INTRODUCTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   If you've been following everything related to SSDs (Solid State Drives) then you should be aware that for the past 3 years performance hasn't really changed since obviously the SATA 3 (III) standard with its maximum theoretical speed of 600MB/s has been more than enough for people unwilling to spend more for a PCIex based solution. The new SATA 3.2 standard was announced last year and according to its specs-sheet it will boost the maximum theoretical throughput for storage devices to 16Gb/s (2GB/s) since it's based on the SATA Express standard which uses up to two PCI Express 3.0 lanes. Some mainboards that make use of the new 3.2 standard have already been announced but it will take some time for it to be established and so for now SATA 3 compatible SSDs are the way to go (if you aim to win the masses). Today on our test bench we have one of the latest SSD models to hit the market the Q Series Pro 256GB by Toshiba.

    Toshiba Europe GmbH Storage Peripherals Division, in Neuss, Germany, markets external HDD and SSD storage solutions aimed at consumers and retailers in Europe. Its current product range is STOR.E, and spans from external HDDs to SSD and storage upgrade kits. For over 20 years Toshiba has been developing and manufacturing hard drives used by every major brand of notebook computer.

  The Q Pro line of SSDs is the successor to the quite successful Q line launched by Toshiba last year based on a Marvell controller paired with custom firmware by Toshiba which in the end gave it a maximum read speed of 552MB/s and a maximum write speed of 501MB/s. Now although both solutions use 19nm MLC Toggle NAND flash chips manufactured by Toshiba the Q Pro line uses a new controller paired with new custom firmware which is more than enough to boost speeds up to 554MB/s read and 512MB/s write. This is not really groundbreaking performance levels compared to those of the Q series but whatever improvement is welcome by us especially when the price is not affected much by it. Unfortunately we haven't had the chance of testing the Q Series in the past so we can't really compare it with the Q Series Pro but follow us as we compare it to several other SSD models in the market.

 

 

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Toshiba ships the Q Series Pro inside a nice box that features a large product image at the front, the drive capacity, rated speeds and thickness.

 

 

The features and OS compatibility lists are printed on the left side.

 

 

Some of the main features are showcased on the right side as boxes.

 

 

At the rear Toshiba has placed the features and OS compatibility lists in 9 languages.

 

 

Along with the Q Series Pro 256GB SSD you are also getting a 7-9.5mm adapter (for use with laptops), warranty papers and a quick start guide.

 

THE Q PRO 256GB

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The aluminum casing of the 7mm thick Q Series Pro SSD gives it a nice industrial look.

 

 

A large sticker at the rear contains information about the drive such as the model name, serial and part numbers, barcodes, installed firmware version, electrical requirements, capacity and several certification logos.

 

 

Once again at the rear we see the usual SATA power and data connectors right next to 4 pins probably used for firmware updating.

 

 

Opening the casing is very easy and surprisingly enough both the NAND flash chips and the controller is placed on the other side of the PCB.

 

 

As you can see the controller and the NAND flash chips have thermal pads to transfer heat the aluminum casing.

 

 

This time over Toshiba has used their very own NAND flash controller (TC358790XBG) and has paired it with eight of their own 19nm MLC Toggle NAND flash chips (each is 32GB in capacity).

 

 

TEST BED

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TESTING METHODOLOGY

 

   After roughly 6 years of testing sold state drives i have concluded that it's almost impossible for any single benchmark suite to accurately measure their performance and that's why in certain benchmark suites we see amazing read/write performance numbers with some drives while in others things are quite different. The reason behind this is that some benchmarking suites are configured to read and write random chunks of data while others read and write constant (sequential) ones. So that's why i always use a very wide selection of benchmarking suites including AIDA64, HD Tach RW, HD Tune Pro, Crystal Disk Mark, Sisoftware Sandra Pro, AS SSD, IOmeter and ATTO. To get the most accurate results each test gets repeated a total of 6 times with the average performance numbers recorded into our charts.

 

   Many people made inquiries about the charts ever since the last comparison so once again please do keep in mind that the Charts have the average performance numbers of each drive recorded and not the peak (highest) ones. Also although every single one of these programs can help potential buyers choose the right drive for their needs you should also remember that from any kind of benchmark up to real world usage the gap is not small (and usually most differences will go unnoticed by most people). All tests were performed in a fresh Windows 7 Ultimate x64 installation with every update installed up to May 28th 2014.

 

 

TEST RESULTS - AIDA64 / ATTO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - HD TUNE PRO / HD TACH RW

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - SISOFTWARE SANDRA PRO / CRYSTAL DISK MARK

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - AS SSD / IOMETER

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Toshiba shares their NAND flash chips with many manufacturers in the market (most actually) so it's safe to "predict" that any SSD launched by them will perform on par if not better compared to other similar models. Firmware always plays a significant role obviously and so does the controller used so it comes as no surprise that Toshiba uses their own customized firmware when using 3rd party controllers (like they did with the Q Series). So what is the verdict regarding the Q Series Pro SSD? Well in some tests it performed very well and on par with the best SATA 3 SSDs in our charts (and it did top AIDA64) but i have to admit that it did let us down in IOmeter since it wasn't able to get even close to its advertised write speed of 35.000 I/Os. Of course the advertised speeds are "up to" so Toshiba isn't lying or anything but still although in real world usage most people will not notice anything it does give a somewhat negative picture to an otherwise great product.

 

   Toshiba seems to be following quite an aggressive pricing policy with the Q Series Pro SSD line since currently the 256GB model retails for just USD152.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and 145Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk). There are certainly many other models from other manufacturers at around the same price range (some even have 5 years warranty and not just 3) but the good and obvious thing about Toshiba is that since they supply most SSD manufacturers with their NAND flash chips you just know that they have to be doing something right. Overall the Q Series Pro 256GB SSD may not be the fastest model in the market currently but it's very fast and comes at a very tempting price tag and that's why it gets our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality (Toshiba 19nm Toggle-Mode NAND Flash/Toshiba Controller)
- Very Good Performance
- Retail Bundle
- 3 Years Warranty
- Price (For Some)

 

CONS

- IOmeter Performance