Digital Trends

Maxtor 6Y200M0 200GB

June 14th, 2004 | by Ian Bell

Performance and Reliability

In our tests we pitted the 6Y200M0 against the Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 6Y160M0 (160GB) and the Maxtor DiamondMax D540X (160GB) hard drives. The 6Y160M0 160GB drive is part of the same series as the 6Y200M0 200GB model with the exception of the platter sizes (the 6Y200M0 uses the 80GB platter versus the 60GB). As we expected, performance numbers were nearly identical. Both of these drives share the same amount of cache, interface and rotational speeds. The Maxtor DiamondMax D540X is also a 160GB size drive, but it has the 2MB cache, uses the ATA 100 interface and has a rotational speed of 5400RPM. While the DiamondMax D540X is a great value and would be perfect for a budget system, it simply lacks the speed to compete with Maxtor's higher-end drives.

The biggest issue that hard drives have is their reliability. Maxtor is one of the most popular hard drives in the consumer market. They can be found at the major chains like Best Buy and Circuit City and are typically very user friendly. But because there are so many of them sold, you are likely to hear from a sales rep or a friend that their drive failed them and to stay away from that particular brand. This happens with every hard drive model out there. Here is what we have done to test its reliability. We left our test system on for weeks with the 6Y160M0 running 24 hours a day. We made sure that the drive would not turn off in standby or hibernation modes on our computer. We also filled the 6Y160M0 up with data and continually stressed tested it by transferring files to and from the drive. We did not experience any issues with overheating, drive failure or corrupted data. In fact, the 6Y160M0 160GB model we used in our benchmark tests is the drive we use in our test system for everything we test that is computer hardware related. And we have experienced no issues with that drive as well.

There are two types of tests that Maxtor performs on their drives before putting any drives into the market place: Maxtor's Shock Protection System (SPS, and Maxtor's Data Protection System (DPS). Here is the description which Maxtor gave us, and this description is directly from them and has not been modified by us:

Maxtor's Shock Protection System (SPS)

Maxtor's Shock Protection System (SPS) is just one more example of the technologies that Maxtor is using to build the industry's most reliable drives and ensure the safety of data. Maxtor tests all of its products to meet demanding specifications that exceed the environmental conditions a drive would normally experience. By studying real-world shock damage scenarios and researching new designs, Maxtor engineers are able to fine tune Maxtor's drives for optimum ruggedness. This is significant because inappropriate drive handling, particularly during drive installation, can cause problems that may lead to long-term data integrity issues; Maxtor's Shock Protection System takes a dramatic step forward in eliminating the key contributors to these issues.

Maxtor's Data Protection System (DPS)

The environment within your hard drive is exceptionally clean -- much cleaner, in fact, than a hospital operating room. Every Maxtor hard drive is rigorously tested before it leaves the factory to make sure that areas in which your data will be written are error free. In use however, errors can eventually be created on the disk by microscopic particles, particles generated through handling damage or by wear.

Though rare, these particles can cause data loss over time. The Maxtor Data Protection System is designed to find and correct these errors before data loss occurs. DPS literally begins checking the integrity of your data the moment it is written to the disk, and then continues this monitoring as long as the data is stored in the drive.

We would expect most hard drive manufacturers to say the same thing about how their drives are tested before hitting the market, so we want you to take these with a grain of salt. However Maxtor has put these two processes in the features section of this drive, so it is important to note that Maxtor is pointing these out. Another item worth pointing out is that Maxtor's hard drives are also used in DVR's (digital video recorders) and in the Microsoft Xbox (not all Xboxes, earlier versions used Seagate drives), so there has to be a certain level of reliability with these drives, especially to be used in the consumer electronics segment where replacing an internal hard drive is not as easy as it would be for a PC.

If you are worried enough about the reliability of your next hard drive, we would recommend that you visit the user reviews section of this review so you can see what other readers have to say about this particular drive. Another good place to check out user reviews is Epinions.com.