Won 1st prize in the Maxtor RMA lottery! :)

iskra · Post by **iskra** » Fri Mar 21, 2003 7:14 am

I did an advance RMA on my ear-splitting,headache-inducing 80 Gb D740X (BB),and got a brand new 120Gb Diamondmax plus 9! I heard
that a few others have had this happen(which is why I tried it),but as
my luck's normally lousy,I'm delighted

I'm in the UK,BTW,for anyone
who wants to try.There seem to be 80Gb plus 9s available,so I was a
bit surprised.If you do an online RMA,"noisy drive" is one of the acceptable reasons to return an HD,so you don't have to argue the point
with some dimwit on the phone.
The diamondmax 9 seems very quiet when idling,the seeks are pretty noisy though.I'm just going to see if AMM is on or not,but it'll still be
way louder than my 80Gb barracuda IV.But I'll use it mainly for backup,
and disconnect it the rest of the time,so it's not crucial.

ez2remember · Post by **ez2remember** » Fri Mar 21, 2003 7:25 am

I agree with you about the noise of the Maxtor DiamondMax +9 FDB HD, I also have one of these drives, single platter 60GB version. I have read a few discussions in the forum saying the DM9+ is as quiet or even quieter than the Baracuda IV, I have to disagree. My hard drive is quieter than BB drives, but pales in comparison to the Barracuda IV which has much lower seek noise and hardly any whine (barely hear it). DM9+ has a little whine. Your system has to be quiet enough to be able to hear it though, otherwise it's simply drowned out.

Well done for getting yourself a new drive. I bet their boss aint happy!

Hellspawn · Post by **Hellspawn** » Fri Mar 21, 2003 7:38 am

Yea, I RMA'd a +9 120gb and got back a 160 +9, new, not refurbed. It must have the 80gb platters, since my sandra disc score is sitting about 35,000 now (for a single drive).. prior score when new for the 120 was about 28,000..

Life is good

iskra · Post by **iskra** » Fri Mar 21, 2003 2:24 pm

that's even better,Hellspawn!

I've turned AMM on,and it made quite a difference,but the thing has a
low-pitched hum,so I've taken it out and put it on a block of foam,and it's
now really not much louder than the cuda IV,which is similarly decoupled.I can certainly live with it.There's no whine yet,but I know
that maxtors can get noisier pretty fast.But it's *very* hot,says 45C but
feels even hotter.I'll maybe try some heatsinks.Sandra scores are 29,000.
I'm very happy overall,especially as I've still got two and a half years'
guarantee from the old drive

Hellspawn · Post by **Hellspawn** » Fri Mar 21, 2003 3:14 pm

I had been an avid maxtor hater because of the noise they would develop over a few months use, but with the fluid bearings the ones I've had about umm probably 6 months are as quiet as the day I got them.. I opened that RMA'd box and was like "hot dayum"

pingu666 · Post by **pingu666** » Sat Mar 22, 2003 6:40 am

a mate off bigforums sent a 80gig drive for rma
and got 2 160gig drives back

Hellspawn · Post by **Hellspawn** » Sat Mar 22, 2003 7:14 am

Sweet. I personally am looking forward to the new ones with SATA and all, and see how they compare to the ones we have in our systems now..

I've had one of the cuda 4's and they are very quiet, but I'm at a loss to hear a real difference between them without putting the old ear right to the drive case.. YMMV of course.