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Performance:::...

One of the key technologies that has enabled Toshiba to cram so much capacity into such a small format is the development of the Femto slider. The slider, in simple terms, is like the stylus on your old record player which held the needle in place in that it houses the read/write head and the electronics needed to carry that signal back and forth to or from it.

Because the Femto slider is significantly smaller than the previously predominant Pico sliders, it needs less mass in the arm to support it, uses less power, writes and reads narrower tracks and "flies" closer to the surface of the platter.

Because of its lower mass, it also responds less to knocks and vibration meaning better shock-handling capabilities too, in fact some 50% better according to some claims!

Here's a diagram ripped shamelessly from Hitachi's website.

Looks massive in the picture doesn't it? Okay, here's something to show how tiny it actually is:

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Another important factor is power consumption, and here Toshiba are claiming gains of around 20% over their previous generation hard disks by using Pulse Width Modulation to vary the motor speeds. In short, this means that instead of delivering varying continuous voltages to influence speed, the same voltage is sent in pulses of varying frequency to achieve the same effect. How this impacts on motor life, if at all, remains to be seen. There are certainly those who claim that controlling larger motors using PWM can shorten their operating lifetime.

Operating noise is reduced to just 21dB at idle thanks to what Toshiba state is "an optimized sinusoidal waveform to control the operational current of the spindle motor." I knew that!

Anyway, some numbers now, but first here's a quick blast of specs from the Travelstar I'm using to compare with. The numbers in brackets are for the Toshiba unit.

Travelstar 30 GB, 4200RPM, ATA-6

Data buffer (MB) - 2 (8)
Rotational speed (rpm) - 4,200 (4,200)
Latency (average ms) - 7.1 (7.14)
Max. media transfer rate (Mbits/sec) - 350
Max. interface transfer rate (MB/sec) - 100MB/sec Ultra DMA mode-5 (100MB/sec Ultra DMA mode-5)
Seek time (ms)
Average (typical) - 12 (12)
Track to track (typical) - 2.5 (2)
Full stroke (typical) - 23 (22)

SiSoft Sandra 2005:

Toshiba MK1031GAS 100GB

Hitachi Travelstar 80GN 30GB

A flattering result from Sandra for the Toshiba drive which I don't genuinely believe is 3MB/sec faster at the same rotational speed, though it has to be said it is possible.

HD Tach 3.0.1.0

Toshiba MK1031GAS 100GB (Clickable)

Hitachi Travelstar 80GN 30GB (Clickable)

HD Tach seems to favour the Hitachi on random access times which are 18.0Ms against 18.7Ms for the Toshiba. Average read speeds are higher for the Toshiba, closely mirroring the results from Sandra at 20MB/sec fro the Hitachi and 23.3MB/sec for the Toshiba. CPU utilization is 1% lower for the Toshiba too.

More puzzling are the burst speeds which are a respectable 87.5MB/sec for the Hitach drive but a mere 33.5MB/sec for the Toshiba? I repeated this test several times with similar results.

AIDA 32

AIDA32 from Lavalys Enterprise Management is now known as EVEREST, but as I had the original version on my hard disk I decided to run with it.

AIDA Access Speeds:

Toshiba MK1031GAS 100GB (Clickable)

Hitachi Travelstar 80GN 30GB (Clickable)

There's really nothing to choose between them on access times, though again we see the Hitachi drive delivering a slightly higher CPU utilization.

AIDA Buffered Reads:

Toshiba MK1031GAS 100GB (Clickable)

Hitachi Travelstar 80GN 30GB (Clickable)

Close again, though the Toshiba's throughput is more consistant, if a little lower, while the Hitachi once again makes slightly more demands on the CPU. The Hitachi score is helped by its higher maximum speeds and it's clear that in this scenario there are no benefits to the extra 6MB of buffer memory.

AIDA Random Reads:

Toshiba MK1031GAS 100GB (Clickable)

Hitachi Travelstar 80GN 30GB (Clickable)

This test more than any of the others is probably a more relevant reflection of general hard disk use in the real world, certainly for applications that don't rely heavily on on caching (like spreadsheets or databases for instance). In this instance we see that the Toshiba drive has a very real advantage, both in terms of CPU usage, which is on average 50% less, and also in terms of throughput which is some 3MB/sec higher

AIDA Linear Reads:

Sustained linear reads are useful to benchmark but rarely relevant in real world usage unless you're working with video or something similar. They remain a good performance indicator though.

Toshiba MK1031GAS 100GB (Clickable)

Hitachi Travelstar 80GN 30GB (Clickable)

Similar results to the random reads, no doubt helped by the Toshiba's increased areal density, which basically means the data is written more tightly packed and is therefor passing under the head at a greater speed, even allowing for identical rotational speeds. CPU usage is once more better for the Toshiba to the tune of 50%.

Summary:

Low noise, compact size and a very accomplished performance make the MK1031GAS an excellent choice for the user who wants the capacity without the heat, noise and expense of faster spin-speeds.

Conclusion

The 3DVelocity 'Dual Conclusions Concept' Explained: After discussing this concept with users as well as companies and vendors we work with, 3DVelocity have decided that where necessary we shall aim to introduce our 'Dual Conclusions Concept' to sum up our thoughts and impressions on the hardware we review. As the needs of the more experienced users and enthusiasts have increased, it has become more difficult to factor in all the aspects that such a user would find important, while also being fair to products that may lack these high end "bonus" capabilities but which still represent a very good buy for the more traditional and more prevalent mainstream user. The two catergories we've used are:

The Mainstream User ~ The mainstream user is likely to put price, stock performance, value for money, reliability and/or warranty terms ahead of the need for hardware that operates beyond its design specifications. The mainstream user may be a PC novice or may be an experienced user, however their needs are clearly very different to those of the enthusiast, in that they want to buy products that operate efficiently and reliably within their advertised parameters.

The Enthusiast ~ The enthusiast cares about all the things that the mainstream user cares about but is more likely to accept a weakness in one or more of these things in exchange for some measure of performance or functionality beyond its design brief. For example, a high priced motherboard may be tolerated in exchange for unusually high levels of overclocking ability or alternatively an unusually large heat sink with a very poor fixing mechanism may be considered acceptable if it offers significantly superior cooling in return.

The Mainstream User ~

100Gb used to be overkill, even on a desktop system, but with OS sizes increasing at ridiculous rates and software seeming intent on swallowing up every available scrap of disk space you simply can't have too much capacity.

You can find cheaper and faster drives on the market, but the MK1031GAS offers a sensible blend of performance, thermals and acoustics plus it comes backed with a three year warranty.

I'd like to see the price on 2.5" drives come down a little but I'm sure that will come.

	NA

The Enthusiast ~

If all you need from your hard disk is speed then this isn't your best choice. It may well rank as one of the faster 4200RPM units around but it would have a hard time competing against the 720RPM drives on the market, and most 5400RPM units too at a guess.

That's not to say it should be ignored. Provided raw speed isn't at the top of your requirements, the MK1031GAS brings with it a 3 year warranty, good thermal and noise levels, excellent performance for its class and low power demands making it a lot of value for your money.

Provided long-term reliability proves to be on the money I see nothing much to dislike.

An excellent little drive!

	NA

We're always looking for ways to make our reviews fairer. A Right To Reply gives the manufacturer or supplier of the product being reviewed a chance to make public comments on what we've said. They can explain perhaps why they've done the things we were unhappy with or blow their own trumpet over the things we loved. It's easy for us to pick a product apart but sometimes things are done a certain way for very specific reasons.

Should Toshiba decide to exercise their "Right To Reply", we'll publish their comments below: