Quantum is undoubtedly one of the top 5 hard drive manufacturers,
along with IBM, Seagate, Western Digital and Maxtor. In the past
year or so, Quantum's ranking amongst these top 5 has been climbing
steadily. Last year, they made a splash with their Atlas IV and
Atlas 10K SCSI drives (which were the fastest at the time), and now
they've released a new series of drives to win back the crown. The
Atlas 10K II has taken the crown in the high-end Enterprise Server
10,000 RPM SCSI market, the Fireball Plus LM has taken the lead in the
7200 RPM ATA-66 consumer market.
Now, the only segment left for them to conquer is the PC
Server/Workstation class 7200 RPM SCSI market. In this segment,
Quantum has followed-up with their venerable Atlas IV line and has
released the Atlas V series. The Atlas V has an unprecedented
9.1GB per platter and comes in three capacities: 9.1GB, 18.2GB and
36.7GB. We will be taking a look at the 36.7GB model in this
review.
Here is a table to outline the specifications of
this drive:
|
Quantum
Atlas 10K Specifications |
| Form Factor |
3.5 inch |
| Interfaces |
Ultra160/m,
Ultra2, Ultra SCSI 68-pin Wide, 80-pin SCA-2 |
| Formatted
Capacity |
36,700
MB |
| Rotational
Speed |
7200 RPM |
| Disks |
4 |
| Head/Recording
Surfaces |
8 |
| Bytes per Sector |
512 |
| Maximum Aureal
Density |
6.8 GB/sq in. |
| Encoding/Detection
Method |
24/25 RLL PRML |
| Average Read Seek
Time |
6.3ms |
| Track-To-Track |
0.8ms |
| Full Stroke |
15ms |
| Average Rotational
Latency |
4.17ms |
| Internal Data Rate |
194 to 340Mb/s |
| Sustained
Throughput |
17 to 29 MB/s |
Data Transfer
Rates
(Buffer- to-Host) |
|
| Ultra160/m |
160 MB/s |
| Ultra2 SCSI |
80 MB/s |
| Ultra SCSI |
40 MB/s |
| Buffer Size |
4MB |
| Error Correction
Method |
352-bit Reed
Solomon |
| Weight |
1.4lbs, 0.63kg |
| Warranty |
5 Years |
| Special Features |
Quiet
Drive Technology (QDT)
Data
Protection System (DPS)
MR
(Magnetoresistive heads)
PRML
Read Channels
Shock
Protection System II (SPS II)
S.M.A.R.T.
Hot
Swappable
RAID
ready |
When looking at the specs, it is evident that the
Altas V represents a new generation in 7200 RPM SCSI hard
drives. For example, the Internal Data Rate and Sustained
Throughput are higher than those of the Atlas 10K 10,000 RPM drive
which Quantum released last year.
As mentioned before, the Atlas V features a huge
9.1GB/platter which is very large for a SCSI drive. It uses
the Ultra160/m SCSI interface, has a very respectable 6.3ms average
access time for a 7200 RPM drive and finally, it has a huge 4MB
cache.
Quantum has included it's now standard Data
Protection System, Shock Protection System II and RAID support for
this drive, which you can read about by clicking on the links
above. However, they've included one new feature which
Quantum has recently started implementing on their new set of
drives called Quiet Drive Technology (or QDT). When we first
plugged in the drive without even knowing about the technology, we
immediately noticed a difference in noise levels compared to the Atlas 10K or even the Fireball Plus KA 7200 RPM
drive. The sound is much less scratchy and more
muffled. While you can still hear some noise, it's
definitely a lot more pleasant.
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