Maxtor keeps USB 2.0 faith with 40GB drive

Fun for all the family

Maxtor has kept the faith with USB 2.0 and started shipping the first 40GB external drive using the connectivity technology.

The 3000LE drive operates at 5400RPM and is priced at £175.81.

Microsoft has already blown hot and cold on USB 2.0 before finally deciding to include drivers for it in Windows XP.

It's the IEEE 1394 standard, aka Firewire, which is getting the most support from vendors. Agere has ditched the USB 2.0 chip market and intends to ramp up production of 1394b chip products. That decision echoed the sentiments of VIA president and CEO Wenchi Chen. In June, at the Computex tradeshow in Taiwan, he said: "Our message to partners is if together we can make this [USB 2.0] disappear, the better it will be for us."

Meanwhile Maxtor is extolling the virtues of USB 2.0 and a 40GB external drive for every member of a family. Tex Schenkkan, a senior Maxtor VP, said: "Now that the same easy connectivity is available to hard drive users at an affordable price, each family member can own a 3000LE to store their data and applications, thereby personalising their content library and extending the value of the household PC or Mac computer."

If you're a family of four, you could buy another PC instead of four Maxtor 3000LEs. But the choice is yours.

Maxtor says you can stick 10,000 four-minute MP3 tunes, or 40,000 high-resolution JPEG compressed digital photos, or 40 hours of digital video (MPEG compressed) on their drive. ®

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