Maxtor 540X 80 GB drive

This is a 5,400 rpm 80 GB with an UltraATA/100 interface and 2 MB cache buffer. If you’re on a budget or don’t need 80 GB of disk space, you can take the 20 GB one (541DX), which has similar specs.

We tested the 80 GB drive on an ASUS P4 B motherboard with 64 MB RAM, a 2 GHz P4 processor, and Windows 98. We tested the drive for its seek time, transfer rate, and CPU utilization using WinBench 99. The drive gave a seek time of 10 min and data transfer rate of 34 MB/Sec, which is a good score for a 5,400 rpm drive. The drive’s CPU utilization compared to its 100 GB counterpart (reviewed last month) was a bit high at 11.6 percent.

The per GB cost of the drive comes to around Rs 135, which is cheaper than the Seagate 80 GB drive (reviewed in September 2001), but Rs 7 more than the Maxtor’s own 100 GB drive. The drive ships with the MaxBlast Plus utility for partitioning and formatting it, and 5.25” mounting brackets for installing the drive in the 5.25” device bay.

Overall, the drive is good in performance with fast data transfer rates and comes with a one-year warranty.

Neelima Vaid