Dean over at Planet Savage has posted a short review of the Maxtor DiamondMax Plus D740X ATA133 hard disk drive. They compare to a Seagate Barracuda ATA IV ATA100 drive and benchmarks results proved to be fairly similar, as we could have predicted.

Even though the D740X is no longer the top model of Maxtor's ATA lineup, it is still a very good performer. The first models of the D740X still use the older ball bearings, but now they run on fluid bearings to minimize the noise. The D740X is a very quiet drive, though not as quiet as the Barracuda ATA IV. Performance-wise, the D740X has a low seek time which is very advantageous in most applications; programs make better use of lower seek times than lower transfer rates. Being a 7200RPM HDD, the drive is expected to heat up, but the heat is still within tolerable levels and would not require HDD cooling, unlike SCSI drives. The D740X may not have claimed the crown during its time, but it certainly held up with the competition.