Quantum Fireball KA Hard Drive Review

Written: 10/16/99
Written by: Kincaid

Street Price: $180.00
Manufacturer: Quantum

quantum_drive.jpg (30581 bytes)

The Quantum Fireball KA is Quantum's first 7,200 RPM ATA/66 hard drive. Models are available from 6.4 to the 18.2 Gig unit which I reviewed. The drive features an average 8.5ms seek time and a 512K buffer. Even though it's an ATA/66 hard drive, it will work even if you don't have an ATA/66 control card (the hard drive will automatically change to ATA/33).  Here are the specs:

FORM FACTOR 3.5 inch
INTERFACE UltraATA/66
FORMATTED CAPACITY 9.1 GB
AVERAGE SEEK TIME 8.5ms
DATA TRANSFER RATE Ultra ATA/66
Ultra ATA/33
SPINDLE SPEED 7200 RPM
BUFFER 512KB
   
DATA PROTECTION SYSTEM Data Protection System (DPS) -
In less than 90 seconds, DPS lets a user quickly and easily verify hard disk drive functionality in the event of system problems
 
SHOCK PROTECTION SYSTEM Shock Protection System™ (SPS) -
Advanced system eliminates potential points of failure during handling and installation
WARRANTY 3 year manufacturer's

With a street price of just $180, this is one of the best IDE hard drive you can buy.  It's performance, as you will see, is among the fastest 7,200 hard drive on the market today.

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