DiamondMax 10 with 16MB buffer

[egkenny]

I just got a 200GB retail Maxtor retail Ultra drive. The box says it has a 8MB buffer. I was surprised to find out that it showed up as model 6L200R0. This model is not even on any of their spec sheets. The closest models are the DiamondMax 10 6L250R0 and 6L300R0 which have 16MB buffers instead of the usual 8MB. I contacted Maxtor and found out despite what the spec sheet says the 6L200R0 indeed has a 16MB buffer.

Is this just a marketing ploy or will a 16MB buffer give better performance than the DiamondMax Plus 9 6Y200P0 or the DiamondMax 10 6L200P0 which only have a 8MB buffer?

 

[aatf510]

I thought that only their 250GB and 300GB model has 16mb buffer.

 

[Unkno]

nah, there are 200gb 16mb....

IIRC, there isn't much (if any) performance boost in real world...

 

[imported_Tick]

Unless it's in a RAID array.

 

[obeseotron]

According to StorageReview, the 16mb Maxtors (Maxline III) are easily the fastest 7200RPM drive and in some cases top a Raptor. I don't know if it has much to do with the 16MB of cache, but the generation of drives that has it is very fast. I have a pair in RAID0, and it certainly does seem fast. Maxtor does not have the greatest reputation for quality, but they are very fast and cheap.