Maxtor D540X 4G User Manual

Corporate Headquarters:  
510 Cottonwood Drive  
Milpitas, California 95035  
Tel: 408-432-1700  
Fax: 408-432-4510  
Research and Developm ent Center:  
2452 Clover Basin Drive  
Longmont, Colorado 80503  
Tel: 303-651-6000  
Fax: 303-678-2165  
Revision-A 2004052  
All  
Initial Release  
March 5, 2002  
Thank you for your interest in Maxtor hard disk drives. This manual provides technical information for  
OEM engineers and systems integrators regarding the installation and use of Maxtor hard drives. Drive  
repair should be performed only at an authorized repair center. For repair information, contact the Maxtor  
Customer Service Center at 800-2MAXTOR or 1-303-678-2015.  
CAUTION: Maxtor hard drives are precision products. Failure to follow these precautions and guidelines  
outlined here may lead to product failure, damage and invalidation of all warranties.  
1
BEFORE unpacking or handling a drive, take all proper electro-static discharge (ESD) precau-  
tions, including personnel and equipment grounding. Stand-alone drives are sensitive to ESD  
damage.  
2
3
4
BEFORE removing drives from their packing material, allow them to reach room temperature.  
During handling, NEVER drop, jar, or bump a drive.  
Once a drive is removed from the Maxtor shipping container, IMMEDIATELY secure the drive  
through its mounting holes within a chassis. Otherwise, store the drive on a padded, grounded,  
antistatic surface.  
5
6
NEVER switch DC power onto the drive by plugging an electrically live DC source cable into  
the drive's connector. NEVER connect a live bus to the drive's interface connector.  
ELECTRICAL GROUNDING - For proper operation, the drive must be securely fastened to  
a device bay that provides a suitable electrical ground to the drive baseplate.  
Please do not remove or cover up Maxtor factory-installed drive labels. They contain information required  
should the drive ever need repair.  
Thank you for your interest in Maxtor hard disk drives. This manual provides technical information for  
OEM engineers and systems integrators regarding the installation and use of Maxtor hard drives. Drive  
repair should be performed only at an authorized repair center. For repair information, contact the Maxtor  
Customer Service Center at 800-2MAXTOR or 1-303-678-2015.  
Maxtor D540X-4G  
v
Table of Contents  
vi  
Maxtor D540X-4G  
Maxtor Corporation has been providing high-quality computer storage products since  
1982. Along the way, weve seen many changes in data storage needs. Not long ago,  
only a handful of specific users needed more than a couple hundred megabytes of  
storage. Today, downloading from the Internet and CD-R OMs, multimedia,  
networking and advanced office applications are driving storage needs even higher.  
Even home PC applications need capacities measured in gigabytes, not megabytes.  
Maxtors products meet the demanding data storage capacity requirements of today  
and tomorrow. They are available in 5400- and 7200- RPM configurations with  
capacity offerings from 10 to 80 GB and beyond.  
The D540X-4G drive family is a 5400 R PM hard drive with capacities from 120 GB  
to 160 GB.  
No matter which capacity, all Maxtor hard drives are supported by our commitment  
®
to total customer satisfaction and our No Quibble Service guarantee. One call or a  
visit to our home page on the Internet (www.maxtor.com) puts you in touch with  
either technical support or customer service. Well provide you the information you  
need quickly, accurately and in the form you prefer a fax, a downloaded file  
or a conversation with a representative.  
This hard disk drive reference manual is organized in the following method:  
Chapter 1Introduction  
Chapter 2Product Description  
Chapter 3Product Specifications  
Chapter 4Handling and Installation  
Chapter 5ATA Bus Interface and ATA Commands  
Chapter 6Service and Support  
Appendix ABreaking the 137GB Storage Barrier  
Glossary  
Maxtor D540X-4G 1-1  
   
Introduction  
ATA  
bpi  
CHS  
db  
AT attachm ent  
bits per inch  
MB  
m egabyte  
Mbits/sec  
MB/sec  
MHz  
m s  
m egabits per second  
m egabytes per second  
m egahertz  
cylinder - head - sector  
decibels  
dBA  
DMA  
ECC  
fci  
decibels, A weighted  
direct m em ory access  
error correction code  
flux changes per inch  
acceleration  
m illisecond  
MSB  
m V  
m ost significant bit  
m illivolts  
ns  
nanoseconds  
G
PIO  
program m edinput/output  
revolutions per m inute  
tracks per inch  
GB  
Hz  
gigabyte  
RPM  
tpi  
hertz  
KB  
kilobyte  
UDMA  
ultra direct m em ory  
access  
LBA  
LSB  
m A  
logical block address(ing) µsec  
m icrosecond  
volts  
least significant bit  
m illiam peres  
V
W
watts  
If there is a conflict between text and tables, the table shall be accepted as being  
correct.  
The names of abbreviations, commands, fields and acronyms used as signal names are  
in all uppercase type (e.g., IDENTIFY DR IVE). Fields containing only one bit are  
usually referred to as the namebit instead of the namefield.  
Names of drive registers begin with a capital letter (e.g., Cylinder High register).  
Numbers that are not followed by a lowercase bor hare decimal values.  
Numbers that are followed by a lowercase b(e.g., 01b) are binary values. Numbers  
that are followed by a lowercase h(e.g., 3Ah) are hexadecimal values.  
1-2 Maxtor D540X-4G  
   
Introduction  
Signal names are shown in all uppercase type.  
All signals are either high active or low active signals. A dash character (-) at the end  
of a signal name indicates that the signal is low active. A low active signal is true when  
it is below ViL and is false when it is above ViH. A signal without a dash at the end  
indicates that the signal is high active. A high active signal is true when it is above ViH  
and is false when it is below ViL.  
When a signal is asserted, it means the signal is driven by an active circuit to its true  
state.  
When a signal is negated, it means the signal is driven by an active circuit to its false  
state.  
When a signal is released, it means the signal is not actively driven to any state. Some  
signals have bias circuitry that pull the signal to either a true or false state when no  
signal driver is actively asserting or negating the signal. These instances are noted  
under the description of the signal.  
Maxtor D540X-4G 1-3  
Introduction  
1-4 Maxtor D540X-4G  
Maxtor hard disk drives are 1-inch high, 3.5-inch diameter random access storage  
devices which incorporate an on-board Ultra ATA/ 133 interface controller. High  
capacity is achieved by a balanced combination of high areal recording density and  
the latest data encoding and servo techniques.  
Maxtor's latest advancements in electronic packaging and integration methods have  
lowered the drive's power consumption and increased its reliability.  
Exceptional data transfer rates, 5400 R PM spin speed and 12 ms access times make  
these entry-class disk drives ideally-suited to desktop storage and consumer  
electronics applications.  
ANSI ATA-5/ 6 compliant PIO Mode 4 interface (Enhanced IDE)  
Supports ATA-6 UltraDMA Mode 5 (100 MBytes/ sec) and Maxtor  
Ultra ATA/ 133 MBytes/ second data transfer rates  
Supports 48-bit addressing  
2 MB buffer with multi-adaptive cache manager  
5400 RPM spin speed  
12 ms seek time  
Zone density and ID-less recording  
Outstanding shock resistance at 300 Gs  
High durability with 50K contact start/ stop cycles  
Advanced multi-burst on-the-fly Error Correction Code (ECC)  
Extended data integrity with ECC protected data and fault tolerant servo  
synchronization fields  
Supports EPA Energy Star Standards (Green PC Friendly) with ATA  
powering savings commands  
Auto park and lock actuator mechanism  
Low power consumption  
SMART Capability  
Maxtor D540X-4G  
2-1  
     
Product Description  
Note: Maxtor defines 1 Gigabyte (GB) as 109 or 1,000,000,000 bytes of data.  
Total accessible capacity varies depending on operating environment.  
Maxtor hard drives contain all necessary mechanical and electronic parts to interpret  
control signals and commands from an AT-compatible host computer. See Chapter 3  
Product Specifications, for complete drive specifications.  
The disk capacity is increased with bit density management common with Zone  
Density R ecording. Each disk surface is divided into 16 circumferential zones. All  
tracks within a given zone contain a constant number of data sectors. The number  
of data sectors per track varies in different zones; the outermost zone contains the  
largest number of data sectors and the innermost contains the fewest.  
This mode is implemented per ANSI ATA/ ATAPI-6 specification. Read/ Write  
Multiple allows the host to transfer a set number of sectors without an interrupt  
request between them, reducing transfer process overhead and improving host  
performance.  
Maxtor hard drives fully comply with the new ANSI Ultra DMA protocol, which  
greatly improves overall AT interface performance by significantly improving burst  
and sustained data throughput.  
Supports multi-word Direct Memory Access (DMA) mode transfers.  
All Maxtor hard drives feature a universal translate mode. In an AT/ EISA-class  
system, the drive may be configured to any specified combination of cylinders,  
heads and sectors (within the range of the drive's formatted capacity). Maxtor hard  
drives power-up in a translate mode:  
4G120J 6  
4G160J 8  
238,216  
317,632  
16  
16  
63  
63  
240,121,728  
320,173,056  
122.9GB  
163.9GB  
2-2 Maxtor D540X-4G  
 
Product Description  
The Logical Block Address (LBA) mode can only be utilized in systems that support  
this form of translation. The cylinder, head and sector geometry of the drive, as  
presented to the host, differs from the actual physical geometry. The host AT  
computer may access a drive of set parameters: number of cylinders, heads and  
sectors per track, plus cylinder, head and sector addresses. However, the drive cant  
use these host parameters directly because of zoned recording techniques. The drive  
translates the host parameters to a set of logical internal addresses for data access.  
The host drive geometry parameters are mapped into an LBA based on this formula:  
LBA  
= (HSCA - 1) + HHDA x HSPT + HNHD x HSPT x HCYA  
= (HSCA - 1) + HSPT x (HHDA + HNHD x HCYA)  
HSCA = Host Sector Address, HHDA = Host Head Address  
HCYA = Host Cylinder Address, HNHD = Host Number of Heads  
HSPT = Host Sectors per Track  
where  
The LBA is checked for violating the drive capacity. If it does not, the LBA is  
converted to physical drive cylinder, head and sector values. The physical address is  
then used to access or store the data on the disk and for other drive related  
operations.  
Each drive model has a fixed number of spare sectors per drive, all of which are  
located at the end of the drive. Upon detection of a bad sector that has been  
reassigned, the next sequential sector is used.  
For example, if sector 3 is flagged, data that would have been stored there is pushed  
downand recorded in sector 4. Sector 4 then effectively becomes sector 3, as  
sequential sectors are pushed downacross the entire drive. The first spare sector  
makes up for the loss of sector 3, and so maintains the sequential order of data. This  
push down method assures maximum performance.  
>14 symbols, single burst, guaranteed  
24 symbols, single burst, guaranteed  
Immediately following power down, dynamic braking of the spinning disks delays  
momentarily allowing the read/ write heads to move to an inner mechanical stop. A  
small fixed magnet holds the rotary actuator in place as the disk spins down. The  
rotary actuator is released only when power is again applied.  
Maxtor D540X-4G  
2-3  
Product Description  
The data buffer is organized into two segments: the data buffer and the micro  
controller scratch pad. The data buffer is dynamically allocated for read and write  
data depending on the commands received. A variable number of read and write  
buffers may exist at the same time.  
Normally, this mode is active. Following a read request, disk read-ahead begins on  
the first sector and continues sequentially until the allocated buffer is full. If a read  
request is received during the read-ahead operation, the buffer is examined to  
determine if the request is in the cache. If a cache hit occurs, read-ahead mode  
continues without interruption and the host transfer begins immediately.  
This feature is part of the write cache and reduces the risk of data loss during  
deferred write operations. If a disk error occurs during the disk write process, the  
disk task stops and the suspect sector is reallocated to a pool of alternate sectors  
located at the end of the drive. Following reallocation, the disk write task continues  
until it is complete.  
Normally, this mode is active. Write cache mode accepts the host write data into  
the buffer until the buffer is full or the host transfer is complete. A command  
complete interrupt is generated at the end of the transfer.  
A disk write task begins to store the host data to disk. Host write commands  
continue to be accepted and data transferred to the buffer until either the write  
command stack is full or the data buffer is full. The drive may reorder write  
commands to optimize drive throughput.  
A brushless DC direct drive motor rotates the spindle at 5400 R PM (±0.1%). The  
dynamically balanced motor/ spindle assembly ensures minimal mechanical run-out  
to the disks. A dynamic brake provides a fast stop to the spindle motor upon power  
removal. The speed tolerance includes motor performance and motor circuit  
tolerances.  
All Maxtor hard drives employ a rotary voice coil actuator which consists of a  
moving coil, an actuator arm assembly and stationary magnets. The actuator moves  
on a low-mass, low-friction center shaft. The low friction contributes to fast access  
times and low power consumption.  
2-4 Maxtor D540X-4G  
   
Product Description  
An integrated circuit mounted within the sealed head disk assembly (near the read/  
write heads) provides up to eight head selection depending on the model. It also  
provides read pre-amplification and write drive circuitry.  
Low mass, low force giant magneto-resistive read/ write heads record data on 3.5-  
inch diameter disks. Maxtor uses a sputtered thin film medium on all disks for  
Maxtor hard drives.  
All Maxtor hard drives are assembled in a Class 100 controlled environment. Over  
the life of the drive, a 0.1 micron filter and breather filter located within the sealed  
head disk assembly (HDA) maintain a clean environment to the heads and disks.  
Maxtor drives are designed to operate in a typical office environment with  
minimum environmental control.  
The microprocessor controls the following functions for the drive electronics:  
Command execution  
Cache management  
Data correction and error recovery  
Diagnostic execution  
Data sequencing  
Head positioning (including error recovery)  
Host interface  
Index detection  
Spin speed control  
Seeks  
Servo  
SMART  
48-bit addressing  
Maxtor D540X-4G  
2-5  
Product Description  
Two drives may be accessed via a common interface cable, using the same range of  
I/ O addresses. The drives have a jumper configuration as device 0 or 1 (Master/  
Slave), and are selected by the drive select bit in the Device/ Head register of the  
task file.  
All Task File registers are written in parallel to both drives. The interface processor  
on each drive decides whether a command written to it should be executed; this  
depends on the type of command and which drive is selected. Only the drive  
selected executes the command and activates the data bus in response to host I/ O  
reads; the drive not selected remains inactive.  
A master/ slave relationship exists between the two drives: device 0 is the master and  
device 1 the slave. When the Master is closed (factory default, figure 2-1), the drive  
assumes the role of master; when open, the drive acts as a slave. In single drive  
configurations, the Master jumper must be closed.  
CSEL (cable select) is an optional feature per ANSI ATA specification. Drives  
configured in a multiple drive system are identified by CSELs value:  
If CSEL is grounded, then the drive address is 0.  
If CSEL is open, then the drive address is 1.  
Figure 2-1 PCBA Jumper Location and Configuration  
2-6 Maxtor D540X-4G  
   
Product Description  
Master/Slave  
Only drive in single drive system *  
Master drive in dual drive system *  
Slave drive in dual drive system  
C
C
O
Cable Select  
Disabled*  
Enabled  
O
C
Cylinder Lim itation  
Disabled*  
Enabled  
O
C
Factory Reserved  
O
O
Key * = Default C = Closed (jum per installed) O = Open (no jum per installed)  
On some older BIOS', primarily those that auto-configure the disk drive, a hang  
may occur. The Cylinder Limitation jumper reduces the capacity in the Identify  
Drive allowing large capacity drives to work with older BIOS. The capacity  
reported when J45:J46 is closed will be as follows: drives less than or equal to 32GB  
will report 2.1GB. Drives greater than 32GB will report 32GB.  
Maxtor D540X-4G  
2-7  
 
Product Description  
2-8 Maxtor D540X-4G  
Form atted Capacity (GB LBA Mode)  
GB m eans 1 billion bytes.  
122.9GB  
163.9GB  
Total accessible capacity varies depending on operating environm ent.  
The D540X-4G at 160GB capacity (4G160J8) exceeds the 137GB capacity barrier  
imposed by the 28 bit addressing schemes common to many current BIOS and  
drivers. If your system has 28 bit addressing logic your drive will appear to only have  
137GB of capacity. You can upgrade your system to break this barrier by installing  
a Maxtor PCI card kit (Maxtor p/ n K01PCAT133). You may also be able to  
upgrade your system by downloading new BIOS and/ or Drivers. Please visit our  
and upgrade software.  
For more information on breaking the 137GB capacity barrier please refer to  
Appendix A.  
Maxtor D540X-4G  
3-1  
   
Product Specifications  
Data Surfaces/Num ber of Heads  
Num ber of Disks  
6
8
3
4
Sectors per Drive (m ax LBA)  
Integrated Interface  
240,121,728  
320,173,056  
Maxtor Ultra ATA/133 (ATA-5/ATA-6)  
Recording Method  
PRML  
Em bedded  
224  
Servo Type  
Num ber of Servo Sectors  
Data Zones per Surface  
Data Sectors per Track (ID/OD)  
16  
448/896  
27.7/25.2  
506/461  
486/442  
57  
2
Areal Density (Gbits/in m ax, ID/OD)  
Flux Density (kfci, ID/OD)  
Recording Density (kbpi, ID/OD)  
Track Density (ktpi)  
3-2 Maxtor D540X-4G  
 
Product Specifications  
Seek Tim es (typical read, m s)  
Track-to-Track  
1
11  
Average (norm al seek)  
Full Stroke (norm al seek)  
Average Latency (m s)  
20  
5.5  
<0.3  
5400  
Controller Overhead (m s)  
Rotation Speed (RPM ±0.1%)  
Data Transfer Speed (MByte/sec m ax)  
To/From Interface  
(Maxtor Ultra ATA/133, up to)  
133  
To/From Media (ID/OD up to nn.n, where  
nn.n is the m axim um transfer rate possible)  
21.9/43.4  
Sustained (ID/OD up to nn.n, where nn.n is  
the m axim um transfer rate possible)  
17.8/35.9  
Data Buffer Size (MB)/Type  
2/SDRAM  
7.5  
Drive Ready Tim e (typical sec)  
Height (m axim um in m m )  
Width (typical m m )  
26.1  
101.6  
147.0  
0.580  
Length (m axim um in m m )  
Weight (m axim um in kg)  
Maxtor D540X-4G  
3-3  
   
Product Specifications  
Outline and Mounting Dimensions  
3-4 Maxtor D540X-4G  
 
Product Specifications  
Spin-up (peak)  
Seek  
2100  
881  
649  
424  
40  
550  
567  
561  
566  
307  
285  
31.4<0.5 sec.  
13.4  
10.6  
7.9  
Read/Write  
Idle  
Standby  
Sleep  
2.0  
40  
1.9  
The drive is spinning up following initial application of power and has not yet  
reached full speed.  
A random access operation by the drive.  
Data is being read from or written to the drive.  
The drive is spinning, the actuator is parked and powered off and all other circuitry  
is powered on.  
The drive is capable of responding to read commands within 40 ms.  
The motor is not spinning. The drive will leave this mode upon receipt of a  
command that requires disk access. The time-out value for this mode is  
programmable. The buffer is active to accept write data.  
This is the lowest power state with the interface set to inactive. A software or  
hardware reset is required to return the drive to the Standby state.  
Maxtor Corporation supports the goals of the U.S. Environmental Protection  
Agencys Energy Star program to reduce the electrical power consumption of  
computer equipment.  
Maxtor D540X-4G  
3-5  
     
Product Specifications  
Tem perature  
0° C to 60° C  
low tem perature (-40° C)  
high tem perature (65° C)  
per MIL-STD-810E, m ethod  
501.3, clim atic category;  
hot-induced conditions.  
Therm al Gradient  
Relative Hum idity  
Wet Bulb  
30° C per hour (m axim um )  
5% to 95% (non-condensing)  
30° C (m axim um )  
Altitude (relative to sea level)  
-650 to 10,000 feet  
-650 to 40,000 feet  
Acoustic Noise - sound power  
(per ISO 7779, 10 m icrophone, at  
sea level)  
Idle Mode  
(track following at speed)  
3.2 bel average  
3.6 bel m axim um  
Norm al Seek Mode  
3.8 bel average  
4.1 bel m axim um  
Mechanical Shock  
Rotational Shock  
R>=0.988/shock at 60 Gs;  
r>0.999/shock at 30 Gs  
R=0.90@>= 250G 3&4 disk  
R=0.95@>= 225G, 3&4 disk  
R=0.99@>= 175G, 3&4 disk  
R>-0.988 @ 2000r/s^2  
R>- 0.95 @ 20K rad/sec^2,  
0.5m s to 1m s input  
R>- 0.99 @ 15K rad/sec^2,  
0.5m s to 1m s input  
2
Random Vibration  
10 to 45 Hz at 0.004 G /Hz  
PSD:  
10 Hz at 0.05 G /Hz  
20 Hz at 0.055 G /Hz  
300 Hz at 0.05 G /Hz  
301 Hz at 0.0014 G /Hz  
500-760 Hz at 0.001 G /Hz  
877 Hz at 0.003 G /Hz  
1000-1570 Hz at 0.001 G /Hz  
2
2
48 to 62 Hz at 0.008 G /Hz  
2
2
65 to 300 Hz at 0.004 G /Hz  
301 to 500 Hz at 0.00005 G /Hz  
no errors  
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2000 Hz at 0.0001 G /Hz  
no dam age  
3-6 Maxtor D540X-4G  
   
Product Specifications  
Swept Sine Vibration  
10 to 300 Hz  
1 G (0 to peak) am plitude,  
.25 octave per m inute  
<1.0%  
Annualized Return R ate (AR R ) indicates the average against  
products shipped.  
<750 DPPM  
The quality acceptance rate indicates the percentage of Maxtor  
products successfully installed by our customers, and/ or the number  
of defective parts per million (DPPM) encountered during the entire  
installation process.  
>50,000  
This indicates the average minimum cycles for reliable start/ stop  
function.  
R =0.9998@ >4500, R =0.9995 @ >7500, R =0.5 @ >= 50000  
<1 per 10e15 bits read  
Data errors (non-recoverable). Average data error rate allowed with  
all error recovery features activated.  
5 years (minimum)  
Component design life is defined as a.) the time period before  
identified wear-out mechanisms impact the failure rate, or b.) the  
time period up to the wear-out point when useful component life  
expires.  
Maxtor D540X-4G  
3-7  
 
Product Specifications  
The hard disk drive mechanism is designed as a subassembly for installation into a  
suitable enclosure and is therefore not subject to Subpart J of Part 15 of FCC R ules  
(47CFR15) or the Canadian Department of Communications R adio Interference  
R egulations. Although not required, the disk mechanism has been tested within a  
suitable end-use product and found to comply with Class B limits of the FCC R ules  
and R egulations of the Canadian Department of Communications.  
The CE Marking indicates conformity with the European Union Low Voltage  
Directive (73/ 23/ EEC) when the disk mechanism is installed in a typical personal  
computer. Maxtor recommends that testing and analysis for EMC compliance be  
performed with the disk mechanism installed within the user's end-use application.  
This digital apparatus does not exceed the Class B limits for radio noise emissions  
from digital apparatus as set out in the radio interference regulations of the Canadian  
department of communications.  
Le present appareil numerique n'emet pas de bruit radioelectriques depassant les  
limites applicables aux appareils numeriques de Class B prescrites dans le reglement  
sur le brouillage radioelectrique edicte pa le ministere des communications du  
Canada.  
All Maxtor hard drives comply with relevant product safety standards such as CE,  
CUL, TUV and UL rules and regulations. As delivered, Maxtor hard drives are  
designed for system integration before they are used.  
3-8 Maxtor D540X-4G  
   
If the handling precautions are not followed, damage to the hard  
drive may result whichmay void the warranty.  
During handling, NEVER drop, jar, or bump a drive. Handle the  
drive by its sides and avoid touching the printed circuit board  
assembly (PCBA).  
Hard drives are sensitive to electrostatic discharge (ESD) damage. Use  
proper ESD practices by grounding yourself and the computer system  
the hard drive will be installed in.  
Allow the hard drive to reach room temperature BEFORE installing  
it in your computer system.  
NEVER switch DC power onto the drive by plugging an electrically  
live DC source cable into the drive's connector. NEVER connect a  
live connector to the hard drive's IDE interface connector.  
ELECTRICAL GROUNDING - For proper operation, the drive  
must be securely fastened to a device bay that provides a suitable  
electrical ground to the drive baseplate.  
To better avoid problems associated with ESD, Maxtor advises that anyone handling  
a disk drive use a wrist strap with an attached wire connected to an earth ground.  
Failure to observe these precautions voids the product warranty.  
To reduce the incidence of ESD-related problems, Maxtor recommends that any  
electronics manufacturing plans include a comprehensive ESD program, the basic  
elements and functions of which are outlined here:  
ESD Program Element  
Management  
ESD Program Function  
Institute and maintain  
Organize and enforce  
Chief coordinator  
Maxtor D540X-4G  
4-1  
     
Handling and Installation  
Multi-department committee  
Employee training  
Evaluate and improve  
Educate and inform  
ESD program supplies typically include: wrist- and foot-worn grounding straps;  
counter-top and floor antistatic matting; wrist strap testers; ESD video and training  
materials. Sources for such supplies include:  
Static Control Systems 3M  
225-4S, 3M Center  
St. Paul, MN 55144  
Desco-Charleswater  
3651 Walnut Avenue  
Chino, CA 91710  
Phone: (909) 627-8178  
Fax: (909) 627-7449  
Maxtor also offers a complete video training package, Care and Handling of Maxtor  
Disk Drives.Contact your Maxtor representative for details.  
R etain any packing material for reuse. Inspect the shipping container for evidence of  
damage in transit. Notify the carrier immediately in case of damage to the shipping  
container.  
As they are removed, inspect drives for evidence of shipping damage or loose  
hardware. If a drive is damaged (and no container damage is evident), notify Maxtor  
immediately for drive disposition.  
4-2 Maxtor D540X-4G  
 
Handling and Installation  
Multi-pack Shipping Container  
Maxtor D540X-4G  
4-3  
 
Handling and Installation  
Single Pack Shipping Container (Option A)  
4-4 Maxtor D540X-4G  
 
Handling and Installation  
Single Pack Shipping Container (Option B)  
If a Maxtor drive requires return, repack it using Maxtor packing materials, including  
the antistatic bag.  
Maxtor D540X-4G  
4-5  
     
Handling and Installation  
4-6 Maxtor D540X-4G  
This chapter describes the interface between Maxtor D540X-4G hard disk drives and  
the ATA bus. The commands that are issued from the host to control the drive are  
listed, as well as the electrical and mechanical characteristics of the interface.  
Maxtor D540X-4G hard disk drives use the standard ATA/ ATAPI interface.  
Support of various options in the standard are explained in the following sections.  
The Maxtor D540X-4G hard disk drive contains a 40-pin unitized connector for  
both signal and power connections as well as configuration jumpers. The  
dimensions and specifications of the unitized connector comply with Annex. A in  
the ATA/ ATAPI standard.  
The Maxtor D540X-4G drives require the use of an 80 conductor cable (ATA/  
ATAPI-6, Annex. A, Figure A.4 and description) to support the drives Ultra DMA  
capability.  
Signals on the ATA interface are assigned to connector pins according to Annex. A in  
the ATA/ ATAPI-6 standard for the 80 conductor cable assembly. The signaling  
protocol complies with clause 9 and signal timing complies with clause 10 of the  
standard.  
The Maxtor D540X-4G hard disk drives support all Ultra DMA Data Transfer modes  
(0 - 5) defined in the ATA/ ATAPI-6 standard. In addition, these drives support Mode  
6, and can send and receive data at the full 133MB/ s transfer rate.  
Hosts may assert the RESET- signal for longer than the minimum. When power is  
applied with R ESET- asserted, the Maxtor D540X-4G disk media will not begin to  
spin up until R ESET- is negated. This may reduce maximum current consumption  
for the overall system.  
Maxtor D540X-4G  
5-1  
       
ATA Bus Interface and ATA Commands  
The Maxtor D540X-4G hard disk drives allow their host systems to address the full  
set of command and control registers as specified in clause 7 of the ATA/ ATAPI-6  
standard. This includes the 48-bit Address feature set described in clause 6.  
The µProcessor, Disk Controller, and ATA Interface electronics are contained in a  
proprietary ASIC developed by Maxtor.  
The Maxtor D540X-4G hard disk drives support all the mandatory commands from  
the general feature set for devices not supporting the Packet command feature set.  
R efer to the ATA/ ATAPI-6 standard for a detailed description of these commands.  
Table 5-1 lists the supported commands.  
Supported Commands  
CHECK POWER MODE  
98h, E5h  
B1h  
DEVICE CONFIGURATION FREEZE LOCK  
DEVICE CONFIGURATION IDENTIFY  
DEVICE CONFIGURATION RESTORE  
DEVICE CONFIGURATION SET  
DOWNLOAD MICROCODE  
EXECUTE DRIVE DIAGNOSTIC  
FLUSH CACHE  
C1h  
B1h  
C2h  
B1h  
C0h  
B1h  
C3h  
92h  
07h, 01h  
90h  
E7h  
IDENTIFY DRIVE  
ECh  
IDLE  
97h, E3h  
95h, E1h  
00h  
IDLE IMMEDIATE  
NOP  
READ BUFFER  
E4h  
5-2 Maxtor D540X-4G  
     
ATA Bus Interface and ATA Commands  
Supported Commands  
READ DMA  
C8h, C9h  
22h, 23h  
C4h  
READ LONG  
READ MULTIPLE  
READ NATIVE MAX ADDRESS  
READ SECTOR(S)  
F8h  
20h, 21h  
40h, 41h  
F6h  
READ VERIFY SECTOR(S)  
SECURITY DISABLE PASSWORD  
SECURITY ERASE PREPARE  
SECURITY ERASE UNIT  
SECURITY FREEZE LOCK  
SECURITY SET PASSWORD  
SECURITY UNLOCK  
SEEK  
F3h  
F4h  
F5H  
F1h  
F2h  
70h  
SET FEATURES  
EFh  
Note 1  
00h  
SET MAX ADDRESS  
SET MAX SET PASSWORD  
SET MAX LOCK  
F9h  
F9h  
01h  
F9h  
02h  
SET MAX UNLOCK  
F9h  
03h  
SET MAX FREEZE LOCK  
SET MULTIPLE MODE  
SLEEP  
F9h  
04h  
C6h  
99h, E6h  
B0h  
B0h  
B0h  
B0h  
SMART DISABLE OPERATIONS  
SMART ENABLE OPERATIONS  
D9h  
D8h  
D2h  
D4h  
SMART ENABLE/DISABLE ATTRIBUTE AUTOSAVE  
SMART EXECUTE OFF-LINE IMMEDIATE  
Maxtor D540X-4G  
5-3  
ATA Bus Interface and ATA Commands  
Supported Commands  
SMART READ DATA  
SMART READ LOG  
SMART RETURN STATUS  
SMART SAVE ATTRIBUTE VALUES  
SMART WRITE LOG  
STANDBY  
B0h  
D0h  
D5h  
DAh  
D3h  
D6h  
B0h  
B0h  
B0h  
B0h  
96h, E2h  
94h, E0h  
E8h  
STANDBY IMMEDIATE  
WRITE BUFFER  
WRITE DMA  
CAh, CBh  
C5h  
WRITE MULTIPLE  
WRITE PIO OVERLAP  
WRITE SECTOR(S)  
34h  
30h, 31h  
1. As defined in the ATA/ ATAPI-6 standard.  
5-4 Maxtor D540X-4G  
If a customer discovers a defect in a Maxtor hard drive, Maxtor will, at its option,  
repair or replace the disk drive at no charge to the customer, provided it is returned  
during the warranty period. Drives must be properly packaged in Maxtor packaging  
or Maxtor-approved packaging to obtain warranty service. Any unauthorized repairs  
or adjustments to the drive void the warranty.  
To consistently provide our customers with the best possible products and services,  
Maxtor developed the Total Customer Satisfaction (TCS) program. Through the  
ongoing TCS process, Maxtor employees take direct responsibility for every  
customers level of satisfaction with Maxtor technology, price, quality,  
delivery, service and support.  
®
Another TCS feature is Maxtors No Quibble Service policy. By minimizing paperwork  
and processing, No Quibble Service dramatically cuts the turnaround time normally  
required for repairs and returns. Heres how it works:  
1. Customer visits www.maxtor.com or calls 1-800-2MAXTOR for a Return  
Material Authorization (R MA) number and provides a credit card number  
2. Maxtor ships a replacement drive within 2 business days  
3. Customer returns the original drive and credit card draft is destroyed.  
For the current up-to-date information, hours of operation, phone numbers and  
worldwide email accounts, on how to contact Maxtor Technical support and Product  
Support please go to Maxtors web site at www.maxtor.com and click on the  
Contactlink at the top of the page.  
Maxtor D540X-4G  
6-1  
   
Service and Support  
6-2 Maxtor D540X-4G  
This appendix provides information about the 137GB storage barrier. It discusses the  
history, cause and the solution to overcome this barrier.  
Capacity barriers have been a fact of the personal computer world since its beginnings  
in the early 1980s. At least 10 different capacity barriers have occurred in the storage  
industry over the last 15 years. The most notable barriers seen previously have been at  
528 megabytes and then at 8.4 gigabytes.  
The most recent barrier which will be surmounted in 2001, is the 137-gigabyte limit  
or a single ATA drive. The first ATA devices to exceed 137 gigabytes will be four-  
platter hard disk drives with 40 gigabytes per platter, yielding 160 gigabytes per drive.  
These drives will be available in the second half of 2001. Later in the same year,  
capacity will continue to grow to 60 gigabytes per platter, and a three-disk, 180-  
gigabyte device will be available and shipping.  
The ANSI NCITS T13 Technical Committee (also known as the ANSI ATA  
committee) has broken this barrier by incorporating a proposal from Maxtor into the  
ATA/ ATAPI-6 draft standard that defines a method for 48-bit addressing on a single  
drive, giving more than 144 petabytes (144,000 gigabytes) of storage.  
In addition, the proposal from Maxtor that was incorporated into ATA/ ATAPI-6  
defines a method for extending the maximum amount of data that can be transferred  
per command for ATA devices from 256 sectors (about 131 kilobytes) to 65,536  
sectors (about 33 megabytes). This new method is particularly useful for applications  
that use extremely large files, such as those for A/ V or multimedia.  
The following sections will describe issues surrounding the 137-gigabyte barrier and  
the solution for breaking it.  
Many of the barriersin the past resulted from BIOS and operating system issues  
caused by failure to anticipate the remarkable increases in device storage capacity by  
the people who designed hard disk structures, access routines, and operating systems  
many years ago. They thought, Who will ever have xxx much storage?In some  
cases, the barriers were caused by hardware or software bugs not found until hard disks  
had grown in size beyond a certain point where the bugs would occur.  
Maxtor D540X-4G  
A-1  
   
Breaking the 137GB Storage Barrier  
Past barriers often frustrated people trying to add a new hard disk to an older system  
when they discovered that not all of the designed capacity of the hard disk was  
accessible. This inability to access the entire drive is referred to as a capacity barrier”  
and it has been seen and overcome many times in the computer and disk drive  
industry.  
The 137-gigabyte barrier is the result of the original design specification for the ATA  
interface that provided only 28 bits of address for data. This specification means a hard  
disk can have a maximum of 268,435,456 sectors of 512 bytes of data which puts the  
ATA interface maximum at 137.4 gigabytes.  
10,000,000  
1,000,000  
100,000  
10,000  
1,000  
137GB  
Win2000  
WinME  
WinXP  
33GB  
Win98  
Win95(osr2)  
8GB  
4GB  
Win95A  
2GB  
Win 3.x  
5.x  
DOS  
528MB  
4.x  
128MB  
100  
32MB  
16MB  
3.x  
10MB  
10  
1980  
1985  
1990  
1995  
2000  
2005  
10 megabytes:early  
16 megabytes:  
32 megabytes:  
128 megabytes:  
528 megabytes:  
2.1 gigabytes:  
4.2 gigabytes:  
8.4 gigabytes:  
32 gigabytes:  
PC/ XT limit  
FAT 12 limit  
DOS 3.x limit  
DOS 4.x limit  
Early ATA BIOSs without BIOS extensions  
DOS file system partition limit  
CMOS extended CHS addressing limit (not widely experienced)  
BIOS/Int13 24-bit addressing limit  
BIOS limit  
A-2 Maxtor D540X-4G  
Breaking the 137GB Storage Barrier  
As described earlier, the issue causing the 137-gigabyte barrier is the 28-bit addressing  
method of the original ATA specification. A change to expand this method was  
required to provide more address bits for the interface, allowing significant growth for  
many years to come. A critical issue in expanding the addressing capability was  
maintaining compatibility with the existing installed base of products.  
A new ATA standard, ATA/ ATAPI-6, has been in the works for some time, and the  
latest draft of this standard resolves this issue by increasing the maximum number of  
bits used for addressing from 28 to 48. This solution increases the maximum capacity  
of an ATA device to 144 petabytes while maintaining compatibility with current ATA  
products.  
The 48-bit Address feature set provides a method to address devices with capacities up  
to approximately 144 petabytes by increasing the number of bits used to specify logical  
block addresses (LBAs) from 28 to 48. The feature set also provides a method to  
increase the number of sectors that can be transferred by a single command from 256  
to 65,536 by increasing the number of bits specifying sector count to 16 bits.  
New commands specific to this feature set have been defined so that devices can  
implement the new feature set in addition to previously defined commands. Devices  
implementing the 48-bit Address feature set commands will also implement  
commands that use 28-bit addressing in order to maintain interoperability with older  
system components. In addition, 8-bit and 48-bit commands may be intermixed.  
The 48-bit Address feature set operates in LBA addressing only. Support of the 48-bit  
Address feature set is indicated in the IDENTIFY DEVICE response data. In a device  
implementing the 48-bit Address feature set, the registers used for addressing are, in  
fact, a two-byte deep FIFO. Each time one of these registers is written, the new  
content written is placed into the most recently writtenlocation and the previous  
content of the register is moved to previous contentlocation. A host may read the  
previous contentof the registers by first setting a bit in the Device Control register  
to 1 and then reading the desired register.  
The challenge to drive manufacturers is to develop and implement new interface chips  
on drives that can accept and decode the new 48-bit addressing scheme. Many  
functions of decoding the commands sent to and from the drive are automated in the  
silicon of the drive interface ASIC, and this is where drive manufacturers must update  
their designs. Maxtor is the leader in development efforts and is the first to deliver a  
product with the capacity and drive technology to deliver greater than 137 gigabytes  
of capacity.  
Effort is required from OS vendors to increase storage device addressing up to 48 bits  
or more. This increase will be a significant challenge for many OS vendors that have  
32-bit code models. Adapting to 48-bit commands will be easy, but most vendors  
will stop filling data at the 32-bit boundary and pad the upper 16 bits with zeros,  
leaving that space empty.  
Maxtor D540X-4G  
A-3  
Breaking the 137GB Storage Barrier  
The BIOS companies will also have to perform some work to recognize the increased  
capacity of the devices attached to the bus and allow the extended 48-bit commands  
to pass on to the devices. Boot partitions will also be an issue for the capacity of the  
drive if the BIOS does not recognize the 48-bit addressing scheme at or before the  
system boots the OS from the hard drive.  
Independent software driver efforts for legacy operating systems (Windows NT 4,  
Windows 98, and so on) will need to be implemented to allow higher-capacity devices  
to work on installed systems and recognize the maximum available capacity of the  
drive over the 137-gigabyte limit.  
While it is true that the ATA/ ATAPI-6 standard defines a method to provide a total  
capacity for a device of 144 petabytes, the next limit will be imposed not by the ATA  
devices but by many of the popular operating systems in use today. This limit will be  
at 2.2 terabytes (2,200 gigabytes). This barrier exists because many of todays operating  
systems are based on 32-bit addressing. These operating systems include many flavors  
of Linux, Mac OS 9.x, and Windows 95, 98, ME, NT 4, 2000, and XP (Windows  
XP/ 64-bit also has the limit because of leveraged 32-bit code).  
This barrier could be real as early as 2004 if current hard drive capacity rate increases  
continue along the same growth trends.  
BIOS: (an acronym for Basic Input/ Output System design): The BIOS  
processes and redirects all data as it is being accessed and stored.  
FAT: (an acronym for File Allocation Table): The FAT tells the  
computer where data has been stored on the hard drive.  
CHS: (an acronym for Cylinders, Heads, and Sectors): The basic layout  
components of a hard drive. INT 13h & INT 13h extensions: protocols  
used for accessing data on hard drives.  
131 kilobytes =  
131,000 bytes  
a little more than 30 pages of text  
33 megabytes =  
33,000,000 bytes  
more than 8,000 pages of text or 25 300-page books  
137 gigabytes =  
137,000,000,000 bytes  
more than 100,000 books, or the contents of a good library  
2.2 terabytes =  
2,200,000,000,000 bytes  
almost 2,000,000 books, or the about content of the Library of Congress  
144 petabytes = 144,000,000,000,000,000 bytes  
120 billion books (more than all that man has written)  
9.4 zettabytes = 9,400,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes  
A-4 Maxtor D540X-4G  
Breaking the 137GB Storage Barrier  
Maxtor Big Driveweb site for resource information:  
Maxtor D540X-4G  
A-5  
Breaking the 137GB Storage Barrier  
A-6 Maxtor D540X-4G  
ALLOCATION UNIT An allocation  
unit, also known as a cluster, is a group of  
sectors on the disk that can be reserved for the  
use of a particular file.  
A
ACCESS (v) R ead, write, or update  
information on some storage medium, such as  
a disk. (n) One of these operations.  
ACCESS TIME The interval between the  
time a request for data is made by the system  
and the time the data is available from the  
drive. Access time includes the actual seek  
time, rotational latency, and command  
processing overhead time. See also seek,  
rotational latency, and overhead.  
AVERAGE SEEK TIME The average  
time it takes for the read/ write head to move  
to a specific location. To compute the average  
seek time, you divide the time it takes to  
complete a large number of random seeks all  
over the disk by the number of seeks  
performed.  
ACTUATOR Also known as the positioner.  
The internal mechanism that moves the  
read/ write head to the proper track. The  
Maxtor actuator consists of a rotary voice coil  
and the head mounting arms. One end of each  
head mounting arm attaches to the rotor with  
the read/ write heads attached at the opposite  
end of each arm. As current is applied to the  
rotor, it rotates, positioning the heads over the  
desired cylinder on the media.  
B
BACKUP A copy of a file, directory, or  
volume on a separate storage device from the  
original, for the purpose of retrieval in case the  
original is accidentally erased, damaged, or  
destroyed.  
BAD BLOCK A block (usually the size of  
a sector) that cannot reliably hold data because  
of a media flaw or damaged format markings.  
AIRLOCK A patented Maxtor feature that  
ensures durable and reliable data storage.  
Upon removal of power from the drive for  
any reason, the read/ write heads  
BAD TRACK TABLE A label affixed to  
the casing of a hard disk drive that tells which  
tracks are flawed and cannot hold data. The  
listing is typed into the low-level formatting  
program when the drive is being installed.  
Because Maxtor disk drives  
defect-management scheme handles all such  
flaws automatically, there is no need to  
concern yourself with bad track tables.  
automatically park and lock in a non data area  
called the landing zone. AIR LOCK allows  
the drive to withstand high levels of  
non-operating shock. When power is applied  
to the drive, airflow created from the spinning  
disks causes the AIR LOCK arm to swing  
back and unlock the actuator, allowing the  
heads to move from the landing zone. Upon  
power down, the AIR LOCK swings back to  
the locked position, locking the heads in the  
landing zone. A park utility is not required to  
park the heads on drives equipped with  
AIR LOCK (all Maxtor drives).  
BIT Abbreviation for binary digit. A binary  
digit may have one of two values1 or 0.  
This contrasts with a decimal digit, which  
may have a value from 0 to 9. A bit is one of  
the logic 1or logic 0 binary settings that make  
up a byte of data. See also byte.  
ALLOCATION The process of assigning  
particular areas of the disk to particular files.  
See also allocation unit.  
Maxtor D540X-4G  
G-1  
Glossary  
BLOCK A sector or group of sectors. By  
CONTROLLER CARD An adapter  
holding the control electronics for one or  
more hard disks, usually installed in a slot in  
the computer.  
default, a block of data consists of 512 bytes.  
BPI Abbreviation for bits per inch. A  
measure of how densely information is packed  
on a storage medium. Flux changes per inch is  
also a term commonly used in describing  
storage density on a magnetic surface.  
CPU Acronym for Central Processing Unit.  
The microprocessor chip that performs the  
bulk of data processing in a computer.  
BUFFER An area of R AM reserved for  
temporary storage of data that is waiting to be  
sent to a device that is not yet ready to receive  
it. The data is usually on its way to or from the  
disk drive or some other peripheral device.  
CRC Acronym for Cyclic Redundancy Check.  
An error detection code that is recorded  
within each sector and is used to see whether  
parts of a string of data are missing or  
erroneous.  
BUS The part of a chip, circuit board, or  
CYLINDER On a disk drive that has more  
than one recording surface and heads that  
move to various tracks, the group of all tracks  
located at a given head position. The number  
of cylinders times the number of heads equals  
the number of tracks per drive.  
interface designed to send and receive data.  
BYTE The basic unit of computer  
memory, large enough to hold one character  
of alphanumeric data. Comprised of eight bits.  
See also bit.  
D
DATA SEPARATOR On a disk drive  
that stores data and timing information in an  
encoded form, the circuit that extracts the  
data from the combined data and clock signal.  
C
CACHE R andom-access memory used as a  
buffer between the CPU and a hard disk.  
Information more likely to be read or changed  
is placed in the cache, where it can be accessed  
more quickly to speed up general data flow.  
DEDICATED SERVO A surface separate  
from the surface used for data that contains  
only disk timing and positioning information  
and contains no data.  
CAPACITY The amount of information  
that can be stored on a disk drive. The data is  
stored in bytes, and capacity is usually  
expressed in megabytes.  
DEFECT MANAGEMENT A method  
that is implemented to ensure long term data  
integrity. Defect management eliminates the  
need for user defect maps. This is  
CDB Command Descriptor Block. The  
SCSI structure used to communicate requests  
from an initiator (system) to a target (drive).  
accomplished by scanning the disk drives at  
the factory for defective sectors. Defective  
sectors are deallocated prior to shipment. In  
addition, during regular use, the drive  
continues to scan and compensate for any new  
defective sectors on the disk.  
CLEAN ROOM An environmentally  
controlled dust-free assembly or repair facility  
in which hard disk drives are assembled or can  
be opened for internal servicing.  
DISK In general, any circular-shaped  
data-storage medium that stores data on the  
flat surface of the platter. The most common  
type of disk is the magnetic disk, which stores  
data as magnetic patterns in a metal or  
CLUSTER A group of sectors on a disk  
drive that is addressed as one logical unit by  
the operating system.  
metal-oxide coating. Magnetic disks come in  
two forms: floppy and hard. Optical recording  
is a newer disk technology that gives higher  
capacity storage but at slower access times.  
CONTROLLER Short form of disk  
controller. The chip or complete circuit that  
translates computer data and commands into a  
form suitable for use by the disk drive.  
G-2 Maxtor D540X-4G  
Glossary  
DISK CONTROLLER A plug-in board,  
or embedded circuitry on the drive, that  
passes information to and from the disk. The  
Maxtor disk drives all have controllers  
allocated to each file and in what order.  
FCI Acronym for flux changes per inch. See  
also BPI.  
embedded on the drive printed-circuit board.  
FILE SERVER A computer that provides  
network stations with controlled access to  
shareable resources. The network operating  
system is loaded on the file server, and most  
shareable devices (disk subsystems, printers)  
are attached to it. The file server controls  
system security and monitors  
station-to-station communications. A  
dedicated file server can be used only as a file  
server while it is on the network. A non  
dedicated file server can be used  
DISKWARE The program instructions  
and data stored on the disk for use by a  
processor.  
DMA Acronym for direct memory access. A  
process by which data moves directly between  
a disk drive (or other device) and system  
memory without passing through the CPU,  
thus allowing the system to continue  
processing other tasks while the new data is  
being retrieved.  
simultaneously as a file server and a  
workstation.  
DRIVE Short form of disk drive.  
FLUX DENSITY The number of  
magnetic field patterns that can be stored in a  
given length of disk surface. The number is  
usually stated as flux changes per inch (FCI),  
with typical values in the thousands.  
DRIVE GEOMETRY The functional  
dimensions of a drive in terms of the number  
of heads, cylinders, and sectors per track. See  
also logical format.  
FLYING HEIGHT The distance between  
the read/ write head and the disk surface  
caused by a cushion of air that keeps the head  
from contacting the media. Smaller flying  
heights permit more dense storage of data, but  
require more precise mechanical designs.  
E
ECC Acronym for error correction code. The  
recording of extra verifying information  
encoded along with the disk data. The  
controller uses the extra information to check  
for data errors, and corrects the errors when  
possible.  
FORMAT To write onto the disk surface a  
magnetic track pattern that specifies the  
locations of the tracks and sectors. This  
information must exist on a disk before it can  
store any user data. Formatting erases any  
previously stored data.  
EMBEDDED SERVO A timing or  
location signal placed on the disks surface on  
the tracks that also store data. These signals  
allow the actuator to fine-tune the position of  
the read/ write heads.  
FORMATTED CAPACITY The  
amount of room left to store data on the disk  
after the required space has been used to write  
sector headers, boundary definitions, and  
timing information generated by a format  
operation. All Maxtor drive capacities are  
expressed in formatted capacity.  
ENCODING The protocol by which  
particular data patterns are changed prior to  
being written on the disk surface as a pattern  
of On and Off or 1 and 0 signals.  
FORM FACTOR The physical outer  
dimensions of a device as defined by industry  
standard. For example, most Maxtor disk  
drives use a 3 1/ 2-inch form factor.  
EXTERNAL DRIVE A drive mounted in  
an enclosure separate from the PC or  
computer system enclosure, with its own  
power supply and fan, and connected to the  
system by a cable.F  
FAT Acronym for file allocation table. A data  
table stored on the outer edge of a disk that  
tells the operating system which sectors are  
Maxtor D540X-4G  
G-3  
Glossary  
G
I
GIGABYTE (GB) One billion bytes (one  
thousand megabytes).  
INITIALIZ E See low level formatting.  
INITIATOR A SCSI device that requests  
another SCSI device to perform an operation.  
A common example of this is a system  
requesting data from a drive. The system is the  
initiator and the drive is the target.  
GUIDE RAILS Plastic strips attached to  
the sides of a disk drive mounted in an IBM  
AT and compatible computers so that the  
drive easily slides into place.  
INTERFACE A hardware or software  
protocol, contained in the electronics of the  
disk controller and disk drive, that manages  
the exchange of data between the drive and  
computer.  
H
HALF HEIGHT Term used to describe a  
drive that occupies half the vertical space of  
the original full size 5 1/ 4-inch drive. 1.625  
inches high.  
INTERLEAVE The arrangement of  
sectors on a track. A 1:1 interleave arranges  
the sectors so that the next sector arrives at the  
read/ write heads just as the computer is ready  
to access it. See also interleave factor.  
HARD DISK A type of storage medium  
that retains data as magnetic patterns on a rigid  
disk, usually made of an iron oxide or alloy  
over a magnesium or aluminum platter.  
Because hard disks spin more rapidly than  
floppy disks, and the head flies closer to the  
disk, hard disks can transfer data faster and  
store more in the same volume.  
INTERLEAVE FACTOR The number  
of sectors that pass beneath the read/ write  
heads before the next numbered sector  
arrives. When the interleave factor is 3:1, a  
sector is read, two pass by, and then the next  
is read. It would take three revolutions of the  
disk to access a full track of data. Maxtor  
drives have an interleave of 1:1, so a full track  
of data can be accessed within one revolution  
of the disk, thus offering the highest data  
throughput possible.  
HARD ERROR A repeatable error in disk  
data that persists when the disk is reread,  
usually caused by defects in the media surface.  
HEAD The tiny electromagnetic coil and  
metal pole piece used to create and read back  
the magnetic patterns (write and read  
information) on the media.  
INTERNAL DRIVE A drive mounted  
inside one of a computers drive bays (or a  
hard disk on a card, which is installed in one  
of the computers slots).  
HIGH-CAPACITY DRIVE By industry  
conventions typically a drive of 1 gigabytes or  
more.  
HIGH-LEVEL FORMATTING –  
Formatting performed by the operating  
systems format program. Among other  
things, the formatting program creates the  
root directory and file allocation tables. See  
also low-level formatting.  
J
JUMPER A tiny box that slips over two  
pins that protrude from a circuit board. When  
in place, the jumper connects the pins  
electrically. Some board manufacturers use  
Dual In-Line Package (DIP) switches instead  
of jumpers.  
HOME R eference position track for  
recalibration of the actuator, usually the outer  
track (track 0).  
HOST ADAPTER A plug-in board that  
forms the interface between a particular type  
of computer system bus and the disk drive.  
G-4 Maxtor D540X-4G  
Glossary  
K
M
KILOBYTE (K) A unit of measure  
MB See megabyte.  
consisting of 1,024 (210) bytes.  
MEDIA The magnetic film that is  
deposited or coated on an aluminum substrate  
which is very flat and in the shape of a disk.  
The media is overcoated with a lubricant to  
prevent damage to the heads or media during  
head take off and landing. The media is where  
the data is stored inside the disk in the form of  
magnetic flux or polarity changes.  
L
LANDING ZONE A position inside the  
disks inner cylinder in a non data area  
reserved as a place to rest the heads during the  
time that power is off. Using this area prevents  
the heads from touching the surface in data  
areas upon power down, adding to the data  
integrity and reliability of the disk drive.  
MEGABYTE (MB) A unit of  
measurement equal to 1,024 kilobytes, or  
1,048,576 bytes except when referring to disk  
storage capacity.  
LATENCY The period of time during  
which the read/ write heads are waiting for the  
data to rotate into position so that it can be  
accessed. Based on a disk rotation speed of  
3,662 rpm, the maximum latency time is 16.4  
milliseconds, and the average latency time is  
8.2 milliseconds.  
1 MB = 1,000,000 bytes when referring to  
disk storage capacity.  
See also kilobyte.  
MEGAHERTZ A measurement of  
frequency in millions of cycles per second.  
LOGICAL FORMAT The logical drive  
geometry that appears to an AT system BIOS  
as defined by the drive tables and stored in  
CMOS. With an installation program like  
Disk Manager, the drive can be redefined to  
any logical parameters necessary to adapt to  
the system drive tables.  
MHz See megahertz.  
MICROPROCESSOR The integrated  
circuit chip that performs the bulk of data  
processing and controls the operation of all of  
the parts of the system. A disk drive also  
contains a microprocessor to handle all of the  
internal functions of the drive and to support  
the embedded controller.  
LOOK AHEAD The technique of  
buffering data into cache R AM by reading  
subsequent blocks in advance to anticipate the  
next request for data. The look ahead  
technique speeds up disk access of sequential  
blocks of data.  
MICROSECOND (µs) One millionth of  
a second (.000001 sec.).  
MILLISECOND (m s) One thousandth of  
a second (.001 sec.).  
LOW-LEVEL FORMATTING –  
Formatting that creates the sectors on the  
platter surfaces so the operating system can  
access the required areas for generating the file  
structure. Maxtor drives are shipped with the  
low-level formatting already done.  
MTBF Mean Time Between Failure. Used  
as a reliability rating to determine the  
expected life of the product expressed in  
power on hours (POH). There are several  
accepted methods for calculating this value  
that produce very different results and  
generate much confusion in the industry.  
When comparing numbers you should first  
verify which method was used to calculate the  
values.  
LOW PROFILE Describes drives built to  
the 3 1/ 2-inch form factor, which are only 1  
inch high.  
Maxtor D540X-4G  
G-5  
Glossary  
MTTR Mean Time To R epair. The  
PLATED MEDIA Disks that are covered  
with a hard metal alloy instead of an  
iron-oxide compound. Plated disks can store  
greater amounts of data in the same area as a  
coated disk.  
average time it takes to repair a drive that has  
failed for some reason. This only takes into  
consideration the changing of the major  
sub-assemblies such as circuit board or sealed  
housing. Component level repair is not  
included in this number as this type of repair  
is not performed in the field.  
PLATTER An disk made of metal (or  
other rigid material) that is mounted inside a  
fixed disk drive. Most drives use more than  
one platter mounted on a single spindle (shaft)  
to provide more data storage surfaces in a  
small package. The platter is coated with a  
magnetic material that is used to store data as  
transitions of magnetic polarity.  
N
NANOSECOND (ns)One billionth of a  
second (0.000000001 second).  
POH Acronym for power on hours. The unit  
of measurement for Mean Time Between  
Failure as expressed in the number of hours  
that power is applied to the device regardless  
of the amount of actual data transfer usage.  
See MTBF.  
O
OVERHEAD The processing time of a  
command by the controller, host adapter or  
drive prior to any actual disk accesses taking  
place.  
POSITIONER See actuator.  
OVERWRITE To write data on top of  
existing data, erasing it.  
R
REDUNDANT ARRAY OF  
OXIDE A metal-oxygen compound. Most  
magnetic coatings are combinations of iron or  
other metal oxides, and the term has become  
a general one for the magnetic coating on tape  
or disk.  
INDEPENDENT DISKS (RAID) - is a  
way of storing the same data in different places  
(thus, redundantly) on multiple hard disks. By  
placing data on multiple disks, I/ O operations  
can overlap in a balanced way, improving  
performance. Since multiple disks increases  
the mean time between failure (MTBF),  
storing data redundantly also increases  
fault-tolerance.  
P
A R AID appears to the operating system to be  
a single logical hard disk. R AID employs the  
technique of striping, which involves  
partitioning each drive's storage space into  
units ranging from a sector (512 bytes) up to  
several megabytes. The stripes of all the disks  
are interleaved and addressed in order.  
PARTITION A portion of a hard disk  
devoted to a particular operating system and  
accessed as one logical volume by the system.  
PERFORMANCE A measure of the speed  
of the drive during normal operation. Factors  
affecting performance are seek times, transfer  
rate and command overhead.  
RAID See redundant array of independent  
disks  
PERIPHERAL A device added to a system  
as an enhancement to the basic CPU, such as  
a disk drive, tape drive or printer.  
RAM Acronym for random access memory.  
An integrated circuit memory chip which  
allows information to be stored and retrieved  
by a microprocessor or controller. The  
information may be stored and retrieved in  
PHYSICAL FORMAT The actual  
physical layout of cylinders, tracks, and sectors  
on a disk drive.  
G-6 Maxtor D540X-4G  
Glossary  
any order desired, and the address of one  
storage location is as readily accessible as any  
other.  
closed-loop feedback positioning of the heads,  
which is more accurate than stepper motors.  
ROTATIONAL LATENCY The delay  
between when the controller starts looking  
for a specific block of data on a track and  
when that block rotates around to where it  
can be read by the read/ write head. On the  
average, it is half of the time needed for a full  
rotation (about 8 ms.).  
RAM DISK A phantom disk drivefor  
which a section of system memory (R AM) is  
set aside to hold data, just as if it were a  
number of disk sectors. The access to this data  
is extremely fast but is lost when the system is  
reset or turned off.  
READ AFTER WRITE A mode of  
operation that has the computer read back  
each sector on the disk, checking that the data  
read back is the same as recorded. This slows  
disk operations, but raises reliability.  
S
SCSI Acronym for Small Computer System  
Interface, an American National Standards  
Institute (ANSI) version of Shugart Associates'  
SASI interface between the computer and  
controller. SCSI has grown in popularity and  
is one of the most flexible and intelligent  
interfaces available.  
READ VERIFY A disk mode where the  
disk reads in data to the controller, but the  
controller only checks for errors and does not  
pass the data on to the system.  
READ/ WRITE HEAD The tiny  
electromagnetic coil and metal pole piece  
used to create and read back the magnetic  
patterns (write or read information) on the  
disk. Each side of each platter has its own  
read/ write head.  
SECTOR A section of space along a track  
on the disk, or the data that is stored in that  
section. Hard disks most often have sectors  
that are 512 data bytes long plus several bytes  
overhead for error correcting codes. Each  
sector is preceded by ID data known as a  
header, which cannot be overwritten.  
REMOVABLE DISK Generally said of  
disk drives where the disk itself is meant to be  
removed, and in particular of hard disks using  
disks mounted in cartridges. Their advantage  
is that multiple disks can be used to increase  
the amount of stored material, and that once  
removed, the disk can be stored away to  
prevent unauthorized use.  
SEEK A movement of the disk read/ write  
head in or out to a specific track.  
SERVO DATA Magnetic markings  
written on the media that guide the  
read/ write heads to the proper position.  
RLL Run Length Limited. A method used  
on some hard disks to encode data into  
magnetic pulses. R LL requires more  
processing, but stores almost 50% more data  
per disk than the MFM method.  
SERVO SURFACE A separate surface  
containing only positioning and disk timing  
information but no data.  
SETTLE TIME The interval between  
when a track to track movement of the head  
stops, and when the residual vibration and  
movement dies down to a level sufficient for  
reliable reading or writing.  
ROM Acronym for read only memory.  
Usually in the form of an ROM in the  
controller that contains programs that can be  
accessed and read but not modified by the  
system.  
SHOCK RATING A rating (expressed in  
Gs) of how much shock a disk drive can  
sustain without damage.  
ROTARY ACTUATOR The rotary  
actuator replaces the stepper motor used in the  
past by many hard disk manufacturers. The  
rotary actuator is perfectly balanced and  
rotates around a single pivot point. It allows  
SOFT ERROR An error in reading data  
from the disk that does not recur if the same  
data is reread. Often caused by power  
Maxtor D540X-4G  
G-7  
Glossary  
fluctuations or noise spikes.  
THIN FILM A type of coating, used for  
disk surfaces. Thin film surfaces allow more  
bits to be stored per disk.  
SOFT SECTORED Disks that mark the  
beginning of each sector of data within a track  
by a magnetic pattern.  
TPI Acronym for tracks per inch. The  
number of tracks or cylinders that are written  
in each inch of travel across the surface of a  
disk.  
SPINDLE The center shaft of the disk  
upon which the drives platters are mounted.  
SPUTTER A type of coating process used  
to apply the magnetic coating to some  
high-performance disks. In sputtering, the  
disks are placed in a vacuum chamber and the  
coating is vaporized and deposited on the  
disks. The resulting surface is hard, smooth,  
and capable of storing data at high density.  
Maxtor disk drives use sputtered thin film  
disks.  
TRACK One of the many concentric  
magnetic circle patterns written on a disk  
surface as a guide to where to store and read  
the data.  
TRACK DENSITY How closely the  
tracks are packed on a disk surface. The  
number is specified as tracks per inch (TPI).  
TRACK TO TRACK SEEK TIME The  
time required for the read/ write heads to  
move to an adjacent track.  
STEPPER – A type of motor that moves in  
discrete amounts for each input electrical  
pulse. Stepper motors used to be widely used  
for read/ write head positioner, since they can  
be geared to move the head one track per  
step. Stepper motors are not as fast or reliable  
as the rotary voice coil actuators which  
Maxtor disk drives use.  
TRANSFER RATE The rate at which the  
disk sends and receives data from the  
controller. Drive specifications usually  
reference a high number that is the burst  
mode rate for transferring data across the  
interface from the disk buffer to system R AM.  
Sustained data transfer is at a much lower rate  
because of system processing overhead, head  
switches, and seeks.  
SUBSTRATE The material the disk  
platter is made of beneath the magnetic  
coating. Hard disks are generally made of  
aluminum or magnesium alloy (or glass, for  
optical disks) while the substrate of floppies is  
usually mylar.  
U
Ultra DMA (UDMA, or, more accurately,  
Ultra DMA/ 133) is a protocol for transferring  
data between a hard disk drive through the  
computer's data paths (or bus) to the  
computer's random access memory (RAM).  
The Ultra DMA/ 133 protocol transfers data  
in burst mode at a rate of 133 MBps  
(megabytes per second), twice as fast as the  
previous Direct Memory Access (DMA)  
interface.  
SURFACE The top or bottom side of the  
platter which is coated with the magnetic  
material for recording data. On some drives  
one surface may be reserved for positioning  
information.  
T
UNFORMATTED CAPACITY The  
total number of bytes of data that could be fit  
onto a disk. Formatting the disk requires some  
of this space to record location, boundary  
definitions, and timing information. After  
formatting, user data can be stored on the  
remaining disk space, known as formatted  
capacity. The size of a Maxtor drive is  
expressed in formatted capacity.  
TERABYTE (TB) A unit of measurement  
to 1,024 gigabytes (GB), or  
1,099,511,627,776 bytes, except when  
referring to disk storage capacity. Storage  
capacities of one or more terabytes is achieved  
by installing multiple hard drive in a RAID  
system. 1 TB = 1,000,000,000,000 bytes  
when referring to disk storage capacity. See  
also gigabyte.  
G-8 Maxtor D540X-4G  
Glossary  
V
VOICE COIL A type of motor used to  
move the disk read/ write head in and out to  
the right track. Voice-coil actuators work like  
loudspeakers with the force of a magnetic coil  
causing a proportionate movement of the  
head. Maxtor's actuator uses voice-coil  
technology, and thereby eliminates the high  
stress wearing parts found on stepper motor  
type actuators.  
W
WEDGE SERVO The position on every  
track that contains data used by the closed  
loop positioning control. This information is  
used to fine tune the position of the  
read/ write heads exactly over the track  
center.  
WINCHESTER DISKS Hard disks that  
use a technology similar to an IBM model  
using Winchester as the code name. These  
disks use read/ write heads that ride just above  
the magnetic surface, held up by the air flow  
created by the turning disk. When the disk  
stops turning, the heads land on the surface,  
which has a specially lubricated coating.  
Winchester disks must be sealed and have a  
filtration system since ordinary dust particles  
are large enough to catch between the head  
and the disk.  
WRITE ONCE In the context of optical  
disks, technologies that allow the drive to  
store data on a disk and read it back, but not  
to erase it.  
Maxtor D540X-4G  
G-9  
Glossary  
G-10 Maxtor D540X-4G  

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