Networking company Buffalo Technology has finally launched its external SSD drives at prices that promise to steal a share of the portable market from old-world 2.5-inch hard drives. The capacities of the new MicroStation drives are modest by the standards of a spinning drive -- 32GB, 64GB, and 100GB -- but there are other features to tempt buyers beyond the gigabytes.
The first is perhaps size. Weighing around 60 grams, the aptly-named drives are not much bigger than a credit card at 57 x 14 x 89mm, a form factor that looks tiny next to the supplied wrap-around USB 2.0 connector and cable used to attach it to a PC.