Buffalo 320GB MiniStation TurboUSB (HD-PS320U2)

The Buffalo 320GB MiniStation TurboUSB portable hard drive (HD-PS320U2) ($190 street) is a decent bit of technology. It tries to solve some of the hassles of a portable drive while also using technology that speeds up data transfer rates. The MiniStation drive is worth considering if you're in the market for a large-capacity, pocket-size hard drive, but a couple of nits keep it from scoring higher.
The MiniStation TurboUSB 320GB is compact, at 0.8 by 3.3 by 5 inches (HWD). Even though it fits in a coat pocket, the drive has a cushioning system surrounding the internal mechanism (air inside the case also helps cradle the hard drive mechanism). Hopefully, these will keep the drive safe when it's jostled around in your laptop bag on a business trip, or on your long train commute home. Buffalo claims that the (nonoperating) drive can survive a 5-foot drop. I didn't test this scientifically with a drop table, but it did survive a drop from about that height onto the carpet in my office.
pc_magazine512:http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2277051,00.asp
The drive comes with an innovative USB cable that wraps around the drive's perimeter and clips into a slot on the back of the plug. This way, you can keep the cable neatly attached and never lose it (the cable is detachable and easily replaced if it frays or is otherwise damaged). I'm not so sure of the durability of the mini USB plug if the MiniStation is tossed around in a carrying case, but the wraparound cable arrangement is excellent if you keep the drive in a desk drawer or in a pouch or compartment in your laptop bag where it fits snugly. The drive also comes with an auxiliary USB power cable for USB 1.1 and low-powered USB situations. I use an Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (Core 2 Duo) to check drives for low-power problems, and the MiniStation powered up fine without having to use the auxiliary cable. The MiniStation also came with an encryption utility with AES-level encryption.
Unfortunately, Buffalo's one-year warranty is a nit for me. Although a one-year warranty is fairly standard for the external hard drive industry, I'd like to see three- or even five-year warranties, as hard drive makers like Maxtor and Western Digital offer, since you're going to be traveling with a drive this small.
Buffalo includes a Mac- and Windows-compatible utility to activate the drive's TurboUSB feature, which the company claims can increase the drive's transfer rate to as much as 64 percent faster than that of a 4,200-rpm USB 2.0 drive. While some of this gain in speed is no doubt due to the MiniStation's 5,400-rpm drive mechanism, I did see a little improvement during tests on our Windows test bed when I turned Turbo USB feature on instead of leaving it off (it's off by default). The drive's PCMark05 performance score increased by about 3 percent, from 3,132 to 3,236 with the TurboUSB feature turned on. (Recent pocket USB hard drives we've reviewed scored from 2,662 to 3,236.)
Backing up our 1.2GB test folder using the included Memeo backup software was a wash (1 minute 39 seconds with TurboUSB off and 1:37 with it on). Empirically, the Buffalo with TurboUSB is the speediest drive for USB 2.0 transfers I've seen since we recently started using PCMark05 for testing. I did see a little improvement when I copied the same test folder using Windows Explorer. It took 57 seconds with TurboUSB off, 44 with TurboUSB on. What's the verdict? TurboUSB is not a dramatic improvement, but every little bit helps, especially if you transfer a lot of data or have a situation where you need continual or speedy backups.
The Memeo backup software that's included with the drive isn't bad; it gets the job done. Memeo is more of a "document safety" backup software package than a full-blown disaster-recovery program, though. As such, it saves multiple copies of your documents (Word docs, audio files, and the like) rather than keeping a snapshot or image of your entire drive to use in restoring your system if the C: drive fails. That's not too bad if you have an IT-supported laptop or desktop, but it may not be adequate if you're personally responsible for your PC or Mac.
Compared with other 320GB pocket drives such as the Toshiba HDDR320E03X, the Buffalo 320GB MiniStation TurboUSB excels at data transfer, so it's a good choice for the user who needs speed. With the TurboUSB utility installed, the Buffalo drive garnered the fastest scores in a comparison of USB 2.0 pocket drives. Though the warranty is relatively short, this drive's capacity means that you can hold years' worth of data and countless backups. The Buffalo drive should be on your short list if you're looking for a pocket-size drive to back up your data.