TechRadar Verdict
Pros
- +
Strong build
- +
High capacity
- +
Shock-proof design
- +
Small
Cons
- -
Still quite bulky
- -
Slow read and write speeds compared to other USB 3.0 drives
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The Buffalo MiniStation Plus is a very impressive external hard drive, considering it has capacity to hold 1TB of data in such a small case. It might not be quite as slim as the Seagate GoFlex Slim, but it holds lots more files.
Although it's small, the reason why it isn't quite as tiny as its ultra-thin competitors is that it has a shock-proof chassis.
Due to its small size and large capacity, there's a good chance that you'll be carrying a lot of your important files and documents around on it, so its sturdy build quality is very welcome.
Unlike some USB 3.0 external hard drives, the Buffalo MiniStation Plus doesn't use a Solid State Drive, opting for a more old-fashioned 5,400RPM hard disk. This means that it lags quite a bit behind SSD-based external hard drives when it comes to speed, with write speeds of around 44MB/s in our tests.
The software that comes with the Buffalo MiniStation Plus promises to speed things up, but we found that it made little difference.
Verdict
In our tests, using a 5,400RPM hard disk fails to make the most of the USB 3.0 connection's potential.
