14 DAY TRIAL // Usually, a new collection of storage devices sticks to a specific form factor, and Toshiba often holds to this unwritten creed, but there are exceptions, especially when launching a group of drives not meant for consumers. The HG6 series is one such exception.
We say this because the drive series is, technically, a combination of three distinct product collections, since three form factors are represented.
And those form factors are 2.5-inch (the normal one for SSDs, both desktops and laptops), mSATA (common for ultrabooks and other ultrathin laptops), and M.2, both single- and double-sided.
M.2 is one of the smallest solid-state drive models, if not the smallest, and enables high-capacity tablets and other such things.
The HG6 series includes all these types of SSDs, and all of them can have self-encrypting mechanism, or you at least have the option to get one that can safeguard data from outside influence.
All of them are built from Toshiba's very own 19nm NAND Flash chips, and work over the SATA III interface, otherwise known as SATA 6.0 Gbps.
Furthermore, Toshiba has implemented its original wipe function, which can automatically trigger a total device erase when it is accessed by an unregistered system.
Obviously, normal consumers won't find much use for this, or for encryption either, but if you're a businessman worried about your trade secrets, it might be a good idea to use both to their fullest.
“Notebook PCs, workstations, thin clients, server boot drives and read-intensive enterprise applications,” is the exact list of applications provided by the company in its press release.
Technically, all the others can qualify as “read-intensive enterprise applications” or can carry them out at any rate.
Anyway, the Toshiba HG6 series of 2.5-inch, M.2 and mSATA SSDs includes capacities of 60 GB to 512 GB. Shipments will begin next month, in March 2014.