SSD / Hard Drive - Toughbook G2

Panasonic Toughbook G2 SSD / Hard Drive Upgrades

Here is a list of the standard and optional hard drives for the Panasonic Toughbook G2:

Panasonic Toughbook G2 (A,B,C,D) mk1 - Main SSD: 512GB standard up to 2TB quick-release OPAL

NVMe with heater / Optional 2nd SSD: up to 2TB quick-release (xPAK)

Panasonic Toughbook G2 (E,G,K,M) mk2 - Main SSD: 512GB standard up to 2TB quick-release OPAL

NVMe with heater / Optional 2nd SSD: up to 2TB quick-release OPAL NMVe with heater (xPAK)

Panasonic Toughbook G2 (N,P) mk3 - Main SSD: 512GB standard up to 2TB quick-release OPAL

NVMe with heater / Optional 2nd SSD: up to 2TB quick-release OPAL NMVe with heater (xPAK)

Your Panasonic Toughbook G2 can be upgraded to virtually any capacity. Hard drives have improved over the years and your Panasonic Toughbook G2 has many optional upgrades available for users who are primarily focused on storage capacity, speed, or both.

A hard drive is the hardware device that permanently stores and retrieves all of your digital content. Your hard drive stores your operating system, software programs, and personal files. Let’s take a look at the two different types of hard drives that are available for your Panasonic Toughbook G2:

SOLID STATE DRIVE (SSD)

A solid state drive (SSD) is a solid state storage device that uses integrated circuit assemblies (flash memory) to store data persistently. SSDs have no moving parts and use an SSD controller for reading, writing, and transferring data. Most SSDs use NAND flash technology which does not require power in order to retain data similar to USB thumb drives or SD memory cards.

TRANSFER SPEEDS

The transfer speeds of a hard drive are determined by several factors. For SSDs, transfer speed is determined by the read/write speed and what type of computer bus interface the hard drive has.

WHAT IS SATA?

Prior to the introduction of the SATA computer bus interface, most hard drives used an IDE (PATA) computer bus interface. IDE drives are an older technology and are virtually non-existent and haven’t been used in Panasonic Toughbooks in well over ten years. They were connected to your computer or laptop by a wide ribbon cable that usually had forty pins at the connector in laptops.

SATA drives came onto the scene in the year 2000 and because of their ability to move data faster, they quickly became the hard drive of choice by virtually all manufacturers. Transfer speeds are determined by what generation controller your laptop came with. SATA I has a transfer speed of up to 150MBs per second, SATA II has transfer speeds of up to 300MBs per second, and the latest generation SATA III has transfer speeds of up to 600MBs per second. All Panasonic Toughbook G2's utilize PCIe controllers.

There are also different SATA interfaces. Along with the familiar seven pin connector, there are also M.2, PCIe, eSATA, mSATA, NVMe and others. The Panasonic Toughbook G2 comes equipped with an NVMe drive as the main drive and as the optional drive.

READ/WRITE SPEEDS

Read and write speeds for a NVMe drive can vary by generation and manufacturer. Below are typical read/write speeds:

PCIe Gen 3.0: Read/Write around 2,000 to 3,500 MB/s.

PCIe Gen 4.0: Read/Write around 5,000 to 7,500 MB/s

PCIe Gen 5.0: Read/Write speeds exceeding 10,000 MB/s, up to 14,500 MB/s.

READ/WRITE SPEED COMPARISONS

So if SSDs and HDDs use the same SATA computer bus controllers, how come SSDs are so much faster? The answer is in the read and write speeds. Whereas a typical SATA HDD has read/write speeds of 12MBs per second at the low end and pretty much top out at 120MBs per second max, a typical consumer 2.5 inch SSD has read and write speeds of over 500MBs per second, nearly four times faster! And SSD speeds are increasing as technology improves.

You use your Panasonic Toughbook every day so why wouldn’t you want a laptop that’s running at its peak performance? Optimize the performance of your laptop by upgrading the RAM/memory to its maximum capacity. Learn more about the advantages of taking your Toughbook to the next level here.

And don’t forget to make your Toughbook mobile friendly with 4G/LTE or 5G broadband. Use your Toughbook for what it was made to do! Learn more.