Reviews related to : Toshiba
External hard drives used to be large and also require external power now not only are they powered by the USB lead they are also very capacious and often far larger than the hard disc of the PC that they are often connected to.
The drive is 11x7.7x1.7cm and weights 216grams with the supplied 40cm long USB3 attached. This will add another 2cm to the 11cm length of the unit. If you do not have full size USB ports and only USB ‘C’ you have not been forgotten as a USB ‘C’ to USB adapter has been supplied. This fits into your USB ‘C’ port and sticks out 3.2cm to give you a USB3 port. The total measurements of the adapter are 4x2.2x1.1cm.
While a 1TB hard drive for a decent desktop machine is now the norm larger drives are available and as the size of the machine gets smaller a second drive bay gets rarer so having multiple partitions may be the way to go with a single larger drive. However with Windows making the formatting of anything over 2TB more difficult this 8TB offering may be more for those with more specialised uses.
While it is not impossible to format this as a single Windows drive the will require more knowledge than most have to do so. In fairness would you want such a large single drive anyway especially if it was the boot drive. It is most likely to end up in a NAS unit where even this huge capacity can soon be swallowed up by backups and the like. The drive measures 14.7x10.2x2.6cm which normally gets called a drive to fit into a 3.
Stated to be capable of copying 8K video as captured according to the box. I can certainly confirm capture of 4K video without any problem on two separate devices. It is an SDHC UHS-II Card, mine was 32GB but they do other capacities.
Looking at the face of the card it is no different in size (dimensions) to any other SD card. Turn it over and you see a difference, the same row of contacts at the inward edge of the card but below that an additional row of contacts. It is stated to have read speeds of up to 270MB/s*² and write speeds of up to 260MB/s*². However due to the high quality for one year there is data recovery software available for free. The card itself is warrantied for five years.
To be precise this is a Micro SD Card but it does come with an SD card holder so it could be used as an SD should you so wish. Being old my mind boggles at the size (capacity) of these tiny items. I well remember the first consumer hard drives they were heavy took a full size 5.25 inch drive bay and the capacity was 10MB.
About two years ago the size of Micro SD card acceptable to recent mobile phones started to rise and before this unit arrived the largest I had to test was 64GB now I can check claims with this 128GB offering that without the SD card is small enough to get easily lost and of course at this sort of capacity is both expensive and perhaps could contain a great deal of information not easily immediately recreatable. So most of my tests have been with a range of recent mobile phones.
The latest range of USB3 small external drives from Toshiba sees the Canvio Advance (highest specified of three) cross my desk to be given the real world test over a matter of weeks, using transfer by USB2, USB3 and this time also USB ‘C’ for good measure.
As I was testing this with Windows PC’s and I had used similar products all I did was unbox the drive and connect the supplied USB3 cable. Unlike earlier USB drives this takes the small amount of power required from the USB port so it is true ‘plug and play’. While this is stated to be 2TB and by the 1000 calculation method it is but Windows used the 1024 calculation so it only shows as 1.81TB this is normal.
Having told you about the other two units in the latest Canvio range the chance came up to tell you about the Basics offering. This is - Bus Powered - so no need for external power as with earlier external drives so it should plug in and be ready to use.
The memory is 3TB or 2.72 TB depending on how you calculate the available space. It is 12x7.5x1.5cm but the USB3 plug fits into the back meaning you need another 3cm of total space so 15x7.5x1.5cm is required. It weighs 207grams and the box has a padded bubble wrap bag idea for moving it around. There is a 22 language PDF file on the drive, the first eight pages are in English and should answer most questions.
The Toshiba Canvio Alu portable USB 3.0 hard drives, which form part of the company’s Advanced range, are solidly built 2.5 inch units and are available in a choice of capacities from 500GB to 2.5TB
This Toshiba unit should be available in sizes up to 8TB by the time you read this. I was sent the 6TB offering as the 8TB has been delayed from the initial launce briefing earlier this year 34 floors up the Shard near the supposedly soon to be finished London Bridge station.
While the Shard is meant to look unfinished I doubt six years ago when they started changing London Bridge station that anyone who suffers it daily thought their ordeal would still be going on.
A Toshiba X300 series internal HDD makes an effective PC upgrade to satisfy the capacity and performance demands of gamers, graphic designers as well as those video and movie buffs who are rapidly filling up the storage space on their existing hard drives.
X300 “Black Label” drives are 3.5inch SATA internal drives which have been designed for reliability in operation. They run at 7,200 rpm and have a 128MB cache – both of which are factors in providing the high real-time performance needed to meet the requirements of demanding users.
Having recently told you about another USB3 external drive from Toshiba the Canvio Alu here I get to test the Canvio Connect II, the Alu had a metal body while this is a little smaller in size and lighter in weight yet the capacity of the unit supplied is 50% greater.
The Toshiba Canvio Connect II measures 10.5x7.5x1.8cm and weights 222grams with the supplied 40cm USB3 lead attached. Unlike the recently reviewed Canvio Alu this unit has a white LED showing at one corner when data is read or written, However after around three minutes of no data being read or written the LED will flash three times and then go out only woken by more activity. This 3TB unit has 2795GB available for storage.
The unit I was sent is a 2TB USB3 drive and the ‘Alu’ stands for aluminium which makes the case very sturdy. This is part of Toshiba’s mid-range statuary for USB3 external drives it comes with built in back up software from NTI.
This Toshiba external hard disk measures 11.3x7.4x1.9cm and weights 213grams with the supplied USB3 attached. While this is not a ‘rugged’ unit unless a drop happened while data was being read or written I cannot see any harm coming to it or your data. Some transfer times are given on the back of the box a three hour HD movie should transfer in 5 minutes and 16 seconds on USB3 or 16 minutes and 26 seconds on USB2, 350 photos in 15.2seconds on USB3 and 36.
Adding to its range of storage devices, Toshiba has produced the Canvio Premium portable hard drives.
Highlighted by diamond-cut edges with sleek and stylish high quality aluminium casing, there are Canvio Premium models for PC and Mac users. Units are available in capacities of 1, 2 and 3TB. My review is based on the Canvio Premium PC unit with a capacity of 3TB. With dimensions of 109 x 78 x 18.5 mm (D x W x H) and weighing 243g, this appealing looking, pocket-sized device comes with a soft carry pouch for protecting the unit during transport.
As one of the new iconic meeting places in London, the Shard was the location for a recent Toshiba briefing.
A popular advertisement of yesteryear, that no doubt some older readers will have fond memories, featured a couple street urchins being captivating by the aroma created by flavoured gravy granules. This advert, with the tag line of “Ah Bisto”, was brought to mind at a recent press lunch when it was revealed that “Ah Bisto” was an anagram of the company hosting the event. I must admit that I was not the one who had spotted this.
Until recently mobile phones could accept up to 32GB micro SD cards which gave you another way of storing data, photos and most likely videos. Now the majority of recent phones will accept larger capacity Micro SD Cards up to 64GB and possibly even more.
Recently I ventured halfway up The Shard for a presentation by hard disc manufacturer Toshiba. It covered what Toshiba do, with the essence on their recent hard drives including a new 8TB desktop unit and while there I requested their mid-range external USB unit that I will tell you about when it arrives.
First a real case for a phone not just the back but the screen as well and it also space for your credit and store cards. Second a well-made memory stick - it metal all round and the company are sure enough to offer a five year warranty.
This case is designed for iPhone 6s and 4.7inch iPhone6. It is 14x7x1.5cm and weights 87grams when empty. It has a back that fits over the iPhone and is held in place my magnets. So if required it can be used just as a standard phone back. The case is two tone leather mine was brown on the top and black on the bottom of the case. There is a small hole through both the case and the phone back for the iPhone inbuilt camera.
Those of us that have seen the size and weight of a hard disc fall while its capacity has increased have seen the capacity of memory sticks increase in the same way. An 8GB memory stick is almost entry level and larger ones have more capacity than a lot of older even quite recent hard drives.
Time was when to install an operating system on a new hard disc meant having a CD or DVD and doing the installation from that. More recently computer BIOS settings allow you to install from USB stick. The basic installation files of Windows 7 fit easily onto an 8GB memory stick so providing a memory stick is reliable then that’s fine.
While it wasnt on my schedule for forthcoming reviews, I did not need to think twice when offered the opportunity to review a Toshiba FlashAir Card by the companys PR Agency.
For those not familiar with FlashAir™ and its capabilities, I should explain that this technology combines the flash memory normally resident on an SD card with a wireless LAN chipset plus an antenna to facilitate wireless communication between connected devices. This hybrid construction allows data stored on the card to be accessed wirelessly by other devices without the need of a physical connection.
Having recently looked at larger TVs from LG and Samsung it seems only right to look at another of the major manufacturers Toshiba, while most will think of Toshiba for notebooks they also do TVs and other home items.
It is 91x52x4cm and it is only 2cm thick at the edges. The viewable screen is 89x59cm giving the notional diagonal imperial measurement of 40inches, the stand is glass and is 38x20cm it raises the screen by 7cm from the table or whatever you stand it on, four fittings are supplied to allow you to fit into a wall kit should you want to wall mount. The stand allows around 15degrees of side to side movement. The screen however is fixed in the normal vertical position.
Fashion has reached even the most mundane of computer peripherals with Toshiba, amongst others
launching a fashionable range of external hard disks to either transport or simply back-up your data.
Interesting for a fashionable product - there doesn't seem to be a product name - it's just a
"Toshiba External Hard Drive"
With fashion in mind Toshiba are shipping their drive in four sizes, with each getting a distinctive dash of colour, that also denotes the size : ; ; ; and the latest member of the family - . My test unit is the 320GB grey version. As well as the colour you have a shiny black case measuring approximately 16x 81 x 127mm (DxWxH) and weighing a very slight 155g.
Heavily involved in the high definition arena, despite some setbacks, Toshiba has developed a camcorder to take advantage of the technology.
Many more years ago that I care to admit, I spend an enjoyable summer season as a beach photographer at a local holiday resort snapping away at holiday makers in the hope they would purchase my photos. The camera, a French Sept, was a converted movie camera designed for heavy duty work and had a clockwork motor. It was certainly heavy enough to double as a weapon of considerable destruction. How things have changed as I look at the Toshiba Camileo Pro HD camcorder.
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