3DVelocity would like to thank Fujitsu, and in particular Mike Bain of Byron PR, for their invaluable help and generosity in supplying this product for review.

Introduction :

We've seen amazing strides in PC technology over the last four or five years, nowhere more so than in hard drive development. If you've been on the computer scene for some time, then chances are like me you remember the excitement generated when hard disks broke the Gigabyte barrier, and wondered what the hell you could possibly do with all that storage space. Well, in some ways we've come full circle, and with drives now boasting capacities of 80GB and more we are again pondering the necessity of such cavernous devices. Now as then, the increasing size of the all too readily available bloatware will put a cap on our enthusiasm, and five years down the line again we'll be sat with out latest holographic multi-terrabyte drive wondering how we ever managed with less.

As we've witnessed capacities, spindle speeds, densities and seek times evolve, certain companies seem to have made it to the top of the tree, while others seem to have laid low. Fujitsu is one of the companies who seem to have become quiet on the HDD scene, giving the impression that perhaps they have toppled off the bleeding edge and are biding their time and waiting for the debts to mount to the point that they must shut up shop. Let me assure you that is not the case, and Fujitsu are still going strong and building drives that are contending right at the very top of the performance sector, in fact the main reason for their apparent lethargy is their focus on the OEM market and knowledge that retail sales have remained steady without the need for fierce marketing.

The drive we are looking at today is the MPG3409AH, a fully featured 40GB, ATA100, 7200rpm unit with some sweet features to make it stand out in the crowd, but more on that later. First let's look at the specs.

 

Specification :

FUNCTIONAL SPECIFICATIONS
Formatted storage capacity	40.9 GB
Disks	2
Heads (read/write)	4
Track capacity (formatted)	233,472 to 376,832 bytes
Bytes per sector	512 bytes
Cylinders	30,784
Sectors per track	456 to 736
Seek time (track to track)	Read 0.8 ;Write 1.0 (Fast/Slow) milliseconds
Seek time (average)	Read 8.5 ;Write 9.5 milliseconds (read/write)
Seek time (full track)	Read 16;Write 17 milliseconds (read/write)
Average latency time	4.17 milliseconds
Rotational speed	7,200 RPM
Recording density	491,112 bits per inch
Track density	33,000 tracks per inch
Data transfer rate (to/from media)	38.0 to 60.7 MB per second
Data transfer rate (UltraATA)	100 MB per second
Recording code	48/51 EPR4ML
Interface	ATA-5
Head positioning method	ROTARY VCM (Embedded Servo)
Spindle start time	8 seconds typical
Spindle stop time	20 seconds typical
Data buffer size	2000 KB
PHYSICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Power requirement Voltage	5V ± 0.5%
Ripple	100 mVP-P
Power requirement Spin up	+5V:0.8A,+12V:1.95A maximum
Power requirement Read/write	6.8 W (typical)
Power requirement Idle (ready)	6.1 W (typical)
Power requirement Sleep	0.8 W (typical)
Height	26.1 millimetres
Width	101.6 millimetres
Depth	146.0 millimetres
Weight	Less than 0.6 kg
Ambient temperature (operating)	5 to 55 degrees C
Ambient temperature (non-operating)	-40 to 60 degrees C
Gradient	20 degrees C per hour
Relative humidity (operating)	8 to 80 % RH (non-condensing)
Relative humidity (non-operating)	5 to 85 % RH (non-condensing)
Maximum wet bulb	29 degrees C (non-condensing)
Vibration (operating)	4.9 m/s^2 (0.5Go-p);5 to 300Hz
Vibration (non-operating)	39.2 m/m^2(4.0G0-p);5 to 400Hz
Shock (operating)	392m/s^2(40g0-p);2m/s
Shock (non-operating)	2940m/s^2(300G0-p);2ms
Altitude (operating)	-60 to 3,000 metres
Altitude (non-operating)	-60 to 12,000 metres
Acoustic noise (at 1 metre idle)	3.6 bels
RELIABILITY SPECIFICATIONS
MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures)	More than 500,000 power on hours
MTTR (Mean Time To Repair)	Less than 30 minutes or less
Component life (years)	5 years
Component life (hours)	20,000 power on hours
Unrecoverable errors	1 per 10^14 bits read
Seek errors	1 per 10^6 seeks

 

The Company :

Fujitsu Limited is a leading provider of information technology and one of the world's biggest corporations. Ranked number 52 in the 'Fortune Global 500' league table, Fujitsu is ahead of companies such as Coca-Cola, McDonald's, BMW and American Express. The Fujitsu Group has a turnover of $37.7 billion and more than 180,000 employees world-wide. Fujitsu Europe Ltd is the computer peripherals division of the Japanese company. With offices in the UK and throughout Europe, it provides a range of scanners, printers and computer storage products. These are sold either directly to OEMs or through a network of distributors and resellers to ensure that customers are sold solutions to their problems rather than simply a product. All Fujitsu's products are designed and produced using the company's established technical expertise in accordance with the company's commitment to quality, value and reliability.

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