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.

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.

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.

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.

1.1 Maxtor Corporation .................................................................................................. 1-1

1.2 Manual O r g anizatio n ................................................................................................. 1-1

1.3 Abbreviations ............................................................................................................ 1-2

1.4 Conventions.............................................................................................................. 1-2

2.1 Product De s cription .................................................................................................. 2-1

2.2 Key Features.............................................................................................................. 2-1

2.3 Product Features........................................................................................................ 2-2

2.4 Cache Managemen t ................................................................................................... 2-4

2.5 Major H DA Components.......................................................................................... 2-4

2.6 Subsystem Configuratio n ........................................................................................... 2-6

2.7 Cylinder Limitation Jumper Description .................................................................... 2-7

3.1 Models and Capacities ............................................................................................... 3-1

3.2 Drive Configuration .................................................................................................. 3-2

3.3 Performance Specifications ........................................................................................ 3-3

3.4 Physical Dimensions .................................................................................................. 3-3

3.5 Power R e quirements................................................................................................. 3-5

3.6 Power Mode Definitions ........................................................................................... 3-5

3.7 EPA Energy Star Complianc e .................................................................................... 3-5

3.8 Environmental Limits ................................................................................................ 3-6

3.9 Shock and Vibratio n .................................................................................................. 3-6

3.10 R eliability Specifications............................................................................................ 3-7

3.11 EMC/ EMI................................................................................................................ 3-8

3.12 Safety R e gulatory Compliance .................................................................................. 3-8

Maxtor D540X-4G

Table of Contents

4.1 Hard Drive Handling Precautions .............................................................................. 4-1

4.2 Electro-Static Di s c harge (ESD) .................................................................................. 4-1

4.3 Unpacking and Inspection ......................................................................................... 4-2

4.4 R epacking ................................................................................................................. 4-5

4.5 Physical Installatio n .................................................................................................... 4-5

5.1 I N TR ODUCTION ................................................................................................. 6-1

5.2 MECHANICAL INTER FACE ................................................................................ 6-1

5.3 ELECTR ICAL INTER FACE................................................................................... 6-1

5.4 R EGISTER ADD R E SS DECODING ..................................................................... 6-2

5.5 C O MM A N D I N T E R FA C E..................................................................................... 6-2

6.1 Service Polic y ............................................................................................................ 6-1

A.1 Breaking the 137 Gigabyte Storage Barrier................................................................ A-1

Maxtor D540X-4G

Maxtor Corporation has been providing high-quality computer storage products since

1982. Along the way, we’ve 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.

Maxtor’s 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. We’ll 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 1–Introduction

Chapter 2–Product Description

Chapter 3–Product Specifications

Chapter 4–Handling and Installation

Chapter 5–ATA Bus Interface and ATA Commands

Chapter 6–Service and Support

Appendix A–Breaking the 137GB Storage Barrier

Glossary

Maxtor D540X-4G 1-1

Introduction

ATA

bpi

CHS

AT attachm ent

bits per inch

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

nanoseconds

PIO

program m edinput/output

revolutions per m inute

tracks per inch

gigabyte

RPM

tpi

hertz

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

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 “name” bit instead of the “name” field.

Names of drive registers begin with a capital letter (e.g., Cylinder High register).

Numbers that are not followed by a lowercase “b” or “h” are 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 10⁹or 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

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 can’t

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

down” and recorded in sector 4. Sector 4 then effectively becomes sector 3, as

sequential sectors are “pushed down” across 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 CSEL’s 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

Cable Select

Disabled*

Enabled

Cylinder Lim itation

Disabled*

Enabled

Factory Reserved

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

website www.maxtor.com/ bigdrive for more information and links to diagnostic

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

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)

448/896

27.7/25.2

506/461

486/442

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

Average (norm al seek)

Full Stroke (norm al seek)

Average Latency (m s)

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

550

567

561

566

307

285

31.4<0.5 sec.

13.4

10.6

7.9

Read/Write

Idle

Standby

Sleep

2.0

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

Agency’s 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

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

48 to 62 Hz at 0.008 G /Hz

65 to 300 Hz at 0.004 G /Hz

301 to 500 Hz at 0.00005 G /Hz

no errors

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

www.charleswater.com

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 drive’s 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.

T a ble 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

01h

F9h

02h

SET MAX UNLOCK

F9h

03h

SET MAX FREEZE LOCK

SET MULTIPLE MODE

SLEEP

F9h

04h

C6h

99h, E6h

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

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

customer’s level of satisfaction – with Maxtor technology, price, quality,

delivery, service and support.

Another TCS feature is Maxtor’s No Quibble Service policy. By minimizing paperwork

and processing, No Quibble Service dramatically cuts the turnaround time normally

required for repairs and returns. Here’s 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 Maxtor’s web site at www.maxtor.com and click on the

‘Contact’ link 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 1980’s. 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 “barriers” in 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

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 written” location and the previous

content of the register is moved to “previous content” location. A host may read the

“previous content” of 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 today’s 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 Drive” web site for resource information:

http:/ / www.maxtor.com/ bigdrive

• ATA/ ATAPI-6: http:/ / www.T13.org

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.

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.

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 drive’s

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 values—1 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.