Buffalo Technologies Drive Station Duo

The Buffalo Drive Station Duo is an external storage device made by Buffalo Technologies. It is available in 500 GB, 800 GB, 1.0 TB, and 1.5 TB versions. Most external storage devices are just big hard drives in a box with a USB or FireWire port on the back. However, the Dive Station Duo is different in the fact that it actually has two hard drives in a RAID configuration

What this does is allows you to use the Drive Station in two ways. The first option is to use both hard drives for maximum data storage capacity. The other option is to use the second drive to backup the data that is on the first drive. When you choose this option, you only get half the storage capacity because when something is written to the first disk, it is mirrored on the second disk. This would be a good option for people who need to store critical data that they cannot afford to lose.

The Drive Station does this with software that is included on a CD with the device. However, one problem with this product is that I could never get the software to work. When I installed it and started it for the first time, it said it was searching for devices and then stopped responding. I had it plugged in through USB and I am pretty sure that the software got confused and thought my USB printer was the Drive Station. The reason I think this is that when the software was searching, the printer displayed an error message on its small screen and the software froze.

After disconnecting the printer I started the software again. It searched for devices for one or two minutes. It probably would have been shorter had I been using FireWire but it was not that big of deal. After it searched a message box appeared saying that the drive appeared to be in use and that I should restart Windows. I thought that it might be saying this because I had quite a few applications running that could use the hard drive. I closed all of the applications and it still gave the same error.

I then just gave up on the software because I did not really want to use the back up mode anyways. Luckily for me, Windows recognizes it as two separate drives which is exactly what I needed it to do.

The only other problem that I have experienced so far is that the fan inside the case started to make a slight buzzing sound as if it were hitting something. This was not a big deal, just a faulty fan. I took the fan out and bought a replacement fan only to find out when I got home that I did not have the proper screws for the replacement. Being the lazy person I am, I opted not to go back to the store and just put the old fan back in. That was a few days ago and I have not had the buzzing sound since.....crazy.

Aside from those problems I really like this product. I like the fact that it is a RAID setup which gives you more flexibility as well as more storage capacity. I also like the fact that it has the option of using USB or FireWire. It also has an auto power feature which will automatically power on the device when it detects power from the USB or FireWire port indicating that the computer is on. Finally, the case is relatively stylish and high quality. I particularly like the numbered status lights on the front that are in a mirrored square.

Overall, I think that this would be a good choice for anyone who wants a large amount of extra storage for their computer.

Pros
RAID configuration
Auto Power
USB and FireWire
Nice Enclosure

Cons
Software not so great
Fan Started to make noise

final score:
8.0 out of 10

http://www.buffalotech.com/products/external-drives/drivestation/drivestation-duo/