BUFFALO MiniStation Extreme Secure Rugged 2TB TAA Portable HDD Shock/Water/Dust Resistant, USB 3.2

I honestly love this device, I've only had it for 4ish months but it's done everything I need it to.I have a blog and back up a lot of content to it, and for a spinning drive it still transfers large files, of all types really well; it far exceeded my expectations on transfer speed.It stores what I need and the durability, built in USB, and sleek look add to the product. The durability is a great aspect, it doesn't feel flimsy like my old external hard drive, which was a seagate; and I feel completely comfortable taking it to and from work and on trips when needed. The internal USB is perfect, that was a downfall of my last drive, and the fact there's two cables (one short and one long) really helps with work and travel usage.I will update the review if it crashes within two years like my previous seagate drives have.The security aspects are awesome and are a main reason why I got it. My significant other and I store personal information on this so we feel a lot more confident leaving it at home while on trips without worrying what someone can access if it gets stolen. I can see where some people complain about it erasing everything if you reset it, but knowing from the start I would use the card and password protection I feel fine and comfortable with it. I highly recommend everyone do both the card and password protection so there is a backup in case you forget your card or can't remember your password.Overall, great product and I can't wait to keep using it.

I love this little guy. 7200 rpm that doesn't require an additional power supply is perfect for my Macbook Pro. I'm running multiple Windows virtual machines from it and have had no issues with the data, speed, etc. The extension cable is also a nice addition since on a desktop with an elevated machine the attached cable is a little short. I was using a 2TB Samsung SSD, but it had problems with the data corrupting on one of the vms, and this has turned into an excellent replacement.The encryption was easy to set up and a breeze to unlock with the card (make sure you set up a password for it, too). The drive appears to have nothing on it until it's unlocked with the open app.Update 2016-12-29: I love this little guy even more - can I give it more stars. VM Ware was playing nasty all day yesterday, I thought there may be a problem with the drive being powered by USB because the VM was going to sleep whenever the Mac OS went to screensaver and then a long resume phase. Finally gave up, shut down VM Ware and ejected the drive. Plugged it in this morning and it would authenticate with the encryption card but was taking forever to open. Thought it was toast, but I finally just let it go for a few minutes and it opened up, all data intact and now the VM is restoring itself.TDIL: Give it time to fix all the nasty that Windows 10 and VM Ware Fusion cook up and it will survive.

(1) On the driveProbably due to insufficient memory in my PC, installation of the drive was aborted in my first attempt to install it. The drive became locked and was not visible to the Windows Explorer. There was no error message whatsoever on what had happend. There was no tips on how to unlock the drive.(2) On Buffalo Technical Support TeamI located the support team on Buffalo's website. They are very responsive. They subsequently determined that a malfuncion on the drive has occurred and then offered to RMA a replacement to me.(3) On Buffalo North America (NA)I was told that under the RMA policy of Buffalo NA, replacement items would only be sent to an address in NA. As such, the RMA option is useless to me. I live outside of NA. I purchased the drive through Amazon.

The Buffalo MiniStation Extreme is engineered and functions exactly as described. (However, there is only one USB 3.0 connector wire. The illustration could lead one to believe there are multiple connectors.) The unit includes a short (2 Foot?) USB 3.0 connector permitting you to place the drive on a solid surface; not on top of your CPU.I've used it for three weeks to do weekly backups. Works perfectly, using (Win 7) Windows Backup. No additional setup or device tweaking is required if you don't require encryption. Further, as it is USB 3, it does the backups quickly (and silently.) I haven't precisely timed it with a stop watch, but time-wise I estimate it takes about 10% what a USB 2.0 backup unit would require.

Great Hard Drive. I work in a very rough environment in the Offshore Dredging industry and my equipment is subject to vibration, dust, mud, rain, you name it. The built in cable is a plus because you know you dont have any chance of getting mud or dust introduced into the internal components. Some say its bulky, but its very stout. If you need a hard drive that will take a beating and come back for more, this is WELL worth the minimal investment. Don't buy junk because its $30 or $40 bucks cheaper. You will be glad you bought this.I've owned mine for over a year.

UPDATE… January 2025The MiniStation is still reliable after 1.5 years of service. I am a very happy camper!Purchased this BUFFALO portable hard drive for my new iMac as my older iMac has a BUFFALO external hard drive connected to it and has worked reliably for many, many years. This BUFFALO's storage capacity is right up my alley, and it's unbelievably small compared to my older BUFFALO drive taking up very little space on my desk. I had no Tech Support issues because I didn't need Tech Support (thus 0 stars).