New Diamondmax 10 vs New Diamondmax 11

[steviep]

Well, I'm looking at 2 drives here...

1 300GB Diamondmax 10 16mb cache with SATA2 for $170-ish Canadian.
1 500GB Diamondmax 11 16mb cache with SATA2 for $400-ish Canadian.

What's the diff between the new versions of the DM10 line and the DM11 line? I don't feel that its worth it, but someone steer me in the correct direction in what to expect to be the diff between these 2 drives. Obviously 1 is a much better deal, but what about performance?

[Dark Ember]

I'd get the DiamonMax10. I don't see a reason to pay the price premium for the 11, myself.
The performance numbers aren't THAT much better to justify that kind of price difference.

As far as the actual differences - there are many. The DiamondMax 11 uses a completely different HDA, a different ASIC + PCBA, and a newer firmware codeset for starters.

http://www.hardfolding.com/ftag1.php/mem/154.png (http://www.hardfolding.com?go=38&id=154)

[steviep]

Thanks for the reply... I'm sure there are differences, of course, but on paper everything looks the same (i.e. average access time for both, 10ms, both have the same cache, etc). What's the real world difference? The 500mb drive carries too much of a price premium for my taste, but I also am a whore for the latest tech, and don't like purchasing "the old" :D

[drizzt81]

wow, i had not even heard of the DM11. Maybe it's more reliable than the DM10?

[steviep]

I've got some PATA DM10's in my system right now, and they seem to be extremely reliable. I do have a Diamondmax 9 with some bad sectors however. That said, my next DM purchase will be SATA, and I'm trying to decide whether this price premium is really worth it in any way, other than additional space.

[Tilde]

Recommending against Maxtor. They're still dodgy, and all the problems I've seen are usually on Maxtor drives.

[steviep]

I am getting a raptor as my OS drive, and these are for storage. I didn't ask you for a brand recommendation, as I've had great experiences with Maxtor. I asked for an assesment of the difference - my current PATA DM10's are holding up great.

[clickclickw00t]

Thanks for the reply... I'm sure there are differences, of course, but on paper everything looks the same (i.e. average access time for both, 10ms, both have the same cache, etc). What's the real world difference? The 500mb drive carries too much of a price premium for my taste, but I also am a whore for the latest tech, and don't like purchasing "the old" :D

I'm guesing you meant to say 500GB?
Unless of course you're running a pentium 1