The noise that this drive produced was surprisingly quiet compared to previous Quantum drives that I had used in the past which had all been fairly loud. This drive, however, was almost completely silent for all of the tests and for when I was loading software onto it. Even with the case cover off and the hard drive sticking out of the case itself, I could barely hear the drive when it's in operation. Heat was also at a manageable level as I could keep my hand on the drive even after a straight day of contineous benchmarks. Compared to the IBM Deskstar 34GXP, this drive was very quiet and the two drives produced about the same amount of heat.

Conclusion
Quantum has done an excellent job in making their Fireball line of hard drives always perform at the top of the spectrum compared to its competitors. Their new Fireball Plus LM hard drive is no exception to that rule and continues to build on Quantum's excellent name in the data storage market. Boasting 10 GB per platter in terms of data density, coupled with an 8.5 ms access time and a 7200 RPM rate, the Quantum Fireball Plus LM is a sure winner when it comes to performance. Don't be mistakened, though, the Fireball Plus LM also utilizes Quantum's DSP (Data Protection System) and SPS (Shock Protection System) to ensure that this drive will last for years to come.

With a retail price of around $100 USD for the 10.2 GB version to a tad less than $200 USD for the 30.0 GB version at the Quantum Store, the Fireball Plus LM isn't exactly the cheapest drive around though. Similar drives that are in the same generation can be found at a few bucks cheaper, but for the extra few dollars, you get a very generous 3 year warranty (when you purchase this drive through an authorized Quantum distributor or dealer) and you also get a drive made by a very reputable brand. A great buy if you're looking to purchase a high-performance hard drive to squeeze that extra level of performance out of your computer.

Pros

• Fast speed
• Quantum's DSP and SPS reliability technology
• Very quiet

Cons

• Not the cheapest drive around