Digital Trends

Buffalo DriveStation TurboUSB

October 29th, 2007 | by Josh Norem

Encryption

Next we installed the included encryption software, which is named SecureLockWare. Its operation is sublimely simple. It puts two icons on your desktop (or wherever you want them) that are labeled “unlock file” and “lock file.” When you click “lock file” a small box appears for you to drag the file or folder into it to encrypt it. You then type in a password (which is a bit confusing, since you would think you’d set this up beforehand) and it encrypts the file and places it on your desktop in an encrypted format. You then click “open file” and drag the encrypted file into the box, type the password and it opens it up, putting it in a folder on your desktop. We had no issues with the encryption software and like it very much.

Drag-and-Drop file encryption works very well and is easy to use.

Built-in NAS?

After we had installed all the software, we clicked “Start,” and then “All Programs” to see what we could find in the “Buffalo” directory and there was a strange link to a program called NAS Navigator. We saw this same link in our review of the Buffalo NAS drive but this is not a NAS drive, so what is it doing? We then clicked on it, and were told it was for a non-existent program. It’s almost as if Buffalo just throws all its software in the box regardless of what product it is.

The DriveStation software apparently installs vaporware.

One final oddity we encountered reviewing this drive was that you can’t purchase it from the Buffalo website for some reason. When browsing the various models there is a link labeled “Buy Now,” but when you try to buy the 320GB model it brings you to a page that says there are no featured merchants listed.” Clicking through the links, we got the same error message for the 750GB and 1TB versions of the drive. The 500GB model is the only one that provides link for purchasing. If you want this drive, you have to Google it or find some other method other than purchasing it from the Buffalo website.

Buffalo has a link to “Buy Now,” but then tells you it has no vendors listed. Bah.

Conclusion

The DriveStation is not a bad product. If you just plug the drive in and set up Memeo, you’ll be very happy with it. Try fiddling with any of the additional software, with the exception of the encryption stuff, and you will most likely be left baffled and confused. We saw similar software wonkiness in our review of the Buffalo LinkStation NAS drive, so though it’s disappointing it’s ultimately not surprising. Buffalo makes decent products, but somebody at the company needs to step in and resolve these software issues as they detract from the “out of the box” experience in a big way.



Pros:

• Basic functionality is awesome
• Easy setup

Cons:

• Additional software is broken and buggy
• “Turbo mode” is not any faster