My Drive Appears To Read Files Significantly Faster Than It Writes Files; My Computer Shows Less Drive Capacity Than On The Box Label - Maxtor Personal Storage 5000DV User Manual

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Tips for Macintosh Only
• Do you have the most current Maxtor software?
If not, visit the Product Support area at:
www.maxtorsupport.com.
• Can you see the drive in the Devices and
Volumes tab of the Apple System Profiler?
If no, try cycling the power again.
• Do you have AppleTalk or File Sharing
turned on?
If yes, turn them off.
If, after rebooting, the drive still does not mount, try
cycling the drive's power again.
If all of the suggestions above fail to mount your drive, visit
the Product Support area at: www.maxtorsupport.com.
2. My drive appears to read files significantly faster than it
writes files
Your drive includes a special data protection function, which
automatically verifies all data written to the drive during the
first few uses of the product. It's similar to the break-in period
for a new car. The verification process is performed while data
is being written, causing reduced write performance.
This verification function is automatically turned off after your
drive has been powered on and off ten times (you need to leave
the drive running for 15 seconds before powering it off and
leave it off for 15 seconds before powering on again). After this
break-in period, you should see approximately the same
performance for reading and writing data.
3. My computer shows less drive capacity than on the
box label
Hard drive capacity is defined in terms of decimal (base 10)
capacity. In decimal notation, one megabyte (MB) is equal to
one million bytes and one gigabyte (GB) is equal to one billion
bytes. We are most accustomed to the decimal system in
everyday life. However, computers use the binary (base 2)
numbering system. In the binary numbering system, one
megabyte is equal to 1,048,576 bytes, and one gigabyte is equal
to 1,073,741,824 bytes.
Both Windows and Mac OS use the binary numbering system.
When you use your system to check your drive's capacity,
multiply the value shown (displayed in base 2 megabytes) by
1,048,576 to determine the decimal equivalent for the hard
drive's capacity.
Here is an example using a 160 GB drive on a system running
Windows (all versions):
• Right-click the My Computer icon and select Explore.
This opens a new window listing all the disk drives on your
system.
• Right-click on the external hard drive and select
Properties.
An information dialog box appears displaying the drive's
capacity in both numbering systems showing 152 GB and
163,921,571,840 bytes (assuming this model is labeled 160 GB).
Troubleshooting and FAQs
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