Recently I bought a 1TB 2.5” portable USB 3 HDD from Buffalo, to be used as a backup drive, especially during travel. Since my existing Seagate 3.5” desktop drive isn’t travel friendly and I wanted to add multiple external backup options for data security.
I ordered the Buffalo HDD from Cromaretail.com almost a month ago and it was the cheapest 1TB external drive (Rs. 3999 or US$ 65.70) available at that time and even today, the cheapest 1TB 2.5” external HDD listed on Newegg (USA) is US$ 69.99! The fact that it came with 3 year warranty and USB3, despite having such low price was a real boon.
While I do not have a USB 3 port in my desktop or laptop, Buffalo 1TB External HDD is faster than my 1TB Seagate GoFlex Desk drive and I managed to copy a 4.37GB file from my SSD to Buffalo in 2 minutes and 53 seconds, while copying that file from my Buffalo drive to internal WD Green Drive took 2 minutes and 14 seconds.
Copying a 5.07GB folder with 229 files from my SSD to Buffalo External Drive took 3 minutes and 58 seconds.
I deliberately avoided using any synthetic benchmarks or using Buffalo’s TurboPC EX 2 utility or even switching off my antivirus, because I was interested in knowing the real world performance of the HDD, rather than what it could theoretically achieve. However if you are interested in knowing the theoretical bandwidth and performance of the drive, please leave a comment below and I will benchmark the drive for you.
As far as ease of carrying the drive while traveling goes, well it is a pretty compact package and weighs in at 183g; hence it is quite easy to carry in laptop or DSLR backpack.
Buffalo MiniStation Portable HDD along side a normal sized matchbox.
Overall I am quite satisfied with my purchase, and although the drive comes with just bare basics (just a USB 3 Cable and TurboEX2, Backup Utility and SecureLock loaded on the HDD), it is more than enough, considering the price.
Although I would have loved to see a travel pouch or sleeve for safely carrying the drive while traveling. Also I would have loved to see a longer USB3 cable, since the one bundled with the drive is only a couple of feet long, ensuring that most of the time it would be plugged into my Dell U2412M Monitor’s USB port, rather than cabinet itself, though for usage along with a laptop, it is more than enough.
Apart from the above shortcomings, I haven’t found anything else which annoys me about Buffalo Portable Drive, apart from maybe the fact that Buffalo RMA in India is handled by Accel Frontline, who also handles Seagate RMA in India and isn’t all that customer friendly or prompt.
Hopefully Buffalo Portable drive would be able to handle all the rough handling meted out during my travels and serve as a sturdy companion for years to come. However, I would update this review, in case I face any difficulties or HDD crash.
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