Toshiba Gulf FZE Dubai, UAE has announced the launch of the MG10 Series in the MEA region, a massive capacity 20TB HDD with the conventional magnetic recording (CMR) technology. The 20TB MG10 Series has a 10-disk helium-sealed design that leverages Toshiba’s innovative Flux Control Microwave Assisted Magnetic Recording (FC-MAMR) technology to boost storage capabilities.

With 11.1% more capacity than Toshiba’s prior 18TB model, 20TB MG10 Series are compatible with the widest range of applications and operating systems and are adapted to mixed random and sequential read and write workloads in both cloud-scale and traditional data-center use cases. The drive features 7,200rpm performance, a 550TB per year workload rating, and a choice of SATA and SAS interfaces—all in a power-efficient helium-sealed, industry-standard 3.5-inch form factor.

The 20TB MG10 Series further illustrates Toshiba’s commitment to advancing HDD design to meet evolving needs for storage devices in cloud-scale servers and object and file storage infrastructure. With its improved power efficiency and increased capacity, the 20TB MG10 Series helps cloud-scale infrastructure to advance storage density, thereby reducing Capex and improving the total cost of ownership (TCO).

As data growth continues at an explosive pace, the advanced 20TB MG10 Series with FC-MAMR technology will help cloud-scale service providers and storage solution designers to achieve higher storage densities for cloud, hybrid-cloud, and on-premises rack-scale storage. The 20TB MG10 Series will be available in the region from Jan 2023.

WD’s new My Passport SSD is a gorgeous-looking external SSD storage device that offers storage capacities ranging between 256GB to 2TB. The variant we have reviewed here is the 1TB version that comes in very distinct greyish-silver and black colour tones. While the drive is USB Type-C and USB 3.1 Gen 2 read, it is also compatible with USB 3.0, USB 2.0, and USB-A ports.

Inside the box, you get the WD My Passport SSD drive, a USB Type-C to Type-C cable, a Type-C to Type-A adapter, a quick start guide, and the warranty info. Outside the box, the drive comes preformatted with exFAT, for compatibility with Windows and Mac. On paper, the drive offers fast read speeds of up to 540 MB/s, thanks to the USB 3.1 Gen 2 bus, which is also known as USB 3.1.

The drive measures ‎8.89-by-4.57-by-0.99 cm in dimension and weighs around 40.82-gms. The drive also offers hardware encryption. So, you can set a password to help keep it protected with built-in 256-bit AES hardware encryption with WD Security software. In addition, it can also withstand drops from a height of up to 6.5-feet.

On paper, the drive offers data transfer speeds of up to 540 MB/s. In order to test its performance, we ran two benchmarks on it – CrystalDiskMark 8 and ATTO Disk Benchmark 4.0.1. On CrystalDiskMark, we were able to clock a sequential read speed of 462 MB/s and a write speed of 461 MB/s. On ATTO Disk Benchmark, we clocked a read speed of 432 MB/s and a write speed of 440 MB/s.

Since it is an SSD drive, there are no moving parts and hence it is less susceptible to over-heating and data corruption issues.
For a price of AED 700, the WD My Passport SSD (1TB) is a very lightweight external storage device that does its job as advertised.

Price: AED 700

Written by Antoine Harb, Team Leader – Middle East and North Africa at Kingston Technology

As we spend longer hours online for work, school, entertainment, and other activities, more and more files are being saved in the internal hard drives of our computers every single day. Eventually, this internal hard drive will not be enough to accommodate all our files, making it all the more vital to find high-performing and secure external devices for backup and new data storage.

When it comes to external storage devices, the options include external solid-state drives (SSDs) and traditional hard disk drives (HDDs). SSDs are commonly installed into your computers as their internal storage. These days, however, a number of people are turning to SSDs to use them as their external storage as well.

The two technologies have different speeds, durability, capacity, and cost. Before buying an external storage device, it is best to determine your needs, desired specifications, and your budget. This way, you are guaranteeing that you are purchasing a device suitable to your requirements.

Weighing the devices’ pros and cons is the way to go to ensure you get the best value for your money.

External SSD vs. External HDD
Compared to SSDs, HDDs are more affordable with higher capacities. An HDD is better suited for archiving inactive and/or less frequently accessed data. With that said, however, an HDD in contrast to an SSD, is more prone to failure of moving parts that can lead to data loss. The high-capacity SSDs, on the other hand, is faster and more powerful than HDDs, thus enabling quick access to your files. With a lightweight design for portability and easy use, they are smaller in size and have better transmission speeds. They can also be relied upon if you need external storage with superior performance.

There are other benefits of using external SSDs. While known for its fast processing of a large amount of data, an external SSD operates without the distracting noise and vibration typically present when utilizing an HDD. Additionally, the shock-resistant SSD scores way better in the area of durability —the lack of moving parts allows the technology to withstand harsh environmental conditions.

But with its advanced and reliable features, the super-fast external SSD storage device costs more than the traditional HDD. If, however, you are planning to buy a faster or larger capacity SSD to upgrade your current PC storage, you can opt to recycle the old one and use it as external storage. In order to have more space, you will need to either remove the existing files or reformat the old SSD. This strategy will help you save on cost while enjoying a faster external storage product.

Furthermore, when purchasing an SSD as your external storage, you have to keep in mind that this technology is not suitable for data archiving or cold storage of data. The reason behind this is that an SSD, which is designed for everyday use, caters to those who require high-speed performance.

External SSDs and HDDs differ in many ways. They both come with pros and cons.  When choosing the right one for you, it all boils down to meeting your needs.