22 December 2016

REVIEW: Buffalo MiniStation SSD Velocity

Quick and small.

Not so long ago, you had a flash drive in your pocket or bag, and a chunky external hard drive sitting at home on your desk. These days the line between desk-based and pocket-based storage has blurred. One such drive that epitomises that is the Buffalo MiniStation SSD Velocity. Which we've been playing with.



The Buffalo MiniStation SSD Velocity is, as the name suggests, a 'solid-state drive', meaning there are no moving parts inside, unlike traditional spinning hard drives. Because of that SSDs can be both quick and small, and the Velocity nails both of those. For a start, the smooth aluminium casing is just 8.8mm thick while the drive, sans cables, is only 100g in weight. It looks pretty slick, too – having only one USB 3.1 Gen 2 port and single small LED to mark it out as anything other than a pleasing slab of metal.

Obligatory LEGO minifig for scale:


Speaking of ports, the Buffalo MiniStation SSD Velocity comes with two of the USB 3.1 Gen 2 cables; one with a standard USB on the other side, and one with USB-C. This means it's instantly usable, not only with PCs and older MacBooks, but also the new MacBook (which only has USB-C), and new model laptops, tablets, and phones.


So once you're plugged in, hoe does it perform? The Buffalo MiniStation SSD Velocity boasts a maximum read speed of 504.2 mbps, making it up to four times faster than a conventional external drive. Write speeds are also impressively high, topping out at 480 mbps – something that surprised. Usually you expect the write speeds to be significantly lower than the read, so that is something that stands out. All that means that large files can copied from and dumped onto the drive exceptionally quick – far faster than anything of this size we've reviewed before.

We were sent the 240GB model, but 480GB and 980GB are also available – at the same size – for more dosh. That's a nice few storage options, but even the lowest is still great considering the size and weight. If you travel around filming and photographing, and heavy, bulky items are a definite no, this is ideal. Also, for taking a big media library with you wherever you go, the Buffalo MiniStation SSD Velocity's read speeds will mean you'll be able to watch even super high def things without playback issues.


This is a highly portable chunk of storage that seemed to get it right each and every time we've used it. The size means that it could replace that battered old flash drive on your key chain, while the capacity and speed means it could also see you dumping that brick of an external hard drive at home. Well worth it.

£129

Available from www.amazon.co.uk



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