The X300 internal hard drives from Toshiba take part of their performance segment, for use in workstations, media centers, all-in-ones or even gaming PCs. These are available with capacities between 4TB and a whopping 16TB, but not all share the same specifications! For example, the 4TB, 5TB and 6TB models do feature 128MB of cache and this is interestingly shared with the 8TB Bulk drive as well. The 8TB retail drive, but also the 10TB, 12TB and 14TB drive are equipped with 256MB of cache, while the maximum capacity 16TB drive does come with no less than 512MB.

Another aspect that is not shared between drives is the helium-sealed design, present only on the 12TB, 14TB and 16TB models, for achieving lower power consumption and for increasing storage density; one other advantage of this design is the decreased operating noise in IDLE mode.

Our 8TB X300 sample drive has arrived as a retail product, but with 128MB buffer as a bulk version; we do suspect that our batch is a bit older and manufactured before the upgrade was made to the retail model, so we will treat this one as a bulk drive in terms of performance.

On one of the box sides, we will be able to check out the AF (Advanced Format) logo:

The main features can be found on the opposite side as well:

The same information can be checked out on the back, but this time in more languages:

In the box, the drive is protected all-around with air pocketed shells but also wrapped inside a plastic bag; an installation leaflet is supplied as well: