Editing Maxtor (section)

=== Early financing ===
[[File:5.25 inch MFM hard disk drive.JPG|thumb|An early Maxtor hard drive (right) with a more modern laptop hard drive and coins (front) for size comparison]]

The Maxtor founders, James McCoy, Jack Swartz, and Raymond Niedzwiecki—graduates of the [[San Jose State University]] School of Engineering and former employees of IBM—began the search for funding in 1981. In early 1982, B.J. Cassin and Chuck Hazel (Bay Partners) provided the initial $3 million funding and the company officially began operations on July 1, 1982. In February 1983, it shipped its first product to Convergent Technology and immediately received an additional $5.5 million in its second round of funding. The company also began negotiations with the EDB ([[Economic Development Board]]) of Singapore for favorable terms before committing to Singapore as its offshore manufacturing location. The DBS ([[Development Bank of Singapore]]) agreed to provide financing to help grow the company in Singapore. In 1983, the company established a liaison and [[procurement]] office in Tokyo, headed by Tatsuya Yamamoto.

Maxtor's product architecture used eight disks; 15 surfaces recorded data and the final surface was where the servo track information was located. The company developed its own [[Hard_disk_drive#Spindle|spindle]] motor, which was fitted within the casting containing the disks. This was a major departure as the spindle motor was usually mounted external to the disks. The first product was designed to provide 190&nbsp;MB of storage, but delays in getting magnetic heads to the Maxtor design resulted in the company taking what was available, and the first drive—the XT-1140—was shipped with a capacity of only 140&nbsp;MB. The company received an additional round of financing of approximately $37 million in 1984 before going public in 1986,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Maxtor seeks market gains |url=https://www.forbes.com/1998/07/15/feat.html |access-date=2025-01-03 |website=Forbes |language=en}}</ref> with [[Goldman Sachs]] as the prime [[underwriter]].