The Ultimate Storage Solution?

Buffalo MiniStation Extreme

By PF Staff in Articles and Tips on Mar 22, 2013

We recently stumbled over what looks like the ultimate storage solution at our local electronics store: the Buffalo MiniStation Extreme (pictured below).

We were looking for a rugged solution that would allow us to bring several years worth of images with us when we travel. This 1 TB ruggedized hard disk from Buffalo was the answer and we now have a few more on order. This drive supports USB 2.0 as well as USB 3.0, and we have experienced transfer rates exceeding 50 MB/s from our Dell desktop computer to this drive when using USB 3.0. Even with USB 2.0 this is the fastest drive we have experienced.

Besides the high capacity and high speed, what makes this drive really cool is that it is powered through the USB connection so there is no power supply to forget at home, and the drive has a built-in cable, so you cannot forget to bring that either!

The Buffalo 1TB MiniStation Extreme sells for about US $125 which we find very reasonable. It is available amongst other places at your local Fry's Electronics as well as from on-line retailers like Adorama and B&H. You can get a 1 TB non-ruggedized version for less than US $100. A 2 TB non-ruggedized version is also available.

We prefer the ruggedized version for peace of mind since we use it for travel.