Buffalo MiniStation Slim 1TB portable HD review
Buffalo MiniStation Slim 1TB USB 3.0
£88.74Pros
- Size
- Build quality
- Portability
- Looks good
- Works with Mac and PC
Cons
- There are faster
- No UK price as yet
We could do with more storage. That’s pretty much a given. There’s cloud storage but we can’t always access that. Portable hard-drives are still handy but some can be bulky. Not the Buffalo MiniStation Slim though.
The Buffalo MiniStation slim, as its name suggests, is a compact portable hard-drive that manages to pack 1TB of storage in to a body that is less than 9 mm thick.
The drive utilises USB 3.0 for speedy data stuff.
MiniStation Slim design
Having ‘slim’ in the name already has your expectations raised. Thankfully, the MiniStation Slim is a pretty slender offering.
This 1TB MiniStation measures a skinny 8.8mm thin.
The drive is wrapped up in an aluminium case that’s just 8.8 x 79 x 115mm (HxWxL) and weighs in at 140 grams.
The MiniStation Slim does look really nice and sturdy enough for life in your laptop bag.
Connectivity comes way of the bundled USB 3.0 cable.
As well as looking good, it also feels surprisingly sturdy for a device that’s so small. Giving it a light flex test (I have to return these, remember) I couldn’t detect any give.
Buffalo MiniStation Slim performance
This small USB 3.0 external drive can easily slip in to a pocket, let alone a bag.
But it’s speed that can make or break an external drive.
The Slim I received to test was all set-up for Mac users – as this will play nice with both camps. After a simple reformatting via some of Buffalo’s software, my PC recognised the drive straight away.
I did not load any performance enhancing software so the following time trials are purely of the newly formatted drive.
Loading up Crystal Disk Mark I set 5 passes of 32GB transfers to see how this little Buffalo drive performs.
Offering 1TB of capacity, the drive proves to be quite swift with maximum sequential speeds of a 125.2 MB/s read and 124.7 MB/s write.
Whilst these are not blisteringly fast times, it still manages to show a clean pair of heals to the likes of Seagate’s Seven and the WD My Passport Ultra Metal.
MiniStation Slim review conclusion
There may well be faster drives out there but I found the MiniStation Slim reliable as well as good looking. The shimmery silver aluminium version I tested actually garnered a few complimentary comments. Not something I’d expect from an external hard-drive.
I love how it feels and that it can easily fit in a jacket pocket or even a laptop sleeve.
Having 1TB of space in something so portable has to be a good thing.
MiniStation Slim price and availability
The Buffalo MiniStation Slim is available now in 500GB guise for £55. The 1TB version, as reviewed, is £88.74 inc VAT.
Personally, I think that the extra £33 is worth it for double the storage.
Check out the Buffalo website for more details.
