NEW YORK — Buffalo Technology debuted its first external hard drive using DDR3 memory, which helps boost data-transfer rates by up to three times.
The DriveStation DDR features 1GB of DDR3 memory that sits between the disks and the device controller on the USB printed circuit board assembly, said Brian Verenkoff, Buffalo’s marketing and business development director.
The memory pulls in the data from the computer and optimizes it for transfer to the drive’s internal memory, which then sends it along to the drive platters. Buffalo decided to go with DDR3 flash memory, as opposed to using a solid-state drive for cache as other devices do, because while volatile and more expensive, flash is much faster, Verenkoff said.
Buffalo’s internal testing found the DriveStation DDR two to three times faster than a similar external drive without the DDR3 memory and even comparable to the data speeds obtained by a solid-state external storage drive, but at a much lower cost.
The DriveStation DDR will come in 2TB and 3TB versions with respective prices of $169 and $209. These will initially sell through Amazon, TigerDirect and Microcenter with wider distribution taking place by the end of May, Verenkoff said.
The unit comes with a three-year warranty and bundled backup software.
