Buffalo MiniStation Thunderbolt Review - An External with USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt
by Brian Klug on August 1, 2012 4:04 PM EST- Posted in
- Storage
- SSDs
- USB 3.0
- Thunderbolt
- Buffalo
The first Thunderbolt peripherals were primarily aimed at the very high end, as they were usually either RAID or JBOD solutions, with either a number of HDDs or SSDs and first generation Thunderbolt controllers. For the vast majority of customers, single drive solutions with much more modest price points were what everyone has been waiting for, and I strongly feel that the Buffalo MiniStation Thunderbolt is one such drive.
The combination of Apple-reminiscent industrial design, an affordable price point, and the option for either USB 3.0/2.0 and Thunderbolt as an interface makes it a no brainer for shoppers with both feet squarely in the Apple ecosystem. Even outside the Apple ecosystem, users with Z77 boards that include Thunderbolt will shortly be looking for drives and enclosures that allow them to use the new interface. In addition, a number of previous drives haven’t been nearly as portable as the MiniStation Thunderbolt is in practice, which is a one-piece solution that’s powered entirely over either USB2.0/3.0 or Thunderbolt.
As Apple moves to a platform that increasingly is flash-only, albeit with less overall storage, external mass storage will start becoming important once again. Buffalo feels that it’s here they can win with the MiniStation Thunderbolt for iTunes and Video collections that users will stick on external storage. Whether that comes true or the cloud-centric, thin client as a cache model wins out is still something that remains to be seen. As a drive, however, the MiniStation Thunderbolt is an excellent use of what boils down to the current fastest external interface, even if it isn’t over fiber, yet.
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Calista - Thursday, August 2, 2012 - link
Compare it to the USB2 numbers. It's a huge difference. This product is designed to fit well with Apple users where you can expect potential hosts to support Firewire, USB2, USB3 and/or Thunderbolt.USB2 and Firewire is more or less the same, and USB3 has been with Apple for only a short while. So we have a situation where both TB and USB3 equipped Macs can expect superior speed while still being backward compatible with any Mac from the last century.
If choosing a USB3-only solution only a Mac only a handful of computers would support it (rMBP being the first) while TB was first included 18 months ago.
I'm not saying it's a perfect solution, but for the "right person" it's a solution superior to a pure USB3-interface.
Sm0kes - Thursday, August 2, 2012 - link
Judging by the comments -- the "right person" is a very small minority, which underscores the disappointment with this and all previous Thunderbolt enclosures released to date.Until a bare enclosure like this comes out at cheaper price point (~$60 - $80), these will be niche products.
C'DaleRider - Wednesday, August 1, 2012 - link
You're using a trademarked shape, the rectangle. Apple may want a word with you.name99 - Wednesday, August 1, 2012 - link
Oh you're so witty! And really adding to the conversation...MarsMSJ - Wednesday, August 1, 2012 - link
I have a 13 " MBP Early 2011 and I only have two options, thunderbolt or USB 2.0. These drives are awesome especially since they include the thunderbolt cable. Apple sells this cable for 50USD. These drives are great for me and my VM (VMs wreck consumer ssd's.)name99 - Wednesday, August 1, 2012 - link
"Port Ridge is popping up in a lot of places, for good reason - it’s inexpensive, second generation, small, and has a low TDP."Damn, our standards are pretty undemanding in this space, aren't they.
IMHO .7W is massive --- let's recall that we expect a USB2 drive of this sort to run comfortably off 2.5W.
Of course this will fall in time, but until then let's not pretend a pig in lipstick is Cindy Crawford. .7W sucks, and we better hope Intel does better than reduce it by factor of 2 for the next rev.
[As a secondary issue, what's with this idiotic fad for no-pass-through drives? IF we lived in a world where TB hubs actually existed, it would make sense. But since these hubs don't appear to exist, and Buffalo, for example, is not filling the vacuum, creating a device of this form is just idiotic. The already minuscule pool of people willing to buy a device like this is mostly people who
(a) have plenty of peripherals and
(b) were burned the last time round by FW800, with its lack of hubs and its peripherals that all shipped with no pass through.
Honestly at this point I hope either Intel or Apple just do an MS Surface and say "screw 3rd part vendors. These people are so damn incompetent they're making our product look bad, and WTF cares if our competition bankrupts them --- they damn well deserve it}.]
ggathagan - Thursday, August 2, 2012 - link
Setting this up as a passthrough-capable drive would increase the price (more expensive controller), increase the complexity of the circuit design and raise the TDP to at least 2.8w.That would make little sense for Buffalo, given the "already minuscule pool of people " you describe.
If and when TB has a more pervasive presence, I would expect to see pass-through designs. At this point, however, I'd say Buffalo's playing it smart.
The same holds true for the choice of hard drive. Not only are they the 1st to market with a relatively low cost TB external drive, but the drive choice means no external power is needed.
If it proves to be popular, adding additional drive options, as well as just the enclosure, will be very easy.
That's a win-win at this point in time.
jacobdrj - Thursday, August 2, 2012 - link
I have been wanting there to be a Thunderbolt SATA Enclosure for a while now. Reason being: On all the new MACs, I would be able to upgrade everyone's computers without cracking open their system, voiding their warranty, and all a lot faster, just by implanting an umbilical-ly connected SSD via Thunderbolt.I have at least 3 customers this would have made easy jobs of...
repoman27 - Thursday, August 2, 2012 - link
Opening the case does not void the warranty on most Macs, AFAIK. But if you are concerned, you can always take the test to become an Apple Certified Mac Technician. It's not terribly expensive to do, and then you don't have to worry at all.sudokill - Thursday, August 2, 2012 - link
Why are the sequential and some of the random read/writes slower on USB 3.0?? I would assume neither of the interfaces are being saturated by even the SSD. Is it more a OSX/Win 7 Issue?? I was expecting them to be more or less the same