It is now time to look at the 12TB version of the N300 NAS series of Toshiba HDDs; the 12TB, 14TB and 16TB models are the only versions which incorporate the newer helium-sealed design. This new type of design does allow 3.5-inch mechanical drives to deliver increased storage density with a lower HDD operating power profile.

Additionally, the drives do use Toshiba’s advanced Stable Platter Technology for minimizing the vibrations and stabilizing the motor shaft at both ends for improved tracking accuracy and optimized performance during read and write operations.

The N300 series does also come with RV sensors and support for up to 8 HDD multi-RAID systems. We can add here that these drives are optimized for performance, reliability and endurance requirements of 24/7 operation, coming with a 3-year warranty.

Our sample has arrived in a retail box, with the Toshiba logo on the frontal area, but also a small top right sticker, informing us of the total storage capacity, the platter rotational speed but also the cache size:

Some useful info is included on the side as well, in multiple languages:

A drive model comparison is available on the back and here we can spot that only the N300 series does benefit from the 3-year warranty:

The drive is protected against outside shocks and bumps thanks to the air-pocketed shells:

The HDD is also wrapped inside a transparent plastic bag:

Thanks to the new manufacturing technology with helium sealing, the power consumption is decreased, the drive is more silent, and the weight is the same as with the 4TB model (720g versus 770g for the 6GB, 8GB and 10GB).

For the 12TB model, we are getting a total of 256MB of cache, the only SKU getting 512MB being the 16TB version.

The drive chassis does also have some design changes versus the regular models: