Buffalo Turbo Charges Storage Line
By Doug Olenick -- TWICE, 8/20/2007
NEW YORK — Buffalo Technology has upgraded its line of DriveStation and MiniStation external storage drives with a proprietary technology called Turbo USB that the company says increases data throughput by 30 percent.
Turbo USB is available for the first time in eight new Buffalo products shipping this week, said Brian Verenkoff, product marketing manager. The data speed increase was accomplished by upgrading the USB controller in the device, he said.
All the new drives use a 7,200 rpm SATA drive and include power-saving features that powers the drive off and on along with the PC, Verenkoff said. The Turbo USB-equipped MiniStations are the 80GB HD-PS80U2, 120GB HD-PS120U2, 160GB HD-PS160U2, and 250GB HD-PS250U2 while the DriveStation is available in capacities of 320GB HD-HS320U2, 500GB HD-HS500U2, 750GB HD-HS750U2 and 1TB HD-HS1.0TU2/F.
Prices for the MiniStation range from $99 to $219. The DriveStations are $129 to $499. All started shipping this week.
In late August, Buffalo will start shipping its Wi-Fi Gamers router that gives portable gaming devices direct Internet access without the need of a PC. The device supports Nintendo DS, DS Lite, PSP and PlayStation3 consoles, Verenkoff said. The Wi-Fi Gamers uses Buffalo's AirStation one-touch Secure System to provide instant set up with minimal input from the user, he added. The router will also remember a gaming device so the set up only had to be done once.
It will carry a $49 street price.
