Toshiba today launched its AL13SX series HDDs with 6Gbit/s SAS interface and 15,000 RPM spindle speed, targeted at enterprise usage. The AL13SX series drives are available in a 2.5" form-factor and are available in 512n, 512e, or 4Kn storage formats.
The long sector (512e and 4Kn) models reach sustained transfer rates up to 243 MiB/s – an increase of 27% compared to previous generation drives. The 512 native models provide an increase of 19%, with sustained transfer rates reaching 228 MiB/s.
The numbers 512e, 512n and 4Kn relate to the sector size of data on the HDDs. The larger the sector size, the more it uses the storage surface area efficiently for large files. However larger sector sizes are less efficient for for smaller files. For storing those, the 512e drive is more suitable.
The 4Kn drives offer compatibility with the latest applications and operating environments. The native 512n sector and emulated 512e drives provide support for legacy applications and operating environments that require 512 byte sector lengths. Both the 512e and 4Kn models feature Persistent Write Cache technology that enables improved application performance and data-loss protection in the event of unexpected power loss.
The drives have a 6Gbit/s SAS 2.0 interfaces and can be supplied with self-encryption, and cryptographic self-erase functionality known as Sanitize Instant Erase (SIE). Unlike a regular disk erase, which uses lengthy overwrite operations, the SIE function simply regenerates the encryption key, effectively invalidating all previously stored user data. This allows self-encrypting storage devices to be quickly and securely sanitized before re-allocation, redeployment or retirement.
The HDDs are available in capacities of 300GB, 450GB and 600GB, Toshiba has not disclosed any pricing information.
