New 1TB Desktop External HD Goes for $500

How low in price—and high in capacity—will storage devices get? A new external drive can store up to 1.5TB of data and files for $1K.

Thanks to new levels of competition in the market sector, storage devices continue to get smaller in footprint and less expensive—while offering increased capacity and more desirable features, such as auto-backup and encryption.

The latest example of this IT storage bonanza for consumers is Buffalo Technologys new DriveStation Duo, which features USB 2.0 and FireWire interfaces and ranges from 500GB to 1.5TB in capacity.

It runs two 7,200 rpm SATA drives that can be set up in a RAID-1 configuration—for either mirroring or full-capacity modes.

The pricing for this desktop-size box is also noteworthy: the DriveStation Duo USB 2.0/FireWire External Hard Drive will be available later in October at estimated retail prices of:

$249 for 500GB (HD-W500IU2/R1),

$449 for 800GB (HD-W800IU2/R1),

$499 for 1TB (HD-W1.0TIU2/R1), and

$999 for 1.5TB (HD-W1.5TIU2/R1).

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The DriveStation Duo is designed to make storage simple for end users, including at-home consumers, graphic designers, business users, mobile professionals and students who need to safeguard digital content.

The DriveStation Duo incorporates configurable RAID-1 with mirroring for reliability and full-capacity spanning modes for maximum capacity. It also comes with a Windows RAID Utility to easily change RAID Modes.

It also features Buffalos SecureLockWare technology, which encrypts and protects data stored on the device in the event it is lost or stolen and prevents authorized access.

"Consumers and businesses alike are getting very savvy when it comes to storage because they understand the need to protect mission-critical data or precious digital content such as music, videos and photos," said Morikazu Sano, senior vice president of global marketing at Buffalo, based in Austin, Texas.

The DriveStation Duo includes auto setup, which allows for instant installation without the need to install drivers. The product also comes pre-formatted.

The DriveStation Duo includes an Auto On/Off feature, which automatically powers the product on or off with a computer.

It easily connects to any device with an available FireWire (1394) port or USB 2.0 or 1.1 ports such as a desktop, notebook or one of Buffalos own LinkStation or TeraStation NAS (network-attached storage) devices.

It comes with Memeo AutoBackup multi-language backup software for Windows, which runs in the background and automatically backs up files from a PC.

Click here to read more about Buffalos 802.11n balancing act.

Backed by a limited one-year warranty and toll-free 24/7 technical support, the DriveStation Duo is available via retail outlets, resellers and Buffalos Web site.

Buffalo Technology has almost 30 years of designing and building networking, storage, multimedia and memory solutions for the home and small business environments as well as for system builders and integrators, a company spokesperson said.

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