Introduction

Toshiba is a world-renowned company. Active in many fields, it also produces flash memory, so Toshiba does, just like Micron and Samsung, use their own NAND flash inside their SSDs. they even acquired OCZ recently, a more consumer-centric maker of SSDs. For now, Toshiba's own product stack isn't affected by that acquisition.

Today, we have on our test bench the Toshiba THNSNJ256GCSU 256 GB. The THNSNJ Series is also known as the HG6 Series on Toshiba's website. I still find the naming scheme a bit difficult, and it may be what it is because the company focuses on OEM customers, like Lenovo and system integrators, rather than the end-user. You can also bet on Toshiba using these SSDs in their own extensive notebook lineup.

Toshiba uses their own 19 nm NAND flash chips (TH58TEG8DDKBA8C) and their own controller (TC358790XBG) with the HG6 SSD Series. Right now, the product is a bit hard to find in the States, but it's available in the EU for €115, which is not exactly cheap as the cheapest 256 GB SDD, the Crucial MX100, retails for around €90.

Packaging

We received Toshiba's drive in a brown cardboard box, but rest assured that the final retail product will include proper packaging, documentation, etc.

The Drive

The drive conforms to the dimensions set forth by the 2.5" form factor. It is made of metal, which improves its durability, and is only 7 mm tall, which makes it compatible with Intel's Ultrabook specification.


Like most recent SSDs, the Toshiba HG6 uses the SATA 6 Gbps interface. It is compatible with any older SATA standard, but will, in such a case, work at reduced performance.


You will find the SSD controller and 8 flash chips on the PCB.


Toshiba uses their own TC358790XBG controller. It is an updated version of the one within the HG5d Series SSDs.


The eight MLC flash chips, produced by Toshiba, are built on a 19 nanometer process.