Maxtor hard drives get Via nod

In another step forward for Serial ATA (SATA) hard drive technology, Maxtor on Tuesday said its SATA hard drives have been validated by Via Technologies to work with Via's new VT8237 South Bridge chip. Maxtor said its DiamondMax and MaXLine SATA hard drives have been validated by Via, which makes computer chips and motherboards. "The validation of Maxtor's SATA hard drives with our new VT8237 South Bridge is key to driving Serial ATA technology mainstream," said Richard Brown, Via associate vice president of International Marketing. "Our new South Bridge will be incorporated into a broad array of Via and other manufacturers' motherboards worldwide."

SATA is a relatively new standard for connecting hard drives into computer systems. It is seen as a competitor to Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) technology.