Is Toshiba Canvio Slim external hard drive – 2TB good for gaming?

Toshiba has quietly introduced a number of affordable external storage devices, and the HDTC720EK3CA, a tiny 2TB external hard drive sporting a USB 3.0 interface, currently has the highest storage capacity for a 2.5-inch form factor and is part of the company’s STOR.E Canvio range. The Canvio is preloaded with Pogoplug and NTI Backup Now EZ which allows you to access the drive remotely and backup your data respectively. Our guide on Toshiba Canvio slim external hard drive – 2TB review has its all.

Toshiba Canvio slim external hard drive – 2TB Specs

Capacities¹: 1TB, 2TB

Interface:
     USB 3.0
     USB 2.0

Interface Transfer Rate²:
     Up to 5 Gbit/s (USB 3.0)
     Up to 480 Mbit/s (USB 2.0)

Size (mm):
     1TB 75(W) x 107(L) x 9.0(H)
     2TB 75(W) x 107(L) x 12.5(H)

Color: Silver, Black

Weight (g): 1TB: 115  2TB:149

System Requirements⁴:
     Formatted NTFS for Microsoft^® Windows^® 10, Windows^® 8.1, Windows^® 7
     Requires reformatting for Mac OS v10.14 /v10.13 / v10.12
     Available USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 Port More External Hard Drives

Models

Toshiba Canvio Advance vs Basics comparison

The CANVIO Advance series is available in four color options – black, white, blue or red – with a glossy finish. The capacities are 1TB, 2TB, and 3TB. The Advance model offers Toshiba backup software and security software for download, enabling users to easily backup and protect important data through password protection and an improved user interface.

The CANVIO Basics series offers an entry-level 2.5-inch portable hard drive for all storage needs, ranging from PC data to photography. It is available in capacities of 2TB, 1TB or 500GB.

Size and Weight Compared – Toshiba Canvio Advance vs Basics

You’ll see in the table below that the new Canvio Basics and Advance is a shade smaller and lighter than the Canvio Connect II. Though you’d hardly notice the difference between the three.

Weight

Compare Canvio Slim external hard drive – 2TB with others

Toshiba Canvio Slim external hard drive – 2TB review

Available colors

Offered in multiple colors, you get to choose which style suits you best: bold black or sleek silver. It also offers easy-to-use software (available via free download) for your PC (2) to easily back up your photos, music, videos, and files and help keep your data protected.

Design

Out of the box, the STOR.E Canvio looks ridiculously small, sitting comfortably in the palm of my hand. It weighs 230g (just under half a pound) and its dimensions are 111 x 79 x 20.5mm (4.37 x 3.11 x 0.81 inches); in other words, not much bigger or heavier than a pack of 20 cigarettes.

Its corners are slightly rounded with two glossy sides and a white LED on the front that lights up when the drive is on. Getting it to work requires a free USB port (USB 3.0 preferably).

A sticker and four tiny rubber feet are located on the underside of the drive. There didn’t seem to be any easy way of prying the unit open to extract the hard drive for use, say, in a gaming console like the Xbox 360 or the PS4.

Inside the brushed aluminum body of the Canvio Slim II is a 1TB 5,400rpm spinning hard drive. The drive is formatted in NTFS for use with Windows PCs, but Mac users don’t need to worry about reformatting the drive as it comes with NTFS for Mac drivers, letting you use the drive across the different OSes. The one hitch is that Apple’s TimeMachine won’t work with NTFS, so you will need to reformat it if you plan on backing up your Mac to the drive.

You’ll also find a few other extras preinstalled on the drive. NTI Backup Now EZ is an automated backup that lets you schedule regular backup of one or more folders, taking some of the hassle out of backing up important files and remove the headache of doing a full system backup when it isn’t necessary. Whether you want to back up your PC or a few files, NTI Backup Now EZ also lets you add encryption (up to 256-bit) for added security.

Toshiba Canvio slim external hard drive – 2TB performance review

• PCMark 8 Rating: 1871
• Crystal Benchmark Reads: 119.5Mbps/142.85 IOPS
• Crystal Benchmark Writes: 118.3Mbps/306.92 IOPS

The Toshiba 2TB Canvio USB 3.0 drive performs more sluggishly than recent hard disk drives of similar capacities (Seagate Wireless 2TB, LaCie Fuel 2TB) but not by a big margin (less than 10% in the PCMark 8 storage benchmark).

The drive that Toshiba used is likely to be the MQ01ABB200 which was launched in 2013; it is a 15mm model that has four 500GB platters, a 5,400RPM rotational speed, 8MB buffer and an average seek time of 12ms/22ms in read/write.

That compares poorly with the Samsung SpinPoint M9T drive, released this year that has a higher platter density (three 667GB platters), four times the cache size (32MB) and is way thinner (9.5mm versus 15mm). As a side note, not surprisingly, Toshiba’s bare drive costs about 25% more than its external version.

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