Buffalo releases Turbo USB drives

Buffalo hoped to overcome the bottlenecks associated with USB today by releasing its new Turbo USB line of drives. An improvement in the bridge chip that powers the drives' interface lets storage operate closer to the theoretical peak of the USB connection; hard drives can transfer data at least 20 percent faster even with notebook-sized disks, the company boasts. The DriveStation is the company's desktop offering and can transfer at about 40MB per second with capacities ranging between 320GB and 1TB; it should include SecureLockWare software to password-protect the drive and will sell in September for prices between $110 and $500 in both Japan and North America.

The company also promises that its MiniStation notebook drives will receive the upgrade. Each drive will have a built-in USB cord that can't be lost and which wraps around the drive for easier travel. Capacities will range between 80GB and 250GB, with prices ranging between $100 and $220. These smaller drives should be ready for late August in the same regions. [via Impress]