Buffalo debuts USB 3.0 external hard drives

Buffalo Technology has made two new models of external hard drives available running on the 5GB/s USB 3.0 interface, the drives will be available in three capacities:

• Buffalo HD-LXU3 in 1TB ($175) or 2TB ($230)
• Buffalo HD-LXVU3 in 3TB ($320)

The drives will be stored in Buffalos “WorkHorse” enclosure which measures up at 39 x 123 x 189 mm. The drives as mentioned run on USB 3.0 which has a potential maximum bandwidth of 5GB/s or 625MB/s but it is unlikely that a mechanical hard drive will ever come close to those data transfer speeds so bottlenecking should not be an issue at all.

A bundled software program called “eco manager” allows the drive to spin down when idling which results in up to 70% power consumption. Note here that these drives are powered by sepatate DC adaptor power bricks not through the USB 3.0 connection since it cannot provide enough power for a fully fledged hard drive to function properly. The whole unit itself is fitted with noise dampening material to prevent the hard drive vibrations causing a disturbance and the enclosure also has its own small fan for some ventilation.