Toshiba makes 10.5k RPM 2.4TB HDDs

Hard disk drive technology is pretty boring these days as solid state disks are so much faster, but it's still nice to see there's some progress going on. Toshiba rolled out a new line of 2.5" enterprise HDDs that feature the highest-capacity to date for models that spin at 10,500rpm.

The AL15SE series uses a dual-port SAS 12Gbps interface and ships in capacities ranging from 300GB to 2400GB. The maximum capacity is 33 percent greater than the AL14SE generation, and these disks have 128MB cache and a latency of 2.86ms. The 300GB model offers data transfer speeds of up to 222.5MB/s, while the other versions offer up to 234MB/s bandwidth.

It seems these disks target a niche datacenter market where they are more competitive in terms of cost than SSDs. Toshiba is no longer expanding its 15k RPM HDD range as those products get beaten by SSDs in terms of cost per gigabyte.

Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. (TAEC), a committed technology leader, announces the AL15SE Series HDD, its next generation of 10,500rpm enterprise performance hard disk drives for mission critical servers and storage. The new drive series boasts a 2,400GB capacity model – a 33 percent capacity increase over Toshiba’s AL14SE generation and Toshiba’s largest capacity ever for a 10,500rpm HDD.

Built to deliver superior low-latency performance, the AL15SE Series supports 12Gbit/s SAS dual-port interface to optimize the host transfer rate. All models utilize a space-efficient, power-saving 2.5 inch , 15mm form-factor. Advanced Format models support 4K native and 512e emulated sector technologies and increase areal density in capacities ranging from 600GB to 2,400GB and feature a 15 percent increase in sustained transfer rate over the prior AL14SE generation. New 512n sector technology models increase areal density in capacities ranging from 300GB to 1,200GB.

“The 10,500rpm disk continues to be the workhorse of mission critical IT operations,” said Scott Wright, director disk drive product marketing at Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. “With Advanced Format models now supporting up to 2,400GB, the AL15SE Series provides a clear path forward for customers who may benefit from higher capacity per spindle for performance-oriented traditional IT, in mission-critical hybrid storage platforms, and in read-intensive applications that may benefit from lower-latency.”

The AL15SE Series features optional Sanitize Instant Erase (SIE) models and leverages Toshiba’s persistent write cache technology for robust data integrity in sudden power-loss scenarios. The models are designed for tier one mission-critical servers and storage systems, including hybrid storage platforms which may benefit from both low-latency and storage capacity up to 2,400GB.