The Buffalo DriveStation DDR is a high-performance external USB 3.0 hard drive with a large 1GB cache for accelerated file transfer speeds. All SATA HDDs have a native cache inside (normally ranging from 16 to 64 MB), which is used to accelerate and buffer files before move onto, or after they have been read from, the magnetic surfaces. Buffalo’s DDR desktop drive uses standard HDDs with cache; however it adds an additional 1GB DDR3 on the USB controller PCB.
The Buffalo DriveStation DDR is a high-performance external USB 3.0 hard drive with a large 1GB cache for accelerated file transfer speeds. All SATA HDDs have a native cache inside (normally ranging from 16 to 64 MB), which is used to accelerate and buffer files before move onto, or after they have been read from, the magnetic surfaces. Buffalo’s DDR desktop drive uses standard HDDs with cache; however it adds an additional 1GB DDR3 on the USB controller PCB.
The extra RAM provides a substantial performance benefit by caching writes and reads through the high‐speed DDR3, improving performance by as much as 350% for small file transfers. Large file transfers will see lesser improvement, though they’ll still benefit to a degree. It’s also worth noting the DDR3 is volatile, meaning there’s no protection for in-flight data. Users will need to be careful when unplugging the enclosure, making sure transfers are complete before powering down.
Pricing and Availability
The DriveStation DDR will be available some time in early 2013 with an estimated street price of $119 for 1 TB (HD-GD1.0U3), $149 for 2 TB (HD-GD2.0U3) and $189 for 3 TB (HD-GD3.0U3).
UPDATE – 05/22/13 – Buffalo DriveStation DDR Review – POSTED
