The Quantum Bigfoot brand was a series of hard disk drives produced by Quantum Corp. in the mid to late 1990s. The Bigfoot series was notable for deviating from the standard form factor for hard drives. While most desktop hard drives use a 3.5-inch physical format, Quantum Bigfoot drives used a larger 5.25-inch form factor more commonly seen in CD-ROM and other optical disc drives. This form factor allowed Quantum to increase the capacity of their hard drives without an increase in data density, thus lowering costs compared to a 3.5-inch drive with the same capacity.
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The main rationale behind the use of the 5.25-inch form factor was that the typical PC user already owns cases that made provision for 5.25-inch drives, and by using lower data densities and fewer moving parts, Quantum was able to deliver the products at lower prices, thus more competitively.
Initially, performance in the Bigfoot drives generally lagged behind most other drives of the era,[1] but the large data capacities earned inclusion in many OEM PCs such as ones manufactured by Compaq and HP,[2] as well as popularity with the PC enthusiast community. Interestingly, IBM also used Bigfoot drives in some of their Aptiva PCs despite the fact that they were also a major manufacturer of hard drives.[3] Over time the data density (and therefore the overall capacity) of the drives increased, culminating in the 19.2GB Bigfoot TS, easily the largest consumer-grade drive available at its release. A side effect of the increased data density was an increase in speed, moving the Bigfoot to middle-of-the-pack status amongst its contemporaries. Unfortunately, the increased manufacturing cost associated with the higher density also caused an increase in price, moving the Bigfoot towards a premium price-point.[4] Over time, increased prices combined with stiff competition caused sales of the drives to decline, leading to the line being discontinued in the late 1990s.[5]
Bigfoot drives were produced by a variety of different plants in Malaysia, Singapore, Japan and other locations. They were among the first to support Logical Block Addressing (LBA) and Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T.) monitoring.
Three distinct series of Quantum Bigfoot drives were produced over time, with differences in capacity, spindle speed, access time, and supported interface speed.
The first series of Bigfoot drives produced was the Quantum Bigfoot CY series. Bigfoot CY drives shared the characteristics of a 3,600 RPM spindle speed and an ATA-2 interface connection. These drives were produced in capacities of 1.2GB, 2.1GB, 4.3GB, and 6.4GB. Their access time was advertised as being "as low as 12ms".[6]
The second series of Bigfoot drives was known as the Quantum Bigfoot TX series. This series increased the drives' spindle speed to 4,000 RPM and upgraded their interface capabilities to ATA-66. These drives carried the higher capacities of 4GB, 6GB, 8GB, and 12GB. Like the CY series, access time was advertised as under 12ms. The 12GB model is noteworthy for being the first hard drive to attain a capacity in the double digits of gigabytes. Quantum claimed that these drives could outperform many of the 3.5-inch drives on the market at the time.[7]
The third and final series of Quantum Bigfoot drives produced was the Bigfoot TS series. This series retained the spindle speed and interface speed of its predecessor. The main performance enhancement was a reduction in access time, to "less than 10.5ms". It was produced in capacities of 6.4GB, 8.4GB, 10.0GB, 12.7GB, and 19.2GB.[8]
With this series, Quantum again claimed to have the highest capacity on the market with its 19.2GB model. These drives had a new "shock protection system" designed to make the drives more resilient to physical shock, which Quantum called "one of the leading killers of disk drives".[8] StorageReview found that this series was significantly faster than the TX series, though not as fast as most 3.5-inch drives available at the time. They also found it to be significantly louder than the TX series during use.[9]