Product Reviews

High-capacity external hard drives aren't only useful for storing huge files such as digital video. Devices like the 500GB DriveStation come bundled with Auto Backup software, which ensures your important files are always safely backed up. You simply select the folders or type of file to be backed up from your PC, and let the software do the rest.

Backing up will be one of the DriveStation's main uses, so anything that makes this boring task easier would count as a major selling point. Imagine our disappointment, then, when we attempted to install the bundled Memeo program on our Windows Vista test laptop and nothing happened. After much head-scratching, we uncovered the fact - hidden away in the program's user guide on the install CD - that it's only compatible

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with Windows 2000 or XP. Had this been flagged up on the box or by the software itself, we would have been spared a lot of wasted effort.

This is a shame, as Buffalo haven't cut corners in other ways. There's an external power supply, which should mean it's more reliable than USB-powered drives. The drive doesn't need to be switched on and off manually; it does this automatically when connected to your PC. Nor does it sound like a jet engine when you switch it on, as it manages without an internal fan, although the claim that this makes it 'silent' is a bit optimistic. It also comes pre-formatted, so it installs in seconds without the need for any drivers.

Buffalo reckon the DriveStation is 37% faster than other USB drives thanks to its 'TurboUSB' feature. With this enabled, transfer speeds increased from 500MB per minute to 850MB. Again, however, we were left to discover ourselves that this feature did in fact need enabling. We'd have preferred it to have been enabled by default.

The Drive Station is described as 'Vista-ready'. We beg to differ. Not only did we miss out on the benefits of the Auto Backup sofware, but our Vista laptop tried to boot from the drive when it was connected, so Vista couldn't load until it was unplugged. None of these problems occurred on a Windows XP PC, with which it worked flawlessly.