Final thoughts and rating
...so while we like what Buffalo has done here, we'd suggest holding fire until pricing makes more sense.Buffalo understands that getting the most out of portable external storage requires pairing a fast SSD with an enclosure sporting a Thunderbolt interface. The firm does precisely this with its MiniStation Thunderbolt Portable SSD by housing a Micron/Crucial m4 drive inside a well-built, attractive chassis that sports both Thunderbolt and USB 3.0/2.0 connectivity.
Our numbers prove that Thunderbolt is the faster interfaces for shovelling lots of data across to a host PC, and the MiniStation manages to sustain 250MB/s when pushing over 26GB across the Thunderbolt cable. Fast as it is in isolated scenarios, Buffalo's choice of drive, the Crucial m4, leads to writing speeds that aren't up there with the best of the competition. Perhaps most problematic of all is the £200 asking price for a 128GB model, which is over twice the cost of the SSD.
Buffalo's sound technology and top-class presentation need to be bolstered by a street price the enthusiast or creative type - the target market - are willing to pay. We believe this is no more than £150 for a 128GB model, so while we like what Buffalo has done here, we'd suggest holding fire until pricing makes more sense.
The Good
Can be supremely fast
Excellent build quality
Thunderbolt and USB 3.0-readyThe Bad
Feels expensive; should be below £150
SSD writing speed isn't the best
HEXUS Rating
Buffalo MiniStation Thunderbolt Portable SSD (128GB)HEXUS Where2Buy
The Buffalo MiniStation Thunderbolt Portable SSD (128GB) is available from Dabs.com.
HEXUS Right2Reply
At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.
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