Drive brackets and Maxtor 4320's: reply to ZP
I think their bracket is extra insurance. Nice if you have other thermal constraints, like a small or hot case, a hotter IDE hard drive, and/or you can't leave the bay above the HDD open. For "Mr. Cheap" here, they're overkill. :)
I think we'll move from the current pin configuration to the ATA-66 interface within a year or so. We won't need it for a while longer, but we'll phase it in before the need is clear. As you probably read, later versions of the 4320 will use this interface. Another reason not to sink too many $ into drive cages now.
As you know, I'm a big Maxtor booster fan since the 2880, especially for NT. Storagereview.com is the most helpful source of info on this. It's remarkable that their 4320's perform as well as their 7200 RPM Stealth model.
I would pause before concluding that the $300 price is better than $100 for 6 gig. If you need that much space on one drive, it surely is the way to go. But who does, aside from video editors and such? I have all kinds of stuff on my machine, and still don't use more than about 4 gigs total (not counting stuff like drive image files.) For me, 3 6 gig drives have more utility, all else equal.
Having said that, the 4320 is indeed a superb deal if one could use the space.
I'm betting that soon, Maxtor will offer another $30 rebate on all retail drives (the last one expired 12/31.) When they do this, the 4320, along with the rest of the series, will be an even better buy. |
