Several hard drive questions

[Afro000Dude]

I was going to set up my new maxtor 160 gb drive today, but I have a few questions first.

1. How can I tell the platter density of the drive? There seem to be 3 different platter densities going into these drives (60, 68, and 80 gb per platter) and they all have different performance.
2. Is is safe to put it on its side? Will this hurt performance or the bearings?
3. What are other peoples' experiences with this drive? Any failures or problems with it??

I think that's it. Thanks in advance!

 

[Afro000Dude]

*cough*bump*cough*

 

[thorin]

Originally posted by: Afro000Dude
I was going to set up my new maxtor 160 gb drive today, but I have a few questions first.

1. How can I tell the platter density of the drive? There seem to be 3 different platter densities going into these drives (60, 68, and 80 gb per platter) and they all have different performance.

Based on model/serial #.

2. Is is safe to put it on its side? Will this hurt performance or the bearings?

Yes (Safe).No (Hurt)

3. What are other peoples' experiences with this drive? Any failures or problems with it??

I don't buy Maxtor so I can't tell ya

Thorin

 

[Afro000Dude]

I looked into mounting it sideways, but all I could find related to older drives. This drive has the fluid bearings, and I was worried that mounting it sideways would affect the bearings or performance. Maybe I'll email Maxtor.

Edit: Called Maxtor, said it was ok to mount drive sideways, but could not help with identifying platter density.