14 DAY TRIAL // Buffalo released quite a number of products over the past months, and it seems like the company has a penchant for external and/or portable storage units with moderate to high capacities. Already the outfit is selling a variety of devices as part of the MiniStation series, even models of 1TB. Now, Buffalo appears to be quite eager to expand its offer, though it has taken a somewhat more security and durability-oriented approach on this one. What it prepared is the MiniStation Metro portable hard disk.
Though its name is not exactly telling, the Metro is, in fact, a portable hard disk drive designed with a casing whose specific purpose is to provide high degrees of physical protection. To be more specific, Buffalo implemented the BumperBody shock protection system. Also, to make sure that the data is just as secure, the hardware maker added 256-bit AES hardware encryption. All in all, the MiniStation Metro is a small box measuring 90 x 20 x 134 mm and weighing 240 grams that still has an integrated USB 2.0 cable and support for Apple's Time Machine.
The Buffalo Mini Station Metro is designed to communicate with host PCs via the USB 2.0 interface standard. This means that the very fast transfer rates of 5.0 Gbps possible on the SuperSpeed USB 3.0 standard are unavailable. Nevertheless, this next-generation technology has still not become overly widespread. Thus, Buffalo possibly chose 2.0 in order to avoid adding any unnecessary cost. On the other hand, the outfit definitely did not hold back when it came to actual storage and designed not just 320GB versions, but also 500GB and even 1TB models.
The 320GB, 500GB and 1TB Buffalo MiniStation Metro hard drives are priced at $146, $183 and $295, respectively, and will reach Japan next week, in three color versions, namely Pearl White, Ruby Red and Blue Onyx.