxtor utilities on the disk are essential if you want the absolute most useable space ( PARTITION MAGIC and even the onboard WindowsXP Prodisk utils will notprovide you with the sameuseable space).

A word about some additional software. Do NOT use Maxtor's DDO ( Dynamic Disk Overlay ) option in the MAXBLAST Software if you have both Partition Magic 7 or 8, as well as Norton Utilities Premier 2006. The probability of an issue with BOOT.INI and the HAL.DLLfile is high. The good news is that using PFEDIT and then FDISK/MBR ( and no, thats not a typo... this switch works, and is not officially documented in MS windows TID's, technical info documents), which will change the Partition type from TYPE 44 to the type you need, if necessary, and also FDISK/MBR will rebuild the MBR( Master Boot Record).

After , essentially, activating the drive with the Maxtor utilites, if you set the power settings in control panel just right, the so called problem with disk spin "noise" is non-existent"; you only get the disk issue if you opt to "power down" when not in use. Mostly for me, thats not an issue, since all drives are in constant use.
The speed is mind blowing.
A word about Disk replacement life: on average, replace your drives every two years, unless you have the most fool-proof back up system known. No Drive is infallible, and each drive has a definite life. Each drive can *potentially* have a long life, but this depends on your useage level.
That being said, if you need a large drive, and have a mid to high end system, then this is a goodway to head.

1/4/08 :I just saw the comments/notes about the Dimension 8200 from Early 2007. All you do is put in any Drive above 137 GIG on an XPsystem and the Registry will automatically detect size differences and make changes to accomodate the larger drive. On Secondary drives this will work up to 300 GIG Guaranteed, and the space is almost totally available. Thanks to maxtors unique setup, the drive formats at almost total capacity. I still have the Same Dimension 8200 and I will be inserting either a 160 GIG ( Minimum )or a 500 GIG, maximum, in the C Drive ( I just have to back up the Current Drive disc, then reload it). You do need to ramp up the memory on the Dimension 8200 as far as you can go, so the more you can load the better. My system as RAM-BUS( thanks to some messing around by DELL at the time I purchased, but many 8200s have better memory), so I am a little hamstrung on the setup, but this beast has worked so well so far, I will likely keep it as a Test machine after some upgrades on the 8200 and a new machine as my main computer.

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Product Description:
Get ultra performance and capacity with the Maxtor Ultra16 PATA 300GB hard drive. Featuring 16MB Cache buffer and and data transfer rates up to 133MB/sec. Designed for power users, video editors and multi-media PC users who need the ultimate in performance. The hard drive kit also includes Maxtor's popular MaxBlastTM drive utilities for intelligent formatting and partitioning, a drive copy feature for duplicating your original drive and an easy step-by step installation guide. Maxtor raises the bar yet again on desktop hard drive performance! Data transfer rates up to 133MB/secMaxBlast drive utilities for intelligent formatting and partitioning Fluid dynamic bearing motor for ultra quiet operation9ms average seek timeEasy installation into desktop PCComplete upgrade kit

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