Innovative Idea of Buffalo: DDR RAM Rather Than Flash Cache for HDD

Buffalo Technology (USA), Inc. announced that its DriveStation DDR, a high performance external USB 3.0 HDD with 1GB DDR3 RAM cache for accelerated transfer speeds, is available for purchase at select retail partners.

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For a variety of users including tech enthusiasts, digital photographers and videographers and media buffs, DriveStation DDR offers fast file transfers, comparable to SSD, with the high capacity and value of a traditional external HDD device.

The DriveStation DDR utilizes Buffalo’s MegaCache Accelerator, a 1GB DDR3 RAM cache system, to accelerate file transfer rates, notably outperforming other USB 3.0 HDDs. Compared to a standard USB 3.0 HDD, the 1GB DRAM cache of the MegaCache system efficiently caches data as it’s transferred to automatically boost performance for transfer speeds up to 408MB/s, 2.3x faster than USB 3.0 HDDs and more than 10x faster than USB 2.0.

"Buffalo has developed the perfect solution for consumers that demand fast storage performance, but don’t want to sacrifice drive capacity," said Hajime Nakai, CEO at Buffalo Technology (USA), Inc. "We designed and built the DriveStation DDR to deliver the performance of an SSD coupled with up to three TBs of storage, giving consumers the best of both technologies at an affordable price."

First unveiled at the 2013 International Consumer Electronics Show, Buffalo’s DriveStation DDR features a sleek, black high-gloss chassis that can be positioned vertically or horizontally to fit in an office or as part of a media center. The simple USB 3.0 interface offers plug-and-play setup and universal connectivity. It is packed with Buffalo Tools, a feature-rich suite of optional software available on Windows PCs. Tools include Buffalo’s Backup Utility to backup one or multiple computers with a single Buffalo external HDD; eco Manager for energy conservation; SecureLock for data encryption; and RAMDISK creates a RAM disk on Windows PCs.

The benefits of DriveStation DDR are automatic. Simple plug-and-play installation requires no advanced setup and no special software or drivers are required to operate at near SSD speeds. It is compatible with Windows and Mac devices and it can be used at top speeds with other popular consumer electronic devices that support USB 3.0, such as media players and gaming devices.

Pricing and Availability
The DriveStation DDR is backed by a limited three-year warranty and is available at select retail partners, including Amazon.com, for an estimated street price of $139.99 for 2TB (HD-GD2.0U3) and $179.99 for 3TB (HD-GD3.0U3). All solutions include toll-free U.S.-based technical support available 24/7.

Comments

That's a completely new idea from Buffalo: an HDD with 1GB of DDR memory as cache, the same kind of extremely fast memory used in computers for R/W cache. It cannot really rival with SSDs, but easily with hybrid HDDs.

That's the first time we hear about such a product with DDR3 memory rather than NAND flash. And one the reason is that price of DDR memories are diminishing regularly in a saturated market.

It's less memory (8GB MLC) found into the only 3.5-inch hybrid 2TB HDD from Seagate, the internal Desktop Solid State Hybrid Drive.

The only problem is that DDR memories are losing their stored data if there is a power interruption, here when the drive is unplugged from the PC during data transfer or from the power supply used for the device. It's not going to happen frequently and it's not big deal for an external unit: you can replug the device and makes another write of the data lost in the cache.

Furthermore Buffalo DriveStation DDR, in external version with USB 3.0, is affordable at $140 for 2TB, to be compared to $149 for the internal Seagate's unit with same magnetic memory capacity.

Following a review, CNET Labs concludes: "The Buffalo DriveStation DDR is easily the best single-volume desktop external hard drive on the market right now."

Will other external HDD makers follow this trend? We think so. At least they have to look at it.

Also a good idea could be for HDD makers to design internal hybrid drives with this new type of cache memory. There is already a small silicon memory into all HDDs. Manufacturers will just have to expand its capacity and adds some firmware to manage the caching functionality.

Comment added on May 9, 2012:
One of our reader, Peter J. Papadopoulos, from IVIS INFO, a Greek company in data storage and protection solutions for more than twelve years, email us: "That reminds me of Platypus Technology, early 2000’s – see here - no long in business."

It's true but what we found about the product of Australian company Platypus Technology is slightly different. Launched in 2002, its QikDATA M-series was using inbuilt redundancy to safeguard data, combining a SDRAM-based storage system with an internal uninterruptible power supply and automated data backup to independent HDDs. Directly attached to the 66MHz 64-bit PCI bus, it was offering over 50,000 IO/s. The device was costing more than $12,000 for just 8GB.