Product Description

The DriveStation TurboUSB External Hard Drives let you store, back up, and easily transport various files without taking up room on your computer's main hard drive. Based on the latest SATA hard drive technology for larger capacities and with TurboUSB technology, DriveStation's transfer rates are up to 37% greater than those of standard USB hard drives. With auto installation, Memeo AutoBackup Software and support, the DriveStation is a plug and play secure and reliable USB backup and storage solution.Main...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #50259 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Buffalo
• Model: HD-HS500U2
• Released on: 2007-09-18
• Dimensions: 7.87" h x 1.81" w x 6.42" l, 2.80 pounds
• Memory: 0MB DRAM
• Hard Disk: 500GB
• Processors: 1

Customer Reviews

Excellent Product
I'll keep this brief and I've worked in IT for the last 20 years so I know what I'm on about. This product is aimed at the low end market for data backup and to this end it works great. It's quiet, fast and comes with the first class Memeo Backup software which allows files to be backed up and stored in a Windows Explorer friendly fashion. Don't expect corporate business critical type resillience for this kind of money but for home or small business use (that's me) it's great value for money.

Good looking, easy to use, well built unit - it's physically unstable though. Never use it as the only backup of crucial data
This is a very classy looking & sturdy little unit with a single USB2 and firewire connection [both leads supplied but only 1m long]. Firewire is only really useful if you are ever likely to attach the DriveStation to an older Apple or happen to have a Firewire port free. Newer Apples and Win98SE/ME PCs will also connect via USB2, provided the disk is left formatted in FAT32 and not converted to NTFS. Technically you can attach this drive to a USB1 but with a 50x slower transfer speed the drive is unusable (a 12 min USB2 file transfer takes 6 hours via USB1 if it finishes at all) - so just get a Belkin USB2 PCI card (or similar) to upgrade an older PC if necessary.

Never treat these drives as reliable backup though - any hard drive will fail eventually and the HD failure rate is around 4% in the first year alone, and external hard drives are generally less reliable than internal PC ones [that's a lot of hard drive failures]. Ironically hard drives running cool [27oC] are around twice as likely to fail than those running at nearer the optimum 40oC. So keep a copy of crucial data/photos on DVD-R and ideally your PC main drive as well as on this external HD, then chances are you won't lose all three copies at the same time [except when there's fires, civil unrest, acts of God, etc]. As all our PCs are XP, I reformatted the Buffalo's 500Gb drive to more reliable NTFS and got 465Gb of useable space [for Apples and Windows 98 keep the drive formatted in FAT32 as supplied]. Note there are two hard drive `duo' versions of the DriveStation that offer twin hard drive RAID mirroring for extra data security - although data is more at risk on any external hardrive compared to internal versions, e.g. just plugging a Firewire lead in the wrong way round [it can be done] will fry the electronics, or you can simply drop the unit when lugging it between PCs. If you consign all your precious data to this hard drive with no other backup copy, then sadly it's all rather your fault if [or rather when] the hard drive fails you lose everything - data recovery from a dead hard drive costs £1,000s of pounds. Protecting data is all about minimising risks, i.e. multiple backups on different media, admittedly mixed in with a bit of luck [acts of God and all that].

If you use the DriveStation for backup, still make DVD copies of important data though, as if any one steals your PC or lightning strikes nearby, the PC and DriveStation are likely to go together. Ideally store your backup DVDs in another building. In addition I backup crucial data onto two seperate external drives attached to different PCs.

When you connect the DriveStation via USB2 the hard drive is ready to go (to get `turbo' transfer USB2 speeds to `up to' 2x normal you need to load a Buffalo driver into XP as well). This unit transferred 1Gb of files to my PC desktop in 1 min 16 sec - and it took the same time to write the files from the PC back again. Deleting these files from the DriveStation was pretty instant. The Buffalo's hot swappable - unplug the USB2/Firewire cable and the DriveStation simply powers down [although as these leads, particularly FireWire, also carry a voltage feed I generally only detach/attach these cables when the DriveStation & PC are powered down]. There's the usual software Windows disconnect procedure to ensure data being transferred isn't lost when hot swapping. I have once accidentally switched off an independently powered external hard drive while moving pictures from a camera and I lost all the pictures on the camera card - fortunately freeware PhotoRec recovered them all. The DriveStation switches on & off automatically with the PC, although this did frequently go awry with my Western Digital MyBook external drives, so I now use a one-click mains panel that switches off all peripherals including this drive when the PC goes off. The hard drive then spins up as the PC restarts. Unlike my WD units though, this Buffalo unit has a proper mains on/off switch on the back [so leave it off when you don't need it]. On the front there's a green LED for `on' and a `red' LED for disk active. Cooling is passive with this 500Gb, and even when reformatting the hard drive the unit appeared to stay cool, i.e. less than 50oC [with it's touted passive cooling vents]. You can fit an optional cooling fan which might improve reliability [but at the expense of a lot of extra noise] - if fitted, the fan can be set to manual full on or `auto'. As is the unit is very quiet.

The DriveStation seems to be very happy standing upright like a book, but it can be easily knocked over, so I stand it close [1cm] to the PC case while ensuring air vents aren't blocked [it matches my Dell perfectly]. You can't really lay it on it's side [or stack units on top of each other] as you will block air vents - perhaps that's where the optional fan comes in. I don't get a lot of vibration from the unit when the drive is spinning [unlike my old WD MyBook that needed additional cork stick on pads]. The hard drive is great for secondary backup and storing digital photographs or MS Office files, and access time is pretty quick. Naturally it's too slow for games or most other software, but it gives your internal drive more space for them. Plus there's no IDE BIOS limitations on disk size (typically 120Gb or even 8.4Gb on older PCs). Unlike the larger versions, there's no cooling fans, just a lot of vent holes - any noise is just the hard drive spinning.

Our DriveStations are used as a secondary back up for valuable scientific data and images from our microscope systems, and it offers quicker data recovery than our backup DVDs or on-line storage. There is Backup software included with the DriveStation, called `Memeo' which has had poor reviews - I use Nero8 Back-it-up or simply the copy/move file command though and have never tried it. The DriveStation also ships with pdf instruction manuals for the hardware and software. Included on the CD is 'format' utility to reformat the drive in FAT32 [or FAT12 & FAT16] should you wish to [Windows XP can format the drive in NTFS]. Plus there's a SecureLockWare utility that password protects the DriveStation using AES [Advanced Encryption Standard], but don't forget the password. All the utility software seems to be for Windows XP or 2000 only, although the drive will work in standard mode with any OS that supports a USB2 port.

So overall I am quite happy with this cheap Buffalo 500Gb DriveStation external storage drive - I now have two [one is 320Gb]. It looks far better than my WD MyBooks in it's classy black/silver finish [although it isn't as stable as the MyBook in it's single hard drive form]. On the plus side this unit is also portable enough to be dragged off to another PC in the office or to home for an occasional fast large data backup/transfer. It comes with a small mains transformer brick and associated cabling that also needs transporting though. Plus the connection socket from the power supply at the rear of the DriveStation case wobbles a bit alarmingly when you plug in the snug fitting power lead, not boding well for swapping it frequently between PCs. In addition, the larger DriveStations might offer better value [more Gbs per pound]. But, overall highly recommended and I'll give it five.

Don't trust this drive with anything you want to keep.
I have a few external Hard Drives on my machines, and this one and the Western Digital My Book are both truly dire.

The problem is that they simply run far far too hot and then to top it off the whole thing is encased in a nice thermally insulated plastic case with no room for cooling. In the end, I took the cases off and left the drives exposed to some air but even so they still often overheat.

Don't waste your money, sanity and your data buying a plastic cased drive with no air circulation and no fan; go and buy a Western Digital Elements 500GB USB 2.0 or a Freecom - Both have aluminium cases with quite good heat dissipation and I have had no problems with either.