Seagate? WD? Buffalo? The Case of Buffalo's Missing Identity

A few months back, my mom asked me to purchase an external portable hard disk to keep her files in check and secured. Since I was working for MSI-ECS that time, I purchased 1 160GB Buffalo Ministation. This was recommended by a good friend and an officemate to me. Upon reaching home, I quickly formatted the new external hard drive and to my surprise, when I plugged the USB in, the computer recognized WD instead of Buffalo.... I was amazed. I unplugged and plugged it again... the same notice was given to me. I quickly called my friend and reported the case of Buffalo's Missing Identity.
Alas! At long last, it was explained to me very well that Buffalo isn't a company that manufacturers hard disks. The buy hard disks from their competitors and just installed the so-called shock absorbent casing. I was disappointed. What is the difference between buying a real WD or Samsung or Seagate and buying Buffalo? Nothing!!! Because Buffalo uses these hard disks also. I swear to myself never to buy any Buffalo products in my life ever again!!

Oh... before I forget. Buffalo claims that their Ministation (Portable Hard Drives) is:

- TurboUSB Data Transfer Rates-up to 20% Faster!
- Shock Resistant Chassis
- Automatic Setup - No Drivers Needed
- Supports USB 2.0/1.1
- Plug-n-Play Ready for lmmediate Use
- Lightweight,Compact and Portable
- USB Powered - No Power Supply Needed
- SecureLockWare™ Encryption Software Prevents Unauthorized Access to Your Data
- Memeo™ Backup Software included
- Firefox and Thunderbird included


TRUE.....BUT ARE THEY REALLY BUFFALO? OR ARE THEY SEAGATES OR WD'S ENCLOSED IN A CASING THAT MADE IT BUFFALO??

I'd rather buy the REAL Seagate, Western Digital (WD) & etc. than buy Seagate or WD that were just enclosed in a shock-proof casing to make it BUFFALO...

And also, I heard... their routers are trash products. Configuration is hard and complicated but they are claiming it to be easy and hassle-free. Yes, the price is cheap and we can't argue with that, but is the quality good? I don't think so. I have been using Linksys WRT54G for the past 4 years without even turning the router off and it is still functioning a ok!

My conclusion: If you are buying portable hard drives, I'd go for WD or Seagate (Buy the real thing!!!) and if you are planning to buy routers, go for Linksys and D-Link. If you are budget conscious, Edimax will suffice.