14 DAY TRIAL // Over the past couple of months, Buffalo has unveiled several external storage solutions that do their best to reach as small a form factor as possible while retaining all performance specifications that users take into account when deciding on a purchase. Now that the USB 3.0 interface is picking up speed, Buffalo decided to more quickly step up from portable hard drives to portable solid state drives and, in the process, add the bonus of high-speed data transfers enabled by the SuperSpeed standard.
Back in March, the company released the MiniStation Cobalt USB 3.0 Portable HDD. Now, the storage maker has used a similar outer design on the SHD-PEHU3 family of external SSDs, which not only merge together mobility and speed, but also provide data security.
The solid state drives are housed inside a glossy, black casing measuring 97 (W) x 57 (H) x 12 (D) mm. This compact frame can pack 64GB, 128GB and 256GB of storage space. When plugged into a USB 3.0 connector, the rapid transfer capabilities of Flash memory combine with the high bandwidth of the interface, enabling either of the three drives to transfer data at sustained speeds of up to 244MB/s, provided the bundled Turbo PC software tool is made use of.
The devices weigh only 66 grams and, to ensure universal compatibility, are backwards compatible with USB 2.0 and USB 1.1 ports. Of course, when plugged into such connectors, maximum speeds will be limited by the interface itself. As for security, the units are sold with software that allows the data to be easily encrypted and protected.
Carrying price tags of $282, $510 and $1,079, respectively, the 64GB, 128GB and 256GB SHD-PEHU3 Series SSDs will be usable to quickly and easily transfer files between computers or to perform backup and system-recovery tasks. They should reach Japanese stores in late May.