By: Jonathan Kwan
December 1, 2017
Recently, my friend decided her non-Retina MacBook Pro needed an upgrade. Being the last generation of MacBook Pros that still featured an optical drive -- and for some reason, she still thinks having an optical drive is an important feature in 2017 -- she wanted to keep her beloved computer kicking around for at least a few more years. While I am not here to debate the merits of having an optical drive over everything else (After all, you spend a lot more time staring at your screen or using your processor than popping in a DVD), giving that MacBook Pro a performance upgrade is not hard. Unlike the 2015 MacBook Pro I own, its storage and memory is user-upgradeable. She wanted an affordable SSD large enough to replace her hard drive, while giving her system a boost in loading speed and power efficiency. We eventually settled on a Western Digital Blue 500GB SSD and 8GB of RAM to swap out her 500GB HDD and 4GB of RAM. And just how popular are solid state drives are nowadays? I remember back in 2011, when I upgraded my ThinkPad laptop to an OCZ Agility 240GB, it was practically a marvel among my friends; both in its novelty and a not-exactly-affordable $430 price tag. But SSDs have become much more affordable and common nowadays, thanks to considerable progress made in NAND flash production. SSDs are also no longer reserved only for people who want the cutting edge in heavy lifting performance. Value-oriented HDD replacements are readily available for those who are only looking for an improvement in user experience for casual day-to-day computing. Today, we will take a look at one such product. Featuring Toshiba's third generation 64 layer BiCS triple-level cells, the TR200 480GB wants to replace your aging hard drive at an affordable price. Has the goal been achieved? Read on to find out!
Our review unit of the Toshiba OCZ TR200 480GB arrived in a compact brown corrugated cardboard box from the company's American headquarters in San Jose, California, USA. It was an interesting coincidence when I thought of picking up a TR200 for review, our contact at Toshiba was just about to send one our way -- great minds think alike, right? Using FedEx International Priority, everything arrived safely and quickly to us here in Calgary, Alberta, Canada for our review today.
Since OCZ is fully absorbed into Toshiba's consumer storage arm, the packaging design has also been also updated to reflect this change as we have seen with the Toshiba OCZ VX500 512GB I reviewed about a year ago. Toshiba's branding is explicitly printed in a prominent location, with the green, black, and grey color scheme extended to the rest of the box. In my opinion, the company's marketing team has done a wonderful job at slapping together a package that ensures people know what is inside, while keeping the interface clean and visually appealing. A photo of the SSD itself occupies most of the room on the box. At the bottom, the "OCZ TR200" text in silver tells you this is a TR200 solid state drive, just in case you did not see it in the photo above. Meanwhile, a label at the top right corner indicates this is the 480GB model. Brief product specifications, description, and feature highlights can be found at the back of the box.
Before we move on, let us take a look at the specifications of the Toshiba OCZ TR200 480GB, as obtained from the manufacturer's website:
Performance
Sequential Read/Write: Up to 555/540 MB/s
Random Read/Write (4KiB, QD32): 480GB: Up to 82,000/88,0000 IOPS
Endurance
TBW (Total Bytes Written): 120 TB
Daily Usage Guideline: 110 GB/day
Physical
NAND Flash Memory Type: 64-layer 3D BiCS TLC
Interface: Serial ATA (SATA) 6 Gbit/s
Form Factor: 2.5-inch, 7mm height
Dimension (L x W x H): 100.45 x 69.85 x 7.00 mm
Drive Weight: 480GB: 45.6g (typ.)
Power Requirements
Supply Voltage: 5V ±5 %
Power Consumption:
- Active Up to 1.7 W (typ.)
- Idle: 100 mW (typ.)
DevSleep Power: 10 mW max
Environmental
Operating Temperature (Tc): 0°C to 65°C
Storage Temperature: -40°C to 85°C
Shock Resistance 14.7 km/s2 {1500 G} (0.5 ms)
Vibration: 196 m/s2 {20 Grms} (Peak, 10 to 2,000 Hz)
Certifications: UL/cUL, FCC, CE, RCM, KC, BSMI, VCCI, and ISED
Reliability / Security
MTTF: 1.5 Mhours
Product Health Monitoring: Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART) Support
Compatibility
Serial ATA (SATA): ATA/ATAPI Command Set-3 (ACS-3) and Serial ATA revision 3.2 interface specifications supported
Operating System: Windows® 10, Windows® 8.1, Windows® 7; Linux® Fedora 21; Mint 17.1; OpenSUSE 13.2; Ubuntu 14.04; Ubuntu 14.10; Mac® OS X® 10.9, 10.10, 10.11
Connector Type: Standard SATA Power Connector
Targeted Applications: Client desktops and laptops
Additional Features
Performance Optimization: TRIM, Idle Time Garbage Collection
Services and Support: 3-Year Standard Warranty, Toll-Free Tech Support
Software: SSD Utility (SSD management software)
Upon opening the box, you will find almost nothing included from the factory. It is a no-frills budget drive, and it is bundled as such; no complaints here. Clipped between two clear plastic tray pieces is the Toshiba OCZ TR200 480GB. Other than that, unless you count an installation guide and warranty information card as accessories, there is quite literally nothing else from the manufacturer.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look, Test System
3. Benchmark: AIDA64 Disk Benchmark
4. Benchmark: ATTO Disk Benchmark
5. Benchmark: Crystal Disk Mark 3.0
6. Benchmark: HD Tach 3.0.1.0
7. Benchmark: HD Tune Pro 4.60
8. Benchmark: PassMark PerformanceTest 9.0
9. Benchmark: PCMark Vantage
10. Benchmark: PCMark 8
11. Conclusion
