In addition to introducing its upcoming personal travel router, Buffalo Americas revealed another gadget that will be great on the road: the MiniStation Air Wireless Portable Hard Drive. This Wi-Fi capable external drive allows users to dump data onto 1 TB of storage space without wires, and to steam content back to wireless devices anywhere at any time.
"Today's consumers are constantly on the go and want to have continuous access to their multimedia files while away from their homes," said Matt Dargis, COO, Buffalo Americas. "With a long battery life, compact size, and wireless capabilities, the MiniStation Air makes it easy for anyone to enjoy multimedia entertainment on a long road trip or when traveling for business."
Like other wireless portable hard drives on the market, the MiniStation transmits its own Wi-Fi network that devices like smartphones and tablets can directly connect. Once a wireless connection is established, users simply load up a special app offered for free on Google Play and Apple's App Store, and upload or download files over the wireless connection. A provided USB 3.0 port allows computers to do the same for even faster uploads and downloads.
"Nearly any wireless device, such as smartphones, tablets, computers, media players and more can connect to it wirelessly for instant access," states the company’s press release. "Additionally, the portable hard drive allows users to set up a Wi-Fi hotspot to share its established network and Internet connection with joined devices."
The MiniStation can handle up to eight simultaneous connections. The device can also be used to stream multimedia content to any DLNA playback device, such as smart TVs, media players and gaming consoles. Users can even access and stream multimedia files for up to 10 hours on a single charge, and use the device as a portable battery charger for juicing up smartphones and more while on the go.
The new MiniStation Air 1 TB Wireless Portable Hard Drive (HDW-PD1.0U3) will be available in March 2014 for $199.99.
