Buffalo MiniStation Thunderbolt Review - An External with USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt

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.