Buffalo has come up with a novel way of easing the hard drive upgrade process. Instead of bundling a 2.5in enclosure with its MicroStation SSD - or not even bothering with one at all - this 3Gb/s Sata laptop drive has its own on-board USB 2.0 port. Buffalo MicroStation SSD Buffalo's MicroStation SSD: speedier than your …

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Monday 5th July 2010 07:31 GMT Paul M 1

What about power consumption?

Would be interesting to know how it compares with the original HDD in terms of power use.

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1. Monday 5th July 2010 12:35 GMT NogginTheNog
  
  Power use
  
  The figures quoted in the specs don't look significantly better that an modern 2.5 HD, but of course how they translate in the real world I couldn't say (the reviewer maybe could?).
  
  Anything that gets more out of my lappy's battery has to be a GOOD thing!
  
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Monday 5th July 2010 09:58 GMT Anonymous Coward

500 gig and £100

is when SSD drives become *really* interesting

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Monday 5th July 2010 09:58 GMT TWB

Integrated USB

Is a great idea for any replacement HD for 'first use' cloning of ones original internal HD. I wonder how much it adds to the cost? Though of course it then probably only gets used once (unless you are one of those people who keeps reinstalling their OS - I'm looking at you Dad.....oh he's not here)

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Monday 5th July 2010 09:58 GMT Youngdog

USB interface a neat idea

Could be just a fad but would like to know if anyone is aware of other HDDs with this feature and what the cost overhead is - and if not why has it taken an SSD to see this idea come about? Is it just a ploy to encourage early adopters (as opposed to making them cheaper?)

I know enclosures are not expensive but I've been caught out before having either the wrong size or the wrong interface when I really needed one.

And while this thread is in a question askin' mood - can we now expect a new benchmark measurement here at Reg Hardware for OS/Disk performance in the form of DWAG:BotC Installs per minute? And can I propose calling the SI unit a Gallifrey?

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Monday 5th July 2010 09:58 GMT Anonymous Coward

Ewww, jmicron

Not touching another jmicron controller based SSD, had a couple from different manufacturers, and they were horribly unreliable. Sandforce is a much better bet.

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Monday 5th July 2010 12:31 GMT Anonymous Coward

Caveat emptor !

Probably a fine product, untill something goes awry and you need Buffalo customer service. They'll bounce you through all their global service branches untill you give up and toss it in the bin.

So beware !

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Monday 5th July 2010 13:53 GMT Jon Green

Buffalo not confident in their software package?

From Buffalo's page for these drives (linked in the article):

"To further enhance the performance of the drive, the MicroStationTM Internal SSD also includes the Buffalo Tools suite of complimentary software, TurboPC and TurboCopy, which increase file transfer and copy times."

I'd rather hope they'd _reduce_ those times!

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Monday 5th July 2010 13:53 GMT Anonymous Coward

RealSSD . . .

RealSSD is an optimistic moniker. Performance tests seem to bear out that this drive is not worthy of its name when compared against SF controllers and drives with over-provisioning. For serious or enterprise use the MicroStation is likely a Buffalo pie.

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Monday 5th July 2010 16:33 GMT BingBong

20 quid if you want somewhere useful to stick the old drive.

Which gold plated 2.5" sata drive enclosures do you buy? I would never spend more than £7 for one from say ebuyer.com and usually buy direct from china via eBay for < £2.50 inc delivery!

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