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Maxtor Announces 80GB Platters
mackstann writes "StorageReview has some info on Maxtor's new 80GB hard disk platters. The new drives based on the 80GB platters will come in capacities up to 160GB, with some having Serial ATA and/or 8MB caches. They are also resurrecting the (formerly Quantum) Fireball name, shortening their warranty (previously 3 years, now 1 year), and adding some slim (38% thinner) drives to their lineup." New products like this make me feel like I'm not keeping up fast enough. I bought a 100GB drive last spring and it's not even half full yet!
I'll take 80GB and the original warranty, please.
Cutting your warranty by 2/3 does not indicate much confidence in your product. If the smaller capacity platters are more reliable, I'll stick with them.
Unless a manufacturer has a failure rate of zero/year, a longer warranty increases costs. Drive manufacturers are looking for any way to cut costs so that they can survive in this cut-throat market.
How bad is it? I just paid $49 (after rebate) for a 120GB/7,200rpm/8mb cache Western Digital drive. (Microcenter sells the drive for $149 while CompUSA has a $100 rebate. Made CompUSA match Microcenter's price and then submitted the rebate). I got a Maxtor 40GB, 7,200rpm drive for $10 after discounts and rebates (OfficeDepot: $20 coupon, two $30 rebates, and the drive was on sale for $90). Yes, those were not typical prices, but it helps to show how cheap drives have gotten.
In recent years, hard drive prices have fallen -- even ignoring the cost/megabyte measurement and simply considering the total drive costs. The average cost for a hard drive is less than it was two years ago. And the drives of today still have the same basic parts. There has been no drastic reduction in the cost of aluminum castings, electric motors, and ball bearings. So the manufacturers have to get the money from somewhere. Manufacturing efficiencies are certainly nice, but they don't cover the total cost reductions necessary.
I'd rather have a one-year warranty from a manufacturer that is still in business than a three year warranty from one that went bankrupt. The hard drive manufacturing field is littered with the carcasses of manufacturers. Remember Micropolis, Miniscribe, Quantum, Conner, and Rodime (to name a few)? We are down to a field of two major players: Western Digital and Maxtor. If one of those goes away, what do you think will happen to hard drive prices?