Seagate is interested in Maxtor's manufacturing capabilities. That's pretty much it. It also doesn't help that they're taking out one of their biggest competitors. You will not be seeing Maxtor products in the future, as they are not planning to merge with Maxtor, they are planning on taking over. It was a smart move by Seagate, as right now the primary factor that is determining leadership in the hard drive market is who can get the product out fast enough.
For everyone who has addressed customer service/warranties, we need to look at what the companies are *currently* offering - not what they did 4, 5, or 6 years ago. Seagate has had a major influence on the warranties offered by the big hard drive companies, and any of the companies that wanted to stay competitive have followed Seagate's lead. Hitachi just changed to a "Fast & Flexible" warranty program last year, where they offer a no-questions-asked return or replacement of the drive. As many others have mentioned, there will certainly always be faulty drives, or a bad batch that goes out, but people should remember two things about this:
1) There will always be process flaws, but they are not permanent, and should never be allowed to reflect the companies entire product lineup as a whole
2) With the greater demand for faster, higher-capacity hard drives, we are bound to see more failures, as those little machines are working harder and harder to do more with similar technology that we have seen for years. Not until a completely new technology is developed will that aspect change.
But back to my original topic: Drive Manufacturing. It is incredible expensive to build brand new manufacturing sites, especially in Silicon Valley. With Seagate buying up Maxtor, they are eliminating a competitor AND expanding their manufacturing capabilities, which is they key to keep them in the lead for a while to come.
"With perpendicular recording, the magnetization is perpendicular to the plane of the disk, so the data remains stable because the magnetized units are head-to-tail, not head-to-head. This leads to greater reliability and stability. Another major advantage for perpendicular recording is that it should be possible to make it more finely-grained than longitudinal, which results in less noise when data is read."
- Internal Newspost at the Hitachi Site
Slashdot Mirror
For everyone who has addressed customer service/warranties, we need to look at what the companies are *currently* offering - not what they did 4, 5, or 6 years ago. Seagate has had a major influence on the warranties offered by the big hard drive companies, and any of the companies that wanted to stay competitive have followed Seagate's lead. Hitachi just changed to a "Fast & Flexible" warranty program last year, where they offer a no-questions-asked return or replacement of the drive. As many others have mentioned, there will certainly always be faulty drives, or a bad batch that goes out, but people should remember two things about this:
1) There will always be process flaws, but they are not permanent, and should never be allowed to reflect the companies entire product lineup as a whole
2) With the greater demand for faster, higher-capacity hard drives, we are bound to see more failures, as those little machines are working harder and harder to do more with similar technology that we have seen for years. Not until a completely new technology is developed will that aspect change.
But back to my original topic: Drive Manufacturing. It is incredible expensive to build brand new manufacturing sites, especially in Silicon Valley. With Seagate buying up Maxtor, they are eliminating a competitor AND expanding their manufacturing capabilities, which is they key to keep them in the lead for a while to come.
I am eagerly awaiting news about a G5 PowerBook. That's what's going to set my heart a flutter. Why was there no information on them in the article?
"With perpendicular recording, the magnetization is perpendicular to the plane of the disk, so the data remains stable because the magnetized units are head-to-tail, not head-to-head. This leads to greater reliability and stability. Another major advantage for perpendicular recording is that it should be possible to make it more finely-grained than longitudinal, which results in less noise when data is read." - Internal Newspost at the Hitachi Site