Quantum announced the Fireball lct20 hard drive, just three months after the release of its Fireball lct15 . The difference is the Fireball lct20 drives contain support for the Ultra ATA/100 interface and utilize the latest areal densities that yield drive platters with capacities of 20 Gigabytes per platter (includes both sides). The Fireball lct15 contains 15GB per platter technology. Higher areal densities directly affect drive performance since more data is actually spinning beneath the drive heads. This is how manufacturers increase drive speeds while still keeping spindle speeds at the same speeds. In fact, the Fireball lct20 has a spindle speed of 4,500 RPM, less than the standard 5,400 RPM speed of most non-performance low-end drives. Of course, the drive, with the lct moniker (standing for Low Cost Technology), concentrates its technology on reliability, acoustics, and price points rather than balls-out performance. Expect to see the Fireball lct20 in capacities including 10GB, 20GB, 30GB and 40GB in early August. Pricing for the 40GB version will have a suggested price of $259. Quantum has also announced its 20/20 vision for the desktop market that includes a new 20GB per platter, 7,200 RPM performance drive in the next calendar quarter…

The Fireball lct20 series also contains Quantums Quiet Drive Technology (QDT) , a proprietary design that reduces drive noise. Quantum claims the Fireball lct20 generates 30 decibels of sound when seeking and 27 decibels when idling (compared to average drives that produce between 36 to 48 decibels). This can be attributed to QDT being used in conjunction with the optimized RPM and seek time speeds. Also included is Quantums Shock Protection System II (SPS II) and Data Protection System (DPS) technologies.

Specs for the Quantum Fireball lct20:

Capacities: 10GB, 20GB, 30GB, and 40GB

Interface: UltraATA/100

Spindle Speed: 4,500RPM

Discs/Heads: 10GB (1/1), 20GB (1/2), 30GB (2/3), 40GB (2/4)

Buffer Size: 128K

GB Per Platter: 20

Seek: 12ms