Toshiba MG Series: Which Generation Is Behind a 16 TB or 20 TB SATA Drive

Toshiba MG series 20TB SATA enterprise hard drive: three generations

Twenty terabytes is where the MG names get confusing, because three generations in Toshiba's documents list that capacity. The part number on the row is the key, so go there before you compare prices.

• MG10ACA20TE is an MG10. That generation comes in 20 TB and 18 TB, with a 10-disk helium-sealed design. Its SATA Idle-A power is 4.38 W at 20 TB and 4.18 W at 18 TB.
• MG10AFA20TE is an MG10F. That generation comes in 22 TB and 20 TB, also 10-disk and helium-sealed. Toshiba lists Idle-A power of 4.35 W on SATA and 4.82 W on SAS.
• MG11ACA20TE is an MG11. That generation lists 20 TB among six capacities, in SAS and SATA, with SIE and SED options.

This table holds 1 in-stock 20 TB SATA rows, and the lowest figure is £44.46/TB. Match each row's prefix against MG10ACA, MG10AFA or MG11ACA before applying any figures above. If a row carries a different prefix, none of them follow it. The wider 20 TB hard drive choice covers other makers.

Toshiba MG series 16TB SATA enterprise hard drive

Among the three generations we read, only MG11 lists 16 TB, and its overview gives the SATA model as MG11ACA16TE. A 16 TB row is not automatically that drive, because the MG filter takes in every Toshiba MG listing, older generations included. We opened no document for MG07, MG08 or MG09, so a row with one of those prefixes has a live price here and no Toshiba specification from us.

The 16 TB SATA query returns 1 in-stock rows, from £23.46/TB. Any single-capacity table is a snapshot, and a missing row says little about whether a drive exists. We also give no idle figure at 16 TB. The MG11 overview merges cells in its power table, and the 16 TB and 20 TB columns share one, so the cell mapping is unconfirmed.

MG10 vs MG11: what each Toshiba document states

Our two main sources are not the same kind of document. MG10 comes from a product web page and MG11 from a product overview, so 'Not recorded here' below means this page holds no figure, not that the drive lacks one.

The MG11 figure of 4.35 W rests on its first-column position in the overview's flattened text, which we read as the 24 TB group. On that reading, 4.35 W across 24 TB is about 0.18 W/TB, against about 0.22 W/TB for 4.38 W across 20 TB on MG10. That is our arithmetic. The two documents also label idle differently, Idle-A on one and Active Idle (Typ.) on the other, so treat the comparison as approximate.

MG11 model options, as the table lists them

We have not found a Toshiba document that defines the MG part-number segments in words. What follows is read off rows in the MG11 overview at 24 TB, so it is a pattern we observed and no decode from the maker.

• MG11ACA24TE: the standard SATA-3.5a row, 24 TB, 512e.
• MG11SCA24TE: the standard SAS-3.0 row, 24 TB, 512e.
• MG11ACA24TEY: a trailing Y, listed as the SIE variant.
• MG11ACP24TE: ACP in place of ACA, listed as the SED variant. The table treats SCP the same way on SAS.

The same forms repeat on MG10, which lists MG10ACA20TE, MG10ACA20TEY and MG10ACP20TE. MG10F uses AFA and AFP instead, and Toshiba's MG10F page labels AFA, AFP and TEY as Standard, SED and SIE. Those are labels on model rows, still no decode from the maker.

Sector format is the other thing to settle before buying. MG11 SATA drives present 512-byte host sectors on 4096-byte disk sectors. MG11 SAS drives also support 520-byte host sectors on 4160-byte disk sectors and 528-byte host sectors on 4224-byte disk sectors. If your controller expects a particular format, confirm it against the row's model number. The separate SAS vs SATA decision comes first.

MG11 operating figures worth knowing

• Sustained transfer: 295 MiB/s in the first column of the overview's table.
• Non-recoverable error rate: 10 per 10^16 bits read.
• Operating ambient temperature: 5 °C to 55 °C, no condensation.
• Technology: Toshiba's 2nd generation flux control microwave-assisted design, FC-MAMR.

That 295 MiB/s also rests on first-column position in flattened text, which we read as 24 TB. On that reading, at about 309 MB/s, writing all of a 24 TB drive takes about 21.6 hours. That is our arithmetic and a floor rather than a rebuild estimate, since it assumes the maximum sustained rate throughout.

Toshiba also names video surveillance among MG11 applications. Treat that as a list of intended uses and not as a statement that any particular recorder accepts the drive. A recorder's maker is the place to confirm that.

Toshiba MG series prices on Amazon.co.uk

Across every capacity, the new table shows 22 rows sorted by pounds per TB inc VAT, led by Toshiba MG Series 16TB internal server hard drive MG08ACA16TE 3.5" HDD SATA... at £23.46/TB. The lowest outlay is £199.00. N300 drives are a separate line and are kept out. Older MG generations can appear, so the capacity and part number columns decide whether the Toshiba figures above have anything to say about a row.

The used table shows 1 rows from £22.95/TB. We have not sourced anything on how Toshiba treats a used MG drive, so this page states only what the row shows.