Buffalo Ministation HD-PHS40U2/UC

Portable hard drives are growing in popularity, but they carry with them concerns of losing the data due to the notoriously fragile nature of hard disks.

Although great leaps have been made in the last few years to make them less so, it’s still a worry when one is carrying 40GB of important data around all day in a jacket pocket.

Buffalo’s new shock-resistant portable hard drive, the Ministation HD-PHS40U2/UC, is designed withstand the occasional knock. Like most such drives, it is based on a 2.5in notebook design.

Due to the shock protection element, the chassis is obviously a little larger than most of its competitors. The plastic case doesn’t look or feel particularly sturdy, but it’s what inside it that counts.

The protection is in the form of a layer of what Buffalo coyly describes as ‘shock-absorbent materials’, without going into further detail. However, the company does make clear it’s not rubber, which would simply reflect the shock, but a material that evenly dissipates the impact.

The drive floats on this layer, inside the plastic case. Buffalo points out that the protection will not shield the drive against severe physical shocks, such as dropping it from a great height, nor does it make it waterproof.

With the limited claims from Buffalo, we obviously weren’t able to perform a full destruction-test on the drive, but the shock-proofing does work. We were able to bump and jostle the drive while it was in use, and it kept going throughout with little noticeable impact on performance.

Being a 5,400rpm disk, it’s also reasonably fast, writing at around 25Mbits/sec using a USB2 connection. A second USB cable is supplied to provide the necessary power and an optional external power supply can also be purchased.

Don’t expect it to withstand anything more than minor bumps and knocks, but it’s more secure than the average portable hard drive.