Buffalo put a window on its new hard drive so you can see it at work

The Buffalo Skeleton Hard Disk puts the interior workings of a 4TB hard thrust connected display. | Image: Buffalo

To assistance observe the 50 years its genitor institution has been successful business, Japan’s Buffalo has announced a constricted variation outer hard thrust with a model that lets you spot its interior workings. Don’t whip retired your recognition paper conscionable yet, though; the Buffalo Skeleton Hard Disk is constricted to conscionable 50 units priced astatine 100,000 yen each (around $695) and is lone disposable for acquisition starting successful June via a lottery.

The Skeleton Hard Disk mounts a 4TB thrust wrong a machined aluminum lodging with a tiny model attached to a show basal weighing astir 3.3 pounds. Its golden and anodized achromatic decorativeness is an homage to a retro Melco (Buffalo’s genitor company) grounds player, which was archetypal released successful 1978.

Try arsenic you might, you’re astir apt not going to beryllium capable to compression the HD-SKL into a gaming PC without reaching for an space grinder. It’s designed to beryllium a show piece, and features a powerfulness connector connected the backmost arsenic good arsenic 1 of those USB 3.2 Micro-B ports that’s wider and flatter than a modular USB-A port.

If you’d alternatively not hold for the thrust to travel to beingness portion moving information to oregon from it, Buffalo has an accompanying portion of bundle called SeekWizard (for Windows users only, though the HD-SKL works with some PCs and Macs) that volition marque its work limb determination successful assorted patterns. These see modes simulating regular movements portion the thrust is accessing data, oregon making it relation similar a ticking metronome oregon a timer. It’s fun, but making the thrust execute for you astatine volition whitethorn beryllium 1 of the reasons Buffalo lone lists a one-month warranty.

The Buffalo HD-SKL isn’t the archetypal hard thrust to uncover what’s going connected wrong portion it’s operating. It’s really a follow-up to the 4.3GB Skeleton Hard Disk Buffalo archetypal released successful 1998, which had a afloat transparent lodging that enactment each of its physics components connected display. At CES 2006, Western Digital launched a 150GB serial ATA thrust called the Raptor X with a akin plan to the caller HD-SKL that utilized a tiny model to uncover a information of its interior.