BUFFALO MiniStation Extreme 1TB USB 3.0 Black External Hard Drive HD-PZ1.0U3B BUFFALO MiniStation Extreme 1TB USB 3.0 Black External Hard Drive HD-PZ1.0U3B

Pros: I like the actual hardware, it has a very nice feel. One side is shiny and the other side has a kind of nonskid texture to it. I really like the fact that Buffalo put a flex connect USB cable on it. At first I did not like this feature, in fact the first time I tried to use it I was very unhappy, but after I really looked at it I can see that it gives the external hard drive a much longer life. No small ports to break, no small pins to bend, just a good solid cable that folds into the side of the external housing. One of my favorite parts of the Buffalo MiniStation is the LED indicator that does flash like a standard LED indicator so you can see the connectivity while data is being transferred. I did drop it while I was sending data. “The drop was about 9 inches” I wanted to see what would happen. It kept on working just like I would expect it to with it being mil-spec. I have to say that I treated this a bit rough, I am a busy high level tech and this little MiniStation went with me all over. It’s small enough that I can put it in my pocket and bend over without any pain “you know when the big device in your pocket pinches your skin on your leg”. I really loved the encryption software, it makes this a much more attractive buy and I feel safer knowing that if it is stolen it does have a layer of protection. The biggest draw for me was that you don’t have to use the added software that Buffalo gives with you to use the encryption. I personally set up the encryption without having to install the Turbo PC EX which was very nice.

Cons: The biggest drawback for me was the included software. The Turbo PC EX was just bulky. The systems tray was always in the right upper corner of my screen and I would sometimes click on the expansion tab by accident. I was also saddened to see that the transfer speeds were not noticeably higher like the software said they were going to be. “I have put the transfer speeds in my thoughts section”. One of the easy ways to get rid of the tool tray is to do an MSConfig and turn off the software on startup. I have to say that if you are a light user of PC this might seem a bit daunting. One big issue I ran into about the device in general is that the password auto pop up does not always work, so when you plug in the Buffalo MiniStation you can see the device but you cannot access it because you have not put in the encryption password. There is an easy fix for this, open the Drive folder and you will see “password.exe”, just double click on that and the password input box will pop up and allow you to enter your password. You should never have to do this, Buffalo needs to fix that! When you delete large files from the device it does take a long time. I left my biggest gripe for the end the Turbo PC EX software took over my transfer settings and every time I plugged in a USB storage device Turbo PC would pop up. Some of my USB devices are set as bootable devices and for some unknown reason this would freeze the whole USB device.

Other Thoughts: I was not able to make it go from PC to Mac with the encryption on, the password file was unreadable. I wish the documentation for PC was as in depth as it is for MAC. For my speeds I was ranging from 28.7 to 31.4 MB per second on USB 2.0 using an HDD hard drive. On USB 3.0 I was getting speeds of 110 to 128 MB per second using an HDD hard drive. I would buy the Buffalo MiniStation, it is a reliable device. I am taking away one egg for the added software issues and the fact that the password.exe does not always populate properly. I would have liked the drive to be wiped after the third wrong password input but it only closes the password pop up window. Great Little Device With Good Features

Pros: Small (fits in a jeans pocket).

Very lightweight. It didn't weigh much more than an iPhone.

Indicator light showing usb plug type/encryption status.

Built in USB cable.

Fast speeds. I was getting about 110MB/s in CDM on Seq r/w and peaking at 120ish in HDTune. That's crazy fast for an external. This was over USB3.

USB2 speeds were around 40MB/s read 35MB/s write in CDM Sequential.

Drive encryption.

Survivability.

Cons: Half the body is slick plastic while the other half is a nice textured rubber. The slick plastic gets slippery if your hands are at all sweaty, and while the drive can survive drops I don't really WANT to be dropping it.

The attached USB cable is really short. I understand it has to be to fit on the body but it makes it useless unless it's going into a laptop or the case has top USB plugs (like an Antec 900). The cable also covers up the awesome status indicator LED making it useless.

Included software feels like it's from 1999. To be expected.

The edges are rounded so it has to lay flat or it will fall, unless it's on the top which a) removes the usage of the internal usb cord, and b) once again covers the status LED.

The built in encryption is nice, but when you plug it in and authenticate it unmounts/remounts/etc and windows will beep about 5 times.

Drive to usb connector isn't something you can find in your desk drawer.

Other Thoughts: I do a lot of work in medical offices. This means hard floors, harsh chemicals, and either xrays or scalpels. In the past we have subjected flash drives to xrays (calibrating the machines) and the buffalo gets the same treatment without really caring.

We sometimes set up remote office backups and usually do the first backup at the office on an external, copy it to the server, then have the diff'd files backup. This drive fits right in the line tool bag without taking much space (or pants pocket) and didn't really seem to care about getting banged around. Its speeds were crazy fast compared to the 64gb flash drive I've been using, they were even comparable to my internal wd black.

I wish it had been more rubber and less plastic around the casing. While I haven't been able to break it yet I still cringed during the drop testing, just waiting for the plastic to crack. So far, no cracks or scuffs.

As far as drop testing went, it got tossed on a desk, tile, carpet from about a foot to 6 feet without any noticeable damage. How long could it take that abuse over time? Who knows.

So far after a week of abuse and use, highly recommended.

The drive impressed me with its blazing USB3 speeds, physical durability, full drive encryption, light weight, and compact size.

It let me down with the weird internal connector, short internal usb cable that seems unlikely to be changeable, and the under-utilized status LED.

Pros: The actual Hardware I give 5 eggs to, the software gets 3 eggs, so 4 eggs overall. The drive does hold up to being dropped 60" onto a linoleum floor. The semi-attached mini-cable is handy, although short, but an extender cable is supplied.
Physical stress tests :
Rude Slap out of machine w/30" drop to linoleum floor : Survived !!
48" drop to linoleum floor (disconnected) : Survived !!!
60" drop to linoleum : Survived ! but mini-cable came out, and was then difficult to reconnect, as some minor damage did occur to the internal mini-USB 3 plug.
The Encryption software is good. The TurboPC-Ex is good at speeding up reading smaller files(only!).
Summary: A good value for the price. Durable, large, fast drive.

Cons: The Hardware only has minor cons. The thin edges (except one) are rounded, so the drive can't stand on edge. The mini-cable is very hard to remove without eventually causing the inner mini-USB3 plug damage. The mini-cable, although it has standard USB connector, has the inner one at a 90 degree angle down and runs length wise to the cable (see attached photo). In theory, a standard cable could be used, or used as a replacement, but the inner socket orientation effectively makes it a manufacturers only item.
The Software, other than encryption, isn't worth dealing with. If you are going to use the software, like for the encryption feature, first Download the latest CD Image, which will be the newer version of what comes on the drive. The Downloaded DriveNavi.exe has file date of 11-30-2012 ... You will need The ACTUAL product model number, it is not what is on the box, or printed on the device, it's on a thin white sticker on the drive, under the mini-cable that starts out with the S/N (14 digit serial number), you'll also need to give the S/N. Once you know this the web site is easy to deal with.
Encryption software FORMATS the entire drive !! Install this first before using drive !!
no EJECT right click shortcut in File Explorer , and TurboPC-Ex replaces the standard Win7 copy dialog with a custom one, which lacks transfer speed.
With and Without TurboPC-Ex tests show it only is worth something for READING SMALL FILES. The rest of what it claims is pure bunk! If you are going to use TurboPC, download the latest version, as it is slightly faster than what comes with the installer on the drive.
Backup Utility does not backup System OS or Program files folders, nor OS root files.
BU can be interval 1,3,6,12,24 hours or at schedule time(s) in 24 hr time 00:00 to 23:59 NOTE: only 3 times can be entered, and NO DATE, so times are everyday. BIG MINUS !!
There is no means of telling BU what to include except whole drives, but then you can tell it what to exclude when the Exclude folders dialog comes up, which is confusing. You click the 'ADD' button to add one folder at a time to the exclude list, and one at a time can be a big time drain.
Conclusion: BU software in mediocre at best. The BU files are uncompressed and accessible (a plus) ... BU utility software for restoration is competent.
The installation, DriveNavi.exe puts a Drive-Navi folder on your desktop: Do not delete this without coping it somewhere safe. It gets rewritten to the drive after the format utility is complete. You can download the CD-Image from the site to replace it, if you did.

Other Thoughts: Out of Box tests when reading and writing to/from SSD:
write 4.5GB ISO: 43 sec @150MB/s
read 4.5GB ISO: 26 sec @275 MB/s
write 1.51 GB in 23,187 file: 1 min 20 sec @19 MB/s
Read 1.51 GB in 23,187 files: 1 min 17 sec @20 MB/s
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.2 x64 results on Windows 7 64 bit
Data in MB/s @ 5 runs: 50 MB | 100 MB | 500 MB | 1000 MB | 2000 MB | 4000 MB
Sequential Read 110.1 | 112.8 | 115.2 | 114.9 | 113.4 | 112.9
Sequential Write 109.6 | 111.9 | 114.6 | 114.7 | 114.0 | 113.2
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Speed w/Turbo-PC and Encrypt: 50 MB@9 runs
Seq Read:100.6 MB/s, Seq Write:102.3 MB/s
Speed w/Encrypt, w/out Turbo: 50 MB@9 runs
Seq Read:100.6 MB/s, Seq Write:102.1 MB/s
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Speed w/Turbo but w/out Encrypt:
v110 came with the drive, v200 was downloaded from web site.
50MB test:
Seq Read: 3016.8 MB/s (?cache to RAM?) w/v110, 294.6 w/v200
Seq Write: 112.5 MB/s w/v110, 107.4 w/v200
1000MB test:
Seq Read:115.6 MB/s w/v110, 112.6 w/v200
Seq Write: 116.2 MB/s w/v110, 112.7 w/v200
write 4.5GB ISO: 42 sec
read 4.5GB ISO: 38 sec
write 1.51 GB in 23,187 file: 1 min 18 sec
Read 1.51 GB in 23,187 files: 55 sec w/v110, 47 sec w/v200
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Encryption Password has a HINT
Secure Lock Manager has encryption mode, changing password, auto-authentication, limit for incorrect password attempts and reset to factory defaults. Changing Encrypt Mode and reset to default both format the drive !
Note: after scheduling backup, the first back is run. If scheduled BU overlaps the initial BU only one BU will run at a time.
BU restore - Select folder/file icon in MAIN-Center panel then click Blue Restore Button or Blue Browse Button at bottom or right click folder icon. 'Browse' allows restoring to alternate folder, so navigate to new location (with new folder creation, if desired) and will restore to there, but gives no prompt, just BAM! and restores.
Desktop/Sidebar Widget collapses to a thin grey strip on edge of desktop and can be moved to any of the four edges of desktop (plus)
Eco manager will put the drive to sleep after a preset number of minutes. Simple and it works, but doesn't Windows put the drive to sleep on it's own?
General notes:
Note: no EJECT right click shortcut in File Explorer ... have to use System Tray USB device Eject ... Drive can be removed without stopping it first, just like USB flash drives. Don't do it while drive is reading or writing ! Safe when drive is IDLE or sleeping only !
Un-installing Turbo-PCand RAM-Disk Utility are CLEAN , no left-overs, but both require reboot
Turbo-PC EX is installed as 2 SERVICES ... TurboPC EX DiskCashe Control Service and TurboPC EX FileCopy Service both are set to Automatic Start-Up.