Some say that the end of the trusty hard drive is near, killed by SSD. But let's not be so quick to give up on a technology that stores a whole terabyte for $100.

It'll be years before solid-state flash-memory disks (in this case usually referred to as SSDs) let us cheaply bank the same amounts of data as trusty old hard disk drives for a reasonable price. So, you might as well know how they work, 'cause honestly, they'll have a place on or next to your desk holding all the crap that won't fit on daintier solid state drives—HD movies, huge pictures, music and who knows what else if you're Jason Chen.

What Goes on Inside
The reason hard drive is abbreviated as HDD is that it's really a hard disk drive. Inside you've got what's called a "platter," which is a magnetized recording surface that spins around really really fast, with a head that zooms across the disk to read and write data, think kinda like a record player, except that the head never actually touches the disk except, as you will see below, when bad things happen. [Image via Wikipedia]

Hard drives also come in a few different sizes, with 1.8", 2.5" and 3.5" being the most common, but they've been bigger (and smaller). 3.5" is for desktops, 2.5" is for notebooks (or obsessively quiet desktops), and 1.8" is what goes in classic iPods, MacBook Airs and other small portable devices.

The more platters a drive has, the more data it can hold, but most advances in storage have focused on increasing storage density. A really high-capacity drive can have four platters, while many 3.5" desktop models and some elite laptop 2.5" drives have three platters. Most laptop drives and all the 1.8" portable-device drives that we know of are limited to two platters.

The real catalyst for those 1TB and 1.5TB monster drives pooped out by Hitachi and Seagate wasn't platter stacking, though. It was perpendicular magnetic recording, which allows for triple storage density by storing data vertically (or perpendicularly) along the platter's recording layer, rather than spreading it out across it horizontally (parallel-ly?). However, data is more fragile and susceptible to erasure when stored vertically, hence the slow creep in precision allowing for greater storage densities and capacities.

What All Those Numbers and Letters Mean
You might've noticed hard drives are often labeled as IDE or SATA or PATA or PITA (kidding), with specs like 5400RPM or 7200RPM, plus they come in various sizes, like 1.8, 2.5 or 3.5-inches. Confusing, no? So here's all that crap means.

RPM means the same thing it does in cars, rotations revolutions per minute. In hard drives it's important because the faster the disk spins, the faster it can read and write data. 7200RPM is the standard for desktop drives, but performance models run at 10,000RPM or 15,000RPM. Notebook drives typically run at 5400RPM, because they're smaller, but recently, you can order them with 7200RPM to get more performance at the cost of battery life.

A higher RPM is the single greatest performance variable, since the faster it spins, the more data it can read or write within whatever time frame—it also makes access faster, since the head doesn't have to wait as long to pass over the right data once it's moved to the right spot. And a faster (lower) seek time, basically, refers to how long it takes for the drive to move its head where it needs to go to read or write data. High end drives have a seek time of just 2ms, while typical consumer drives are close to 9ms. Also, the higher the buffer—most typically 8, 16 or 32MB—the more data it can pre-cache, though Tom's Hardware found that you getdiminishing returns there.

How They Connect
The various kinds of drives essentially refers to how it interfaces or connects with your computer's motherboard. There are a bunch, but only a few worth knowing. Up until the last few years, the dominant standard was ATA, or Advanced Technology Attachment. Once SATA, or serial ATA, came onto the map (more on that in a sec), regular ATA picked up the alternative name parallel ATA.

Further revisions to the ATA spec allowed for hard drives with greater storage and faster transfer speeds, and you might see drives using the later spec revisions called "Ultra ATA" or something similar, and they can transfer data at 133MBps (which is slooooow). ATA drives are commonly called IDE (integrated drive electronics), but ATA is more precise. If you've ever messed around inside a computer, you'd recognize them because they connected to fatass ribbon cables that take up a lot of room. The third major interface, which you should know of, but not necessarily about, is SCSI (pronounced "scuzzy"), which was primarily used in the enterprise or high-end space when ATA was still king. The ATA/IDE interface also confused some with its master/slave assignations, which, as you'll see, is no longer a problem.

Okay, so the current hard drive standard in consumer PCs as of a few years ago is SATA, which is worlds better than ATA. For one, it's faster—first-gen devices ran at 1.5Gbps, but now they're up to 3Gbps, and are on the road to hitting 6Gbps. Also, their cables are way thinner, for better air flow and less tangly crap inside your case. And because they're smarter and don't depend on a lot of configuration, they're easy to work with, and are even hot-swappable. Newer external drives use a variant of SATA, eSATA (e for external) that essentially just moves the port to the outside of the computer case, delivering SATA speed for peripherals. Soon, eSATA will come in a bus-powered format, much like the smaller portable USB drives you see today.

Fast seek times are different than fast transfer times from a good interface—one pertains to how quickly the data can be located on the disk, and the other is how fast it can be sent over. To describe it in somewhat oversimplified terms, you can see how a slow interface on a fast seek drive would be better for a system that's constantly shifting tiny bits of data, where a fast interface on a relatively slower drive is good for moving really large files around.

Why They Die
Remember how I said the head usually never touches the drive's platter surface? When the head actually does touch the drive platter, it's what's called a head crash (check out the video above), and it means you're skee-rewed. Normally the head flies on a tiny pocket of air, but a single particle can make the head bounce on the disk, totally hosing the magnetic layer, especially at higher RPMs. And it just gets worse from there, because stuff scraped away by a head crash making it more likely that more head crashes will happen. More mundanely, the delicate mechanical parts eventually just wear out over time, which is typically measured by the the drive's rated mean time between failures. Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot you can do to predict when your drive is gonna go down in flames, unless you bought a drive from a series suffering manufacturing defects.

So what is really the single most important thing you should know about hard drives? Back your crap up, they may be awesome, but that doesn't mean they're without weakness.

Something you still wanna know? Send any questions about drives, personal storage or other hard things to tips@gizmodo.com, with "Giz Explains" in the subject line.

SEAGATE’S NEW CENTRAL AXIS NETWORK STORAGE
MAKES BACK UP AND ACCESS TO FILES EASIER THAN EVER

SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. — June 25, 2008 — To address the growing consumer need for storage in the home, Seagate (NYSE: STX) today announced the Maxtor® Central Axis™ network drive, a network storage drive that can be used by the whole family. This latest drive from Seagate provides a terabyte of storage that every computer in the home can back up to. In addition to media streaming capabilities for video, photos and music, the new Maxtor Central Axis network drive also includes an easy-to-use remote accessservice that allows people to easily and securely retrieve content stored on their network drive through any Internet browser.

A concept once only reserved for the small business and enterprise space, networked storage
is increasingly becoming a viable option for multiple-computer homes. According to Yankee
Group’s 2008 Device Survey, of those who purchased network routers for the home, 75.9%
did so with the intent of providing multiple computers with access to the Internet. The
challenge of these multi-computer households is the ability to share and back up files from
each computer. Maxtor Central Axis network drive allows for each computer in the home to
be automatically backed up, so important files and precious memories are sheltered from
virus infections or disc drive failures. Sharing files from computer to computer is easy when
there is one repository for any file that you would like to share. Additionally, since the storage device
is connected to the router and not formatted for an individual computer, files can be accessed and stored from both Mac OS X and Windows operated PCs.

“The days of external storage simply serving as an extension to a full hard drive are over – the era of personal digital content has seen to that,” said Josh Martin, senior analyst of Yankee Group’s Media and Entertainment devices.

“Survey data indicates that over 41% of recent external storage buyers did so to back up their data not because they ran out of room on the primary computer. With the emotional connection people have to their photos and videos, I believe the trend will only continue.”

The Maxtor Central Axis network drive liberates content that was once trapped on individual computers. This easy to use solution enables multimedia file sharing from every computer in the home as well as from common entertainment devices, which are DLNA compliant, such as Microsoft® Xbox® 360 and Sony® PlayStation® 3™. Watching home movies, viewing pictures of the last family vacation and listening to music can now all be enjoyed in the living room through networked console players instead of having guests crowd around a computer monitor in the den or a small laptop computer screen. This storage device helps put your digital entertainment back in a room where the whole family can enjoy it.

“Our Central Axis solution is a snap to set up and use for nearly every member of the family. Any household with a network would benefit from having a way to back up every PC in the home and share files between them,” said BenHur Castor, director of product line management for Seagate’s Consumer Solution Division. “Back up is essential to make certain photos, videos and other important files live beyond the life of an individual computer. The Central Axis network drive provides a complete solution for back up storage as well as file sharing in the home and from the road.”

In addition to providing networked access to important files, Maxtor Central Axis network drive provides a way to easily share and access files when you are not on the network. With the ever-growing dependence on access to information and digital content, whether that be multimedia content, spreadsheets or business-related documents, you’ll find there are times when you’ll need to access these files remotely. Retrieving content that is saved to a network drive when you are not local to the network has always raised concerns about security and complexity. Most applications involve installing software on the computer accessing the drive. Many remote access applications also require a breach in a firewall, leaving the network and your data open and vulnerable to attack.

With Maxtor Central Axis, you can easily log into the remote access service from an Internet browser to securely access and share the files stored on the networked storage drive. There are no applications to download or plug-ins required. Central Axis establishes a secure connection to the service without the need to disable firewalls. All that is needed to access the drive from any Web browser is a username and password.

Central Axis Network Drive
Designed as a home network storage drive, the Maxtor Central Axis 1TB capacity drive is expected to be available in the US in July from major retailers, distributors and online stores, as well as at www.maxstore.com, for a suggested retail price of $329.99. Availability in Europe and Asia will come later this year. Please visit www.maxtorsolutions.com for more information, including local distribution channels and retail outlets.

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.

Update: By now, most of you have figured out that Iomega and LaCie only make the housings, so if the drive itself fails, you have to unscrew the box to see who the real culprit is. Also, anyone voting for IBM can just vote for Hitachi, which bought the whole IBM storage division a number of years ago.

I will say that, after reading the comments, I feel bad that I didn't divide Seagate and Maxtor, but then again, there is only one company to blame now—let's just hope they're not merging all of their manufacturing!!! My guess is that Maxtor may have ended up the biggest loser, at least proportionately, and Seagate, solo, would have looked a lot better than WD.

As for those of you who complain that this poll is not scientific, you are TOTALLY RIGHT!!! It's not scientific. Go back to your Science and your Nature for the raw research, cuz over here we're talking about life experiences.

The internal investigation by the contract manufacturer determined that the virus was accidentally transferred by one of its employees and not a malicious act.

Reuters reported that it was a Seagate disk discovered in Taiwan, but the truth is, the Maxtor Basics 3200 (aka PS 3200) is available all over the world, and the infected lot made its way to many regions including China, Russia and the Middle East. Our source confirmed that the problem was discovered internally almost two months ago, and only boiled over last week when the Taiwanese government got mad at China:

In late September, Seagate discovered that a virus had been introduced to one of our retail products from one contract manufacturer. Seagate put an immediate stop to the production line and quarantined the facility until we could confirm that all drives leaving the factory were free of the virus.

Maxtor explains that the extent of damage of the Chinese-made Trojan-horse was minor:

Investigation...showed it was a threat to gaming passwords only and that a virus scan...would rid the drive—and any system attached to it—of the virus. Also, there have been some references to the virus deleting MP3s. Although it is a minor inaccuracy, this is also incorrect. The original suspicion out of Kaspersky Labs was that MP3s were being deleted by the virus, but tests have since proved that it does not.

• Test software verifies that each PS 3200 unit contains no files in the root directory and no files are hidden in the system files. The PS 3200 product line does not ship with any software.
• The PS 3200 test procedure has been updated to run each unit through three separate anti-virus software applications (Norton, McAfee, and Kaspersky Labs). Previously testing was conducted with one anti-virus application.
• Seagate has strictly limited employees access to the test PCs; all employees must now pass through metal detectors.

Metal detectors sound pretty hardcore, but I for one am satisfied. Hopefully other companies with similar manufacturing vulnerabilities will learn from Seagate's little misadventure. [Maxtor Basics 3200]

After I upgraded my MacBook Pro to OS X Leopard, the first thing I did was grab a brand-new Maxtor USB drive and format it to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) using Disk Utility, just like I had countless times before. As soon as I erased the disk, Time Machine popped up as promised, and asked if it could use the disk for backup. I said yes, and was on my merry way. Only I wasn't.

Time Machine ran for a bit, and then crapped out after about 10GB. I went into Disk Utility and saw that although the partition was formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled), the volume itself still said FAT32. I clicked Erase to reformat the drive, and got the format failure error you see above.

I tried this with FAT-formatted drives from Seagate, Iomega and HP as well. Each time I saw the same thing. I could reformat the partition to Mac OS Extended (Journaled), and Time Machine would recognize it. Get Info would say that it was formatted correctly. But Disk Utility showed that the volume was formatted for PC. Inevitably, if the Time Machine backup was greater than 10GB, there were problems. Worst of all, if I dared try to format the volume for Mac, I would get the dreaded error, and the disk would be temporarily unmountable.

Not only did I vary drives, but I tested the problem on various systems too. I tried it booting from the Leopard DVD, with the same results. Ditto when I tried it using my wife's Leopard-upgraded MacBook Pro. (Yes, his n' hers MBPs. You can insert your "awwww" here.) The end result was that I couldn't break the FAT grip on these damn drives.

I made some calls, I talked to some people, and eventually here was the solution: you wipe the hell out of the drive by creating new and different partitions. So, do not head to the Erase tab in Disk Utility to prep a PC-formatted drive for Time Machine. Instead:

• Go to the Partition tab. Create two partitions. Under Options, select GUID Partition Table (what you would use to make a Mac OS boot disk) and click OK then Apply.

• Once your partitions are in place, do it again, reverting back to just one partition, but still keeping the GUID Partition Table option. Click OK and Apply again, and at this point you should be cool.

• To be safe, you can then go to Erase and set formatting for Mac OS Extended (Journaled), then format it once and for all. But when you get there, you will probably see that your volume is already formatted in the right way.

UPDATE: Some people have gotten this to work without creating two partitions. If you like, try creating just a single partition, but using the GUID Partition Table option. This may be all it takes to break the chokehold.

Using this method, I have gotten all of the disks to work just fine with Time Machine, and I don't anticipate any problems in the future.

OK, I know, quite a bit of nerdiness, but I wanted to get out there and tell you about the problem I encountered, in case you are having the same troubles, or plan on getting there sooner or later. Also, this solution is actually a workaround of sorts. My hope is that Apple can update Disk Utility with a stronger form of disk erasing that doesn't require so many manual steps, but if I am missing something obvious, I'd love to hear it. Please share any troubles you've had, or any better solutions you've cooked up.

Special thanks to Dorian and Ken!

SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif.-September 5, 2007-Seagate Technology (NYSE:STX) today introduced the next generation of the company's award winning Maxtor OneTouch™ products. Built on a long tradition of experience with simple and robust storage solutions, the new Maxtor OneTouch 4 family makes data protection and security effortless with innovative, easy-to-use software tools that make a once complex task, simple. These intuitive new tools, which are now integrated into the Maxtor OneTouch 4 family of products, include: the ability to perform multiple-computer data synchronization, drag-and-drop encryption and a bare metal system restore. In the event of a fatal crash or virus attack, Maxtor's SafetyDrill™, the new bare metal system restore feature, allows the nearly instantaneous restoration of an entire computer ensuring access to files even in a time of crisis. With an unparalleled standard 5-year limited warranty, anyone who is concerned about data protection now has a solution to provide the peace of mind that theirs is safe and secure.

The Maxtor OneTouch 4 family sports a new industrial design that conveys security and an enhanced interface to provide a new level of consistency and ease of use. The new high-capacity Maxtor OneTouch 4 family is visually reassuring with its aesthetically appealing "vault-like" appearance that compliments any home or office setting. Reinforcing Seagate's commitment to providing durable and innovative storage solutions, these good looking reliable data protectors feature improved acoustics, optimized convection cooling systems, and an inner disc drive casing and shock mounts for additional drive protection.

"As a leader in consumer storage and backup solutions, it's our job to protect the important digital files that are an essential piece of our customers' lives. Our years of safeguarding digital assets have taught us that data backup and protection needs to be virtually effortless for the consumer to adopt," said Jim Druckrey, senior vice president and general manager, Seagate Branded Solutions. "We've engineered our new Maxtor OneTouch 4 family of storage solutions from the ground up to be the easiest, most trustworthy way to back up and store digital media, business data and personal information even in the most demanding environments. Whether you're a consumer with treasured digital photos, creative professional with valuable digital assets, business traveler with confidential company documents or simply serious about data protection, you can use our trusted, intuitive storage solutions and know that Seagate is saving your life's work."

In addition to automatically backing up on a set schedule or with the touch of a button with the Maxtor Backup software suite, the Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus and Maxtor OneTouch 4 Mini both include Maxtor SafetyDrill™. This new, innovative software feature, for computers running Microsoft® Windows® XP or Windows® Vista operating systems, allows the complete recovery of your local hard drive's contents in the event of a system crash or virus attack. After the simple installation and set up of the pre-loaded software, you are prepared for the worst. At a time of system failure, simply boot from the included SafetyDrill Recovery CD and SafetyDrill takes over. The software will automatically find the Maxtor OneTouch 4 on your system and format, partition and restore everything including the operating system, applications, personal content, settings and even replace the icons on the desktop. All this is done to get your system up and running with minimal downtime and frustration. Without the CD, SafetyDrill can still be initiated by simply going to any Internet-connected computer with a CD/DVD burner to create a new disc.

Because of privacy concerns, the Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus and the Maxtor OneTouch 4 Mini storage solutions include two levels of security to guard against unauthorized use of a lost or stolen drive. Maxtor Encryption creates a password-protected folder that is safe and reliable as well as easy to use. To encrypt: simply drag and drop sensitive data into the 256bit AES encrypted folder and the data is automatically encrypted. To decrypt: simply open the folder, enter your password and drag the files out. For added protection, Maxtor DrivePass™ (formerly Maxtor DriveLock™) is an embedded firmware feature that further restricts data access even if the internal hard drive is removed and attached to another computer.

With the new enhanced synchronization function that allows multiple sync paths, business travelers can be sure that both their home and office computers are up-to-date with the latest files and new digital content. Finally, we encompass all of this software in a simple, intuitive user-interface called Maxtor OneTouch Manager, to run the automated backup scheduling, specific file restoration, sync, security, drive and power management on computers running either Windows XP, Windows Vista or Mac OS X operating systems.

Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus
For everyone with data-protection needs that is looking for an elegantly simple, full-featured backup and storage solution, the Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus sports a new vault-like industrial design that conveys security and protection. The elegant color scheme and design make it a good fit in any home or office setting. The manufacturer's suggested retail prices (MSRPs) are: $129.99 for 250GB, $199.99 for 500GB, $289.99 for 750GB and $359.99 for 1TB (availability for 1TB capacity is set for late October).

Maxtor OneTouch 4 Mini
Offering the same protection as the desktop model in a travel friendly, compact design, the Maxtor OneTouch 4 Mini is the first mobile storage solution that ships with this full suite of software protection tools. The manufacturer's suggested retail prices (MSRPs) are: $99.99 for 80GB, $119.99 for 120GB and $149.99 for 160GB.

Maxtor OneTouch 4
For consumers who need a simple solution with a classic design for Mac or PC, the Maxtor OneTouch 4 makes it easier to set up and manage data backup, file archiving and system settings with a new easy-to-use user interface. The manufacturer's suggested retail prices (MSRPs) are: $99.99 for 250GB, $169.99 for 500GB, and $269.99 for 750GB.

The Maxtor OneTouch 4 family is available now - with the exception of the 1TB OneTouch 4 Plus - at major r etailers, distributors and online stores, as well as at www.maxstore.com. The Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus will ship in late October. Please visit www.maxtorsolutions.com for more information, including local distribution channels and retail outlets.

Netaffilia

Last weekend we ooo'd at a boatload of MacBooks just sitting around, waiting to be stolen by the camera operator. This weekend we have 22-terabytes (or $18,400) worth of Maxtor drives playing dominoes.

Not quite as cool as iPod Dominoes (with $60,000 of product), but still a respectable waste of money. – Mark Wilson

[newlaunches]

Staples has a Maxtor 300GB Personal Storage 3200 External Hard Drive for $130. It is regularly $180, and they have a $30 instant saving and $20 checkout coupon bringing it down to $130. Just enter the code 19624 at the checkout for the savings. – Travis Hudson

Product Page [Staples via Consumerist]

Maxtor's added a bunch of little features to its 500GB Fusion hard drive to make it more appealing to a skeptical public. CrunchGear, nerds that they are, did a hands-on with the unit, putting it through a series of feats of strength and tests of might. How did it hold up?

In a word, well. Maxtor threw in some rudimentary server features to make it easy for friends, family and political operatives to have access to your pictures. The full hands-on has more in-depth, hard-hitting journalism. Just like you like it.

If you want our opinion, though... [Nick, we're waiting for your thoughts-B.Lam]

Ahem, where was I? The Fusion web interface simple sucks. Imagine working in Windows Explorer through a Web 1.0 interface. That's this.– Nicholas Deleon

Maxtor Fusion Hands-On [CrunchGear]

Product Page [Maxtor]

As you can see from the shot on John's trademark "review deck", the buttons are metallic and "RAZR-esque". He had no trouble plugging it in, turning it on, and setting it up with both Mac and Windows. Their install program required a reboot, but everything else was smooth sailing. But at $899 for 1TB, the price may outweigh the convenience. – Jason Chen

Maxtor Shared Storage II Hands-on [CrunchGear]

What's the catch? You have to come up with $110, and then you'll get $70 back (form is linked below) as a rebate, and the offer ends tomorrow. Shipping is free, but if there's an Office Depot in your state, they'll clip you for the sales tax. Still, 200GB hard drive for $40-something? We'll take it. – Charlie White

Maxtor 200GB Internal Hard Drive [Office Depot, via Bargain Jack] Thanks, Jack!

Rebate form

The NAS has software licensed from Fabrick that allows users to access their data, like video and music, using a Java enabled web browser. You can also use an AJAX web application to manage the files on the drive. For example, dragging and dropping files for transferring to and from your local machine.

Access to the content can be restricted to specific users with password protectionk, and you can also create "microshares" and "microlinks" to link specific content to online auction sites like eBay and social sites like MySpace. You can also create a "Public Site" to share content directly from the Maxtor Fusion with the outside world.

– Jason Chen

Pre-launch Site [Maxtor via MacWorld]

Enter the Maxtor OneTouch III Mini Edition. This is a 100GB hard drive that makes me think its time to take the Archos into the back field and put it out of its misery.

This mini drive is about an inch thick and is about as big as a puffy iPod. It weighs 7 ounces and comes with shock protection to ensure that it doesn't die in transit. Best of all, it comes with built-in one-touch backup software.

There's a white button on the front of the OneTouch that blinks up when processing data. This got extremely annoying after a while, so I had to hide it behind the monitor. It comes pre-formatted in NTFS and includes Maxtor's own backup software including encryption and rollback systems that work only with XP/2000. Too bad for you, OS X lovers.

In terms of speed, the 5400RPM drive shouldn't have given me any trouble when I moved all my music and media onto it. Unfortunately, watching video straight off of the drive—at least in iTunes—was a frustrating expereicne. This requires a bit more troubleshooting as it could be any number of things—the computer, the hub, or iTunes itself. The drive runs at standard USB 2.0 speeds, so I should have seen much clipping and pausing. Unfortunately, I did.

Priced at about $199, now available for pre-order, this drive is a bit more expensive than we would have liked—but you pay for portability. Seeing as how this is essentially a 100GB replacement for our old fashioned USB drives and can hang out in our briefcases or purses with little fanfare, the price might be just right.

Product Page [Maxtor]

Product Page [Maxtor]