Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27615 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Buffalo
• Model: HD-PF250U2
• Released on: 2008-06-30
• Dimensions: .87" h x 3.27" w x 5.16" l, .49 pounds
• Memory: 0MB DRAM
• Hard Disk: 250GB
• Processors: 1

Manufacturer's Description
Buffalos MiniStation TurboUSB portable hard drive provides you with robust storage in a portable and compact chassis. The shock-resistant case combines an armoured shell and a shock absorbent inner floating structure to deliver unrivaled protection for your data on the move.

The TurboUSB feature allows you to speed up your file transfers by up to 64% so no more waiting around to back up or retrieve your essential files. Buffalo also provides Memeo AutoBackup software which allows user to simply and automatically backup their important files simply and effectively. The Secure Lockware software enables users to lock the hard drive according to their needs. For example users can lock a file, a folder or the complete hard drive thus making all your personal data safe in the event of loss.

Also includes a convienent wrap around cable for easy storage. This cable also delivers power to your hard drive from your laptop or PC's USB2 port, so there is no need for additional power supply or mains adapter. The low power consumption means you can run this from your laptop without it being plugged in thus giving you the ability to take massive amounts of extra data with you like music and video on longer journeys.

Box Contents

Customer Reviews

Excellent little performer
Had this drive for about a week now and so far, so good.

Recognised immediately by XP, showing up as another hard disc in 'my Computer' and was able to 'drag & drop' files to backup directly onto a backup folder I created on the drive.

Does seem to be fast, transferring just under 1Gb per minute. (transferred 37Gb onto it in about 40 minutes). Ultra quiet (quieter than my laptop fan) and doesn't seem to run too hot, although I only had it on for an hour.

Comes with 2 USB cables. 1 you can attach to a normal USB port on the top of the drive to transmit data and also power the drive and a second which fits into another USB port on your PC/laptop and slots into a separate power in port on the top of the drive. The drive works perfectly well with only the data cable attached, powering the drive and allowing fast enough transfer rate to stream video etc. from the drive to your PC. I presume the other power USB cable is for the 'turbo' transfer speeds; I used this when transferring large bits of data.

Packaged with Memeo backup software, but I chose not to install this after reading other customer reviews... it seems people either love or hate this software. I chose not to install it on the small chance I might hate it! Or that it might do more harm to my computer than good. I will simply wipe the current backup folder I created later and transfer all my data again, thus avoiding dependence on questionable software to update my data in increments.

Overall, very good and speedy portable hard drive with adequate space (250Gb - double what's on my laptop) for a good price. Packaged software could apparently be better.

Excellent performer,and what a bargain!
Had this little drive for over a week now and it has performed perfectly,copying large amounts of data as backup in no time at all.I installed the backup software and find it very useful as it works in the background and apart from a little pop up window to let you know it has backed up you would never know it was there.My only gripe with the device is the case,it has 2 sockets one for the data and one for an extra power socket should it be needed (I have never needed it)It is the entrance to these sockets that I find is way too large,you can even see part of the circuit board through the hole where the data cable goes,This to me just means any small bits (paper clips etc)from your pocket or laptop case could find there way inside the case and if the bits are metal could have disastrous results.All in all a fantastic piece of kit but the case could do with a little work to improve.

Bargain backup drive
I've only just installed this drive on my Vista PC. You will need to install the dotnet framework version 1.1 and the Service Pack 1 update to get the supplied backup software working. But that's all free from Microsoft so I can't really mark it down for that.

I have not tried out the "turbo" stuff yet - I'm inherently skeptical of badges like that. I subscribe to the theory "If it sounds too good to be true then it probably is". And besides, that's not why I bought this drive.

What I wanted was a portable drive with no external power supply and software that's easy to use. On all counts this package scores highly. And Amazon scores bonus points for undercutting the competition by over a tenner, which all adds up to making this a bargain!

There is an additional USB lead that appears to provide extra power if needed. Personally I do not need it, which is good. The data lead tidies away very neatly by wrapping around the drive unit. Having another cable hanging loose would have been a bit of a disappointment.

Lastly I recommend ignoring the Case Logic pouch that is advertised. I checked the measurements and the pouch looks way too large for this drive.

In short this is a very good drive at a competitive price. Two thumbs up!