New Buffalo DriveStation Adds “TurboUSB”
External hard drives are a dime a dozen these days, so it’s tough to come up with an innovative feature to help you stand out from the crowd. Buffalo’s three new DriveStation Combo4s — the 320GB HD-HS320Q for $149, the 500GB HD-HS500Q for $189, or the 1-terabyte HD-HS1.0TQ for $349 — all sport what are now considered the standard four interfaces: USB 2.0, FireWire 400/800, and eSATA. It’s worth noting that eSATA is still somewhat uncommon, but dramatically less so than a year ago.
The hook here is Buffalo’s “TurboUSB” software. I’m not clear on exactly how it works (compression? tweaking of USB packets?) but the company says it delivers a 20 percent performance boost when transferring files via the USB 2.0 interface. (Don’t bother searching the Buffalo Web site; at press time, the explanation was all in Latin.)
Other features include a fanless heat sink for quiet operation, and SecureLockWare, which offers file and folder encryption for Windows users through 256-bit AES encryption technology. If that’s important, give this a look.
Original post by Mark Hachman