X-bit labs

Maxtor OneTouch III Mini Edition External Hard Disk Drive Review

Category: Storage

by Andrey Kuznetcov

[ 08/15/2006 | 09:55 AM ]

The demand for compact external storage solutions is growing rapidly and today we are going to take a closer look at a solution like that from Maxtor. Get the details from our detailed review of the new Mini Edition solution with 100GB storage capacity and USB 2.0 interface.

Table of contents:

• Closer Look
  
• Testbed and Methods
  
• Performance in WinBench 99
  
• Performance in FC-Test
  
• Conclusion
  

Compact external hard disk drives have recently been enjoying a rise in interest from the manufacturers who don’t what to share this market with their competitors. Maxtor, who is about to merge with its ex-opponent Seagate, has also announced such a product. External drives from Maxtor have all been designed in the 3.5” form-factor until now, so the company’s first model with a 2.5” HDD inside looks most exciting to us.

We just can’t help checking it out in our labs.

Closer Look

The case of this drive is made of aluminum with rubber-like inserts in the side panels so that the device didn’t slip out of your fingers. It’s all right from an aesthetic point of view – the drive is designed up to the latest fashion trends in this area. An OneTouch button with a LED indicator of operation mode is located on the front panel; on the rear panel there is a USB port and a power connector. The manufacturer’s name stands out in relief from the top panel.

A 100GB hard disk is used inside this drive (a 60GB version is also available). The HDD has an 8MB cache buffer and a spindle rotation speed of 5400rpm. The average seek time is no higher than 9 milliseconds. I didn’t open the case up for fear of damaging the device, and it was impossible to identify the drive with Windows-based tools, but I am almost 100% sure a hard drive from Seagate is employed in here. Other variants are unlikely in view of the imminent marriage between Maxtor and Seagate. The drive has a USB 2.0 interface that, according to the manufacturer, provides an effective data-transfer rate of 33MB/s. The device is powered by the USB connection and can work normally within an ambient temperature range of 5-35°C. The dimensions of the device are 5.24 x 3.54 x 0.79mm; its weight is 205 grams.