REVIEWS / EXTERNAL DRIVES / BUFFALO INDIA

Buffalo MiniStation Extreme USB 3.0 Review

05 Jun, 2012, 9:23 am IST | by Roydon Cerejo | External drives

External drives

Looks good

Looks good
Sturdy and rugged
Good performance

PRICE IN INDIA

5,200

TECH2 RATING

7.5

AVERAGE USER RATING

7.0

How we test

CONTACT

Buffalo India

 b-rajesh@melcoinc.co.jp

 +91 11 41538059

 www.buffalo-asia.com

There will come a time when all of one's data will be stored safely in the cloud and that would include terabytes of their movies and music. However, till that day actually arrives, we will have to rely on portable drives and today we have a tough little cookie from Buffalo, called the MiniStation Extreme drive. It features a USB 3.0 interface and is also U.S Military Standard (MIL-STD-810F 516.5 Procedure IV) certified, so it’s designed to withstand extreme shocks. 

 

Design and Build 

The actual drive is enclosed in a tough plastic shell with a rubberized back for better grip. The shell encases the drive snugly without being overly bulky, compared to a standard portable drive. The MiniStation Extreme is also available in different colours. The USB 3.0 cable comes attached to the drive and folds into the side of the drive, so you’ll never lose the cable. Since the cable is not very long, Buffalo bundles along a USB 3.0 adapter, along with the drive as well for convenience. 

Looks good

Looks good

 

 

There’s a blue LED light on the top that can be seen through the little loop on the top. The drive feels very sturdy and there’s no sign of any creaking plastic parts even when pressed. The front portion has a glossy finish for aesthetic appeal, but is prone to scratches. The drive is available in two capacities - 500GB and 1TB. Buffalo claim that the drive can survive falls from up to 2.3 meters. The hard drive being used is a Samsung HN-N500MBB running at 5400rpm. 

 

Features 

The main feature of the drive is the rugged nature of the enclosure, which makes it a good choice, if you travel a lot or have the habit of lending your drive to friends often. Besides its rugged nature, Buffalo also bundles plenty of utilities to help you along the way. 

Sturdy and rugged

Sturdy and rugged

 

 

First up is the TurboPC EX software that’s supposed to speed up file transfers. The program is present on the drive itself. You also get the option of installing a Backup Utility, which can be used to schedule backups to your drive on a timely basis. They also have a RAMDISK utility that helps clear space up in RAM. You also get Secure Lock Manager that helps you keep track of passwords on your system and also set a password for your drive. You can optionally encrypt the entire drive with a 256-bit hardware encryption for added security. The backup utilities are available for both PC and Mac. Finally, since this is USB 3.0, it’s completely backwards compatible with USB 2.0. 

 

Performance 

With the drive connected to our testbench, which consists of a Core i7-2600K and a P67 motherboard, we ran the Buffalo through our regular series of tests. The internal drive used was a WD Velociraptor to avoid any bottlenecks. All the tests were run with the TurboPC EX drivers installed. In HD Tach, we recorded a sequential read speed of 78.9 MB/s. The rest of the scores are in the chart below.

Good performance

Good performance

 

 

The real world tests involved copying a 2GB Random and Sequential file to and from the drive. Although this is a 5400rpm drive, the Buffalo really excelled in the real world read and write tests, where it simply flew past the Iomega drive. In other tests, the drive was close on the heels of the Prestige SuperSpeed drive. Throughput the test the drive ran extremely silent with very little to no vibration at all. It also doesn’t heat up too much, in fact it barely got warm throughout the testing phase. 

The TurboPC EX in action

The TurboPC EX in action

 

 

Verdict 

The Buffalo MiniStation Extreme is priced well at Rs. 5,200  for the 500GB model and Rs. 7,500 for the 1TB version. This offers much better value, compared to the Iomega, as it’s more portable, thanks to the 2.5-inch drive inside, you don’t need an external power source to run it and it’s as rugged as they come. If you’re looking for a very capable USB 3.0 portable drive in the 2.5-inch space, then the Buffalo MiniStation Extreme makes for an excellent option. 

Specifications  

  • Capacity - 500GB
  • Interface - USB 3.0
  • Data transfer rate - 5Gbps
  • Dimensions -  89 x 128 x 18
  • Weight - 230g
  • OS Support - Windows 7, Vista, XP and Mac OS X or later  

Tags:

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How We Test

The Tech2 Labs receives many products every single week and each of them is tested with the utmost care and highest level of objectivity. There’s a constant effort to reduce and totally eliminate subjectivity. Each product is tested according to set test processes so the same test scenario is used.

Verdict
The ratings awarded to a product are derived from a number of tests and calculations, keeping certain important factors in mind. These factors consist of features, performance, quality and value for money. In case of software and some other categories, build quality might be replaced with ease of use or ease of installation. Products are compared with other products in a similar price range or product category.


Features
The features component of the score is rated based on the kind of features present on a particular product. Features are a big part of what people look for when they’re buying a new product such as a phone or a camera.

Performance
The performance score is derived from the benchmarks and tests run on the product. In case of the subjective scores, an average of the scores given by the group of reviewers is considered.

Build Quality
The build quality of a product is important so that it doesn’t fall apart after some use. The build quality scores from the way the product is designed and the kind of materials used in the product.

Value
Value for money comes from the fact that a cheap product is able to provide most of the performance of a higher priced product. Once again, value for money is judged by comparing pricing and performance of products in a particular price range or category. 

There are many other aspects of the product that are looked at such as the bundled software and accessories. All of these scores are aggregated together to form the final score.

What do the ratings mean?

Ratings are simple - higher the score, the better the product. A brief listing of the features and what they mean are given below.

1 - 3

The product is bad in almost every aspect. We strongly advise against purchasing this product.

4 - 6

An average product that isn't the best you can buy, but isn't the worst either.

7 - 8

Product with this rating is highly recommended because it's priced sensibly, has a good set of features and performs well.

9 - 10

Exceptionally excellent product with features and performance unlike any we've seen in the past. A must-have for everyone!

What is the Average User Rating?

We at Tech2 take product reviewing very seriously and every product is tested with the utmost care and level of objectivity. The end user who buys a particular product and uses it over an extended period of time has his own take on a product and there might be nuances that he or she can shed light on. The Average User Rating is present to help readers get the complete picture of how good or bad a product is. The Average User Rating is calculated by averaging the ratings by the thousands of readers visiting Tech2.com every single day. To record your own rating of a product, simply click on the user rating bar. If you disagree with our ratings or our community's product rating, please don't hesitate from voicing your opinion in the comments section below the review.

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