Looking forward to pick up a few of the 1st USB 3.0 compatible hard drives and start living life in the fast lane? If so, you may want to hold off a tad as initial reports on 1st gen USB 3.0 hard drives from Buffalo and Freecom are anything but exciting. In fact it’s pretty underwhelming. The new drives in question: the DriveStation HD-HXU3 from Buffalo and the XS 3.0 (pictured above) made by Freecom are anything but “Super Speedy”. With the Buffalo and Freecom drives reported to hum along at 125MB/s and 130MB/s respectively, many individuals looking to jump on the bleeding edge wagon of USB 3.0 are certainly going to be disappointed. Especially considering USB 3.0 is supposed to offer users speeds ranging from 640 MB/s all the way up to a spec maximum of 5 GB/s. Though it’s worth noting the GB/s plus speeds are under ideal conditions.
Naturally, USB 3.0 backers will at times overstate the spec’s abilities as is evident with these first gen units. However, we also can’t forget these are 1st gen meaning there is plenty of room for improvement and refinement. As USB 3.0 becomes more ubiquitous, expect speeds to rise and prices for the tech to drop. Until then, I suggest holding off until we see some real speed bumps.
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