A set of test utilities. Isolated performance tests

Segment network storage became tidbit for HDD manufacturers, after all, NAS users are ready to pay for high-capacity models, while in stationary PCs the typical HDD capacity has been splashing between the 1-2 TB marks for several years. But the requirements of NAS owners are also different: first of all, the ratio of volume and price is relevant, energy consumption and heat dissipation are important, in home NAS the noise level during operation also matters. But performance is of secondary importance, because even a single modern HDD(outside RAID array) is capable of fully loading the Gigabit Ethernet channel, and faster connections at home or in a small office are still a big exotic.

The level of reliability is what is difficult to figure out from the characteristics. The larger the HDD capacity, the more valuable information can be lost in case of its potential breakdown, so you need to pay attention not only to reviews in specialized publications (which are usually completed within a few hours), but also to the warranty periods, reviews of the owners. In my opinion, it makes sense to carry out long tests - to watch how the drive behaves with real load for several months rather than a few hours.

The press service of Toshiba in Russia provided for this HDD overview Toshiba N300 4 TB, designed for use in network storage with an array of up to eight drives. The drive has been running on a home NAS for over two months 24/7, which is the same as running a home PC for four hours daily for over a year. Let's see what came of it.

Specifications

Model: Toshiba N300 HDWQ140EZSTA;

Volume: 4 TB;

Spindle speed: 7200 rpm;

Cache memory: DDR2, 128 MB;

Allowable number of HDDs: up to 8 in one cage;

Power consumption: 5.2 W when idle, 9.6 W when active;

Working temperature range: 0 - 60 ° C;

Equipment, design, features

The Toshiba N300 hard drive (model number in this review is HDWQ140EZSTA) comes in a cardboard box that lists the key benefits of the model. Among them are a three-year warranty, the ability to work in 24/7 mode with a load of up to 180 TB per year and the presence of rotational vibration sensors. In its original packaging, the drive is inserted into two air-filled polyethylene molds that reliably protect the HDD from shocks and other damage.

Visually, the hard drive itself is no different from its 3.5-inch counterparts. The outer side of the printed circuit board has no protruding elements, all components are hidden on its back. These include a Marvell 88i9419-NDB controller, a 128MB SK Hynix H5PS1G63KFR DDR2-1066 cache memory chip, and rotational vibration sensors at the edges of the PCB. Toshiba N300 series drives are designed to work in storage with an array of up to eight drives, and in such conditions, noticeable vibration (including transmitted from neighboring HDDs) is common. In addition to increasing the noise level, vibration also leads to a decrease in productivity. disk array, because even minor displacements of the HDD readhead require additional time for re-positioning. In the long term, vibration can even affect storage life. Therefore, the presence of sensors that track this parameter allows Toshiba N300 drives to save high level performance even with intensive work in an array of several HDDs. By at least in theory stated by the manufacturer.

The spindle has not one, but two mounts to the hard drive chassis, which should reduce the vibration generated. The operating temperature range is from 0 to 60 ° C, and as the temperature rises, the disk automatically increases the time for positioning the heads. This reduces the heating of the HDD, at the same time the noise level decreases, albeit at the cost of some performance decrease in random access operations. The rather large cache of 128 MB is dynamically allocated between read and write operations so that performance must remain high even with multi-threaded work.

The Toshiba N300 hard drives differ from the competing WD Red (not Pro) and Seagate IronWolf series with a spindle speed, which is not 5400, not 5900, but 7200 rpm. It is not simple nice bonus, such a move should noticeably improve the performance of the drive. But there are several nuances here: along with the "speed" increases power consumption, heat generation and noise level from the HDD, and the increase in performance is not always possible to feel. If we talk about home NAS, then more than two or three users are rarely connected to them at the same time, and the NAS itself home network completed in best case at a speed of 1 Gbit / s (Gigabit Ethernet network), that is, the throughput does not exceed ≃ 120 MB / s. And modern consumer HDDs can develop linear performance of more than 200 MB / s ... which means that a large part of their potential in a home NAS will not be quite in demand. In corporate network storages, the performance margin will be very useful, because there often the number of users is an order of magnitude higher, and the connections are faster, and ... hard drives of other corporate series are used.

Performance

For comparison with the Toshiba N300 HDWQ140EZSTA HDD, I used a disk Seagate NAS HDD ST3000VN000 with a volume of 3 TB, which has been working in a home NAS for three years now and at the time of this writing, has an operating time of 17453 hours. It just spins at 5900 rpm, like most other HDDs designed for home / office NAS, so it's interesting to compare the "leisurely but cool" Seagate with the "fast but ardent" Toshiba:

It can be seen that the Toshiba N300 starts very quickly: the speed of streaming read and write on outer tracks reaches 210 MB / s, decreasing to the middle of the disk to 161.5 MB / s. In general, approximately 85-90% of the disk is written and read at speeds above 120 MB / s (the limit Gigabit networks Ethernet), so even in single use (no RAID array), the streaming performance of the Toshiba N300 drives is sufficient and redundant for home NAS.

Seagate NAS HDD, in turn, starts at 152.4 MB / s, already in the middle of the disk, dropping to 125 MB / s, and on the internal tracks even down to 69 MB / s. In fact, the entire second half of the disk is read and written at a speed slower than the Gigabit Ethernet connection can provide. The only question is how critical and noticeable it will be in home use... It is also worth remembering that the ST3000VN000 is an aging model with four 536 Gbps platters, while the newer ST3000VN007 already has three 613 Gbps platters, so theoretically its performance should increase.

Toshiba N300 noticeably surpasses the competitor in the speed of access to random blocks: in this discipline the gain reaches 35-40%. This effect from increased revs is already useful in practice, the difference can be noticeable during operations with many small files (copying a large archive with working documents?), especially if the file system is highly fragmented. Temperature regime working with a Toshiba N300 disk turned out to be quite reasonable as for a 7K model, on average the temperature is only 2-5 ° C higher.

Long-term testing in a home NAS

And here is just the question of reliability - how the hard disk will behave during a long continuous work and a fairly intense load? On the this moment HDD Toshiba N300 HDWQ140EZSTA worked as part of NAS 1750 hours, or more than 70 days around the clock (there were short breaks, but usually uptime for more than two weeks), distributing torrents. For a hard disk, this is a rather difficult load, primarily on its mechanical part: while simultaneously distributing many torrents on high speed the block of readheads is forced to constantly move above the surface of the plates, reading random blocks, in a typical home or office PC, the load is much lower.

They have remained the same, which is good. Let me remind you that 1750 hours of work is more than 430 days of work in a regular home PC for four hours daily (but in home PCs there are many more start / stop spindle cycles, which also leads to wear). During this period hard work disk Toshiba N300 remained at the original level, no signs of wear visible in the SMART. The test of streaming read speed has demonstrated the indicators identical to the "fresh" HDD, the access time has not changed either.

conclusions

Toshiba N300 hard drives are well suited for NAS in homes and small offices, if you need regular multi-threaded access to data at high (for HDD) speeds. Performance is noticeably better than competitors with reduced spindle speed, but in most inexpensive NAS a single Gigabit Ethernet port is installed, which limits throughput at the level of ≃ 120 MB / s, so the capabilities of Toshiba N300 may not be fully disclosed. At the same time, the noise level and operating temperatures are slightly higher than those of the "low-speed" competitors, so if you do not need record performance from the NAS, then you can consider other options. If Toshiba decides to release a similar series of drives, but at 5400 rpm, it will be a very interesting option for home NAS.

Another "undocumented" use for the Toshiba N300 hard drives is workstations and powerful home PCs. For a small overpayment in comparison with conventional desktop HDD series, the user receives a three-year warranty, the mechanical part is designed for round-the-clock work and (possibly) stricter final manufacturing controls.

V last years magnetic drives Toshiba was rarely a news story. Despite the company's achievements in the segment of high-performance server HDDs, in the 3.5-inch form factor, Toshiba hard drives by the turn of 2016-2017 still have not overcome the 8 TB mark and do not use helium, while competitors have already reached such a volume and in a ventilated case.

However, Toshiba is stepping up its activity in this area, both market and technology. Based on a recent report, the company increased its share of global hard drive shipments from 15% to 24% between the second quarter of 2015 and the fourth quarter of 2016. At the same time, its range of consumer HDDs expanded with new devices: desktop computers- Toshiba X300 drives, for NAS - retail N300 series and similar B2B models with numbers MNMN04ACA *** / MN05ACA ***.

X300 and N300 are Boxed products targeted at the retail market and based on the original platform developed within the walls of Toshiba - unlike, for example, the previously released E300 and P300 models, which use HGST mechanics. And thanks to the increased recording density, the N300 and MN05ACA *** drives are available in volumes up to 8 TB, which is currently the technological limit for commercial HDDs in a ventilated case with standard perpendicular magnetic recording technology.

⇡ Specifications, scope of delivery, prices

The Toshiba N300 series includes three models of 4TB, 6TB and 8TB hard drives. While competing manufacturers offer two classes of NAS drives that differ in speed and failover, all N300 drives (like the MNMN04ACA *** / MN05ACA ***) are basically server HDDs. This is evidenced by the spindle speed of 7200 rpm and the rotational vibration compensation function, which allows you to install up to eight hard drives in one case. Of the other hardware features, we note the spindle mount at both ends and the two-stage design of the actuator (the latter is practically required element for modern high-performance HDDs).

But, despite the advanced disk mechanics and the mandatory for this use case the ability to work in 24 × 7 mode, according to the fault tolerance characteristics of the N300 belongs to the consumer class: the MTBF is 1 million hours (not 2 million, as in corporate HDDs) and guarantee period- 3 years (not 5 years). However, these parameters speak not so much about the perfection of the disc mechanics as about how meticulously devices are tested before being sold.

* According to market.yandex data as of 28.03.2017

Hard drive manufacturers have rarely reported on platter counts and write densities in their devices in recent years, and the N300 series is no exception. Fortunately, based on the declared linear read / write speed, these parameters can be calculated with confidence. The 6 and 8 TB models are obviously equipped with 1200 and 1333 GB usable platters, respectively, with a sector length of 4 KB (Advanced Format).

The younger N300 with a capacity of 4 TB has a 512-bit layout, no matter how strange it may be for a relatively "large" hard drive in 2017. Note that the OEM version of the drive (MN04ACA400) comes in two versions - both with Advanced Format and with 512-byte sectors. Given that AF increases the usable recording density by 9.7%, we can't be mistaken in assuming the 4TB N300 is equipped with platters with the same physical data density as the 6TB model. Due to the "old" markup, the N300 slightly lost in sequential read / write speed, as can be seen from the specifications, but it provides predictable performance when writing blocks that are not aligned on the 4 KB grid.

Toshiba N300 4 TB (HDWQ140EZSTA)

⇡ Testing technique

Isolated performance tests

Performed using Iometer 1.1.0. The volume and data transfer rate are indicated in binary units (1 KB = 1024 bytes). Block boundaries are aligned relative to the 4KB markup.

1. data in blocks of 128 KB with a request queue depth of 256.

1. Random read / write blocks from 512 bytes to 2 MB with a request queue depth of 256.

1. Mixed read / write blocks of 128 KB with a queue depth of 256. The share of read and write operations varies from 0 to 100% in 10% increments.

1. Dependence of throughput on the depth of the request queue. Blocks of 4 KB are read, the depth of the request queue varies from 1 to 256 with a power-of-two step. A similar test for writing blocks is not performed, since hard disks do not differ in this parameter.

1. Settled response time. Random read / write of 512-byte blocks with a request queue depth of 1. The test continues for 10 minutes.

1. Constancy of response time. Random read / write of 4 KB blocks with a request queue depth of 256 is performed. For each test segment of 1 s duration, the average and maximum value response time, on the basis of which are calculated: a) the average values ​​of both indicators; b) standard deviation of the mean response time.

1. Multi-threaded read / write. Four threads are created that perform sequential read / write of 64 KB blocks with a request queue depth of 1. The threads have access to non-overlapping 100 GB address spaces, which are located close to each other in the disk space, starting from sector zero. The total throughput of all streams is measured, as well as each of them separately.

Emulated load tests

1. V Iometer 1.1.0. The volume and data transfer rate are indicated in binary units (1 KB = 1024 bytes). Block boundaries are aligned relative to the 4KB markup. The command queue depth is 256.

1. PCMark 7 (Secondary Storage). A single partition is created on the tested drive in the file NTFS system for the entire available volume. The results take into account a) the final score of the test, b) the throughput in individual subtests.

Test stand

The drive under test connects to a controller built into the chipset motherboard, and operates in AHCI mode.

⇡ Test participants

For comparison with the Toshiba N300, we selected several hard drives for home NAS and servers that have been in the 3DNews test lab over the past three years. Test participants are equipped with platters of usable capacity from 0.8 to 1.333 TB in a ventilated case and from 1.333 to 1.429 TB in a sealed helium case (HGST Ultrastar He8 and Seagate Enterprise Capacity 3.5 HDD). The spindle speeds of the N300 rivals are 5400, 5900 and 7200 rpm.

• Toshiba N300 4 TB (HDWQ140EZSTA);

⇡ Performance, basic tests

Sequential read / write

The sequential read / write speed of Toshiba N300 blocks exactly corresponds to the declared level of 200 MB / s. Among the test participants with a spindle speed of 7200 rpm, the speed in this test is almost linearly dependent on the recording density. The 4TB N300 is significantly inferior to its competitors equipped with larger platters, but it certainly surpasses any modern 5K models.

Random read / write

By speed random read N300 successfully competes with HDDs built on higher-capacity platters, and is second only to HGST discs with a media cache - a system of caching zones distributed over the surface of the platters.

⇡ Performance, advanced analysis

Settled response time

In the test for reading 512-byte blocks with a unit depth of the request queue, the results depend primarily on the mechanics of the HDD, and not on the recording density and the logic of working with data in the controller firmware. Toshiba N300 belongs to one of better results among disks with a spindle speed of 7200 rpm in this test.

V general case, when writing small blocks, the size and bandwidth of the buffer is critical. Toshiba N300 confidently takes the first place among the test participants, but, obviously, for a different reason - because of the sector size of 512 bytes, while other drives with 4 KB markup are forced to pre-read the entire sector when requesting to write a block of a smaller size ...

Bandwidth versus command queue length

With a long command queue, the faster the hard drive, the more efficiently the controller uses the NCQ capabilities. Toshiba N300 once again showed one of the best results among the participants in HDD test for NAS.

Mixed read / write

Intense mixed workload performance depends on the controller logic, the disadvantages of which can negate any hardware advantages of the drive. Alas, this is exactly what happened with the Toshiba N300.

Multi-threaded read / write

This test also evaluates the logic HDD controller... When reading simultaneously from four non-overlapping address spaces, the disk either evenly distributes the actions of the actuator among several instruction streams (which gives the lowest aggregate performance), or selects one or two priority streams and sacrifices the other three (maximum aggregate result). Only rare models use NCQ for multithreaded recording and, as a result, achieve high speed in all streams simultaneously.

The Toshiba N300 operates according to the first scenario, and, moreover, it is extremely ineffective - even in comparison with others hard drives demonstrating such a multithreaded read pattern.

In multithreaded recording, the size and usage of the buffer plays a leading role. In this, the N300 showed itself rather mediocre, although it is worth making a discount for a lower recording density than some rivals. After all, the higher it is, the smaller the distance between the 100 GB zones, which are being written to, which means that the drive can quickly release data from the buffer.

Consistent response time

In this test, a long request queue maximizes the disk throughput in operations per second, but at the same time creates a situation where the response time between sending a request from the host controller (and therefore placing it in an extremely long queue) and receiving the result is large enough that the difference between its mean and peak was the most pronounced, as was the scatter in response time.

⇡ conclusions

Specialized hard drives for network attached storage are popular due to the combination of affordable price, on the one hand, and characteristics that are not characteristic of ordinary desktop drives (guarantee of operation in 24 × 7 mode, reliable mechanics and anti-failure functions), on the other. The N300 series is Toshiba's first experience in this category, and judging by the test results of the younger 4TB model, in terms of key performance parameters, the new product is not inferior to its closest competitors, and often surpasses discs with a higher recording density.

Reviews of magnetic platters (HDDs) have become a rarity. With this it is simple: "mechanics" has reached the limit of its development, no breakthroughs are foreseen. And this is recognized by the manufacturers themselves.

Speeds are now offered by solid-state drives (let's leave some of the nuances behind the scenes), but still, the HDDs that have shifted into the background should not be abandoned at all. To them, as to file storages, some minimal set requirements: acceptable noise level and heating, file copying speed.

Therefore, the meaning in small studies remains. What we will do today, since this time we have in our hands two samples of the new Toshiba N300 announced in January this year with a capacity of 4 TB each.

Toshiba N300 4TB review

Packaging and equipment

Long-standing traditions of Russian retail: HDDs are sold in our stores in the overwhelming majority of cases without anything. Maximum - plastic blister or antistatic bag.

But in fact, drives for retail buyers are produced in full-fledged retail packaging, here distributors who import devices to Russia are already saving money. That is why such packaging most often has to be studied using the example of journalistic samples. As well as this time.

Toshiba N300 for retail is packed in large boxes made of very rigid cardboard. The inner volume of the box is occupied by two blown polyethylene forms, into which the drive itself and a small booklet-instruction for installation are enclosed.

Visual inspection

Toshiba hard drives are made in a standard 3.5 "form factor with a case height of 26 mm.

All element base traditionally located on the inward side of the PCB. Thus, the manufacturer insures himself against the "loss" of elements as a result of inaccurate movement of the device on an uneven surface.

The HDA contains four magnetic plates with a sector size (oddly enough) 512 bytes - AF solutions in the Toshiba N300 family are only senior models with 6 and 8 TB.

Such a nuance is fraught with the fact that the 4 TB Toshiba N300 will demonstrate an additional reduced performance than the older versions of 6 and 8 TB. True, the losses will be small - AF markup increases the data density by about 10%.

Communication interface with the system - SATA 6 Gb / s. The hardware platform behind the Toshiba N300 test samples is based on the Marvell 88i9419-NDB2 controller.

This printed circuit board we have already met when we tested the Toshiba X300, and before it, in turn, it was used in the Toshiba MG04 (end of 2014). The changes are purely "momentary", for example, the Winbond flash memory chip has been replaced with MXIC. And the buffer memory is the same SK Hynix H5PS1G63KFR (128 MB DDR2-1066 with 7-7-7 timings).

In fact, Toshiba to build its new HDD uses a fairly old hardware platform (remember our conversation above about reaching the HDD hardware limit).

He has 8 TB of memory on board, well, in fact, almost 8 TB, but when you take 2 of these disks at once, then instead of 16 TB we have a little more than 15 at our disposal. But for the storage, it is not necessary anymore, for a small office, to store all projects, all documents and other moments, no problems were noticed at work, although we have been using it for only 2 weeks. The temperature is fine, and he is not afraid of overheating. In addition, possible vibration is extinguished by vibration sensors, some find shocks, others compensate for it. talk about a high workload coefficient - well, let's check, there are many years ahead working together... 16 colleagues have access to it, no brakes are noticed when everyone is doing something at the same time in the storehouse.

Period of use:

less than a month

Toshiba announces the release of a new line of 3.5-inch internal hard drives for network attached storage (NAS), which will come in handy when organizing home office, installation in small businesses, as well as for use in personal computers. Hard drives The enhanced reliability N300 delivers the performance, reliability, and scalability you need to store massive amounts of data 24/7.

The N300 line is designed for NAS, the main requirements for which are reliability and uninterrupted access to large amounts of data at any time. Up to eight hard drive bays in network storage with support for RAID arrays means that the user can expand the capacity and number of drives in the system as their needs grow.

The N300 series hard drives are available in 4 TB and 6 TB capacities with a large 128 MB data buffer. Technology dynamic caching Toshiba data- Standalone data caching algorithm with built-in buffer management function - allows you to optimize the process of reading / writing data in order to increase the performance of the drive to the level required when working with data in real time.

Toshiba N300 drives use the most modern technologies that improve operational reliability, including technologies to detect and minimize the negative effects of vibration, shock and overheating. For example, several shock sensors monitor and compensate for vibration from shock and angular vibrations of the drive, and the error correction control system reduces the recovery time after they occur. Featuring Toshiba Stable Platter Technology, a coupled spindle motor stabilizes the motor shaft hard disk at both ends to reduce vibration during operation. The robustness of the design also enhances the use of rugged components that withstand harsh conditions and support for Ramp Load technology, which reduces wear on the drive head.

Hard drives of increased reliability N300 will appear on sale in January 2017 at an estimated price of 13,700 rubles. for 4 TB and 23 950 rubles. for 6 TB. All devices are covered by a three-year warranty.

Specifications N300