Vantec Nexstar 3 External 2.5IN eSATA Black Hard Drive Enclosure USB2.0

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This enclosure looks great but lacks some simple design elements that would warrant a full 5 star review. First, the power cord is only 4' long and has the converter on the plug end. This is a huge pain since I had to purchase another power surge strip since it wouldn't fit in my current one. Second, the lights on the front show the product name and barely blink when the drive is in use. It would have been much better to include another light just to indicate ''use''.

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I bought the non esata version 4 years ago and is still kicking. Now with this esata version I can use it for a lot more. The construction is great, it feels really strong. Excellent enclosure.

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I have two of these units (one black, one blue), and two of the large versions (the 3.5'' size). All of them work flawlessly. These are definitely pricey, considering you can get basic enclosures online for less than 10 bucks, but they're definitely the cream of the crop. Rugged and solidly built, and they use screws to secure the drive and the frame -- much more reliable than the so-called ''toolless'' designs. Maximum drive height for these units is 9.5mm -- and there is not a single mm to spare. At 9.5mm, the top of the drive is in contact with the shell. Which is great for thermal conductivity. Take care not to scratch the drive when inserting it. One small gripe is that there are no ''feet'' on this to speak of. There are a couple tiny plastic pimples molded into the frame, but I attached some small aftermarket foam pads to give it real protection against scratches and vibration.

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Works well with my notebook HDD and also my Intel SSD. It's great that I don't need an external power supply.

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I've purchased three of this model and every one has performed great and is of high quality. The fit is tight but that helps to disperse heat.

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I have 3 of these drive enclosures and I find all perform well. Just recently I used the eSATA card and connection to boot a windows machine from the external drive. The beauty of using the eSATA connection is that you can swap out drives with different OS's without opening the case. Additionally, I also have MacBook with which I use the drive to boot via USB as the MB has no FW port from which to boot.

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I really like the e-sata connection - much faster than USB - very happy with this product - also like the case it came with - handy to take on the Road with my Laptop.

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Vantec NexStar3 Aluminum 2.5" eSATA/USB 2.0 Hard Drive Enclosure my be a bit pricy, but it is worth every penny. I have two - both work fine and look good. Only complaint: The tiny USB plug - regular size would be better.

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Inclosure worked fine right out of the box. Quiet and smooth.

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I bought this for my Macbook original hard drive since I replaced it for a TravelStar 7k320. This enclosure really looks good and is well made. The only con is that power supply is not included although the enclosure has a 5 volt plug. This is why 2 usb are used, but my drive still works with a single usb. I probably can get a power supply that fit to see if it has an impact on transfer speed when using a single usb.

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This case is great. I ordered this and a WD 500GB 5400/8MB 2.5'' Mobile SATA HD on Monday evening and woke up on Wednesday with them waiting on my doorstep. I put it together in 5 minutes while eating pop tarts. The case looks good and is very sturdy. There is not rattling around and it is really compact. Even though it comes with a Y-splitter, I can get away with only one of the USBs plugged in.

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so I got this enclosure last week for transfering my macbook pro's hard drive contents to a new drive, then swapping that drive into the macbook and putting the old drive in this enclosure. worked great! the usb cable is pretty neat with its 'pass-through'ness so you dont need to use 2 ports if you have a bigger drive (used with 320gig no problem.. 160gig only needs one cable)..I also got a eSATA express card for my laptop to use the eSATA feature on this, but it's sorta a pain cause the carrying case cant hold the usb and esata cable at the same time without seeming like its gonna crush the hard drive... actually the usb cable in general is too big.also some reviews i read claim this is a little slower than some other more expensive enclosures..anyway, keep in mind that the eSATA isnt going to make a huge difference if you're putting a slow drive in there.. for me it was less then 10mb/sec difference.. the real advantage is if you're trying to work off the drive (editing etc) since it can work 'both ways' instead of one way with usb.

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product is very easy to set up and easy to use. I was up and running in under 10 minutes. Product works as advertised ( both USB and SATA work well). My only complaint is about the 2 screws used to hold the case together. On the two units I ordered, I had a little trouble getting the screws to go in all the way (probably a fabrication issue).

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I brought that little enclosure and I'm really satisfied with it. Actually I was impressed on the quality at this price. I've combined it with a 2.5 inch 320GB 7200 RPM sata drive and everything is perfect so far.

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I have 3 of the Nexstar3 enclosures in the 2.5 size and 2 more of the 3.5 variety and they are really good enclosures. I almost laughed out loud when I read the review by the guy who couldnt get the short screws to work on his 2.5 enclosure. Vantec apparently puts the same bag of screws in both their 2.5 and 3.5 kits. Im guessing that it is cheaper for them to do that than to make up a bag specifically for each enclosure. The fellow with the screw problem obviously used one of the four silver colored screws that hold the hard drive in place in the larger model. Just as he described, the screws are too short and dont screw flush if you mistakenly use these. You will have more joy if you use the long thin black screws to secure the front of the enclosure after you install the hard drive. I made the mistake of using the wrong screws on my first drive but fairly quickly figured out what the problem was when I had trouble making them fit. I also noted that some people had trouble

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I bought this enclosure in blue a few months ago and I was surprised with what I got. It came with a great case and the hardware necessary to connect it to a desktop computer (which I didnt really need but a nice addition). Im back to buy another one for a different hard drive I got.

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Bought this case and my hard drive doesn't fix,, case is about 1/16 inch too small.

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Wrost case ever. Buyers beware! The hard drive barely fits. The main probelm i had with the hard drive case was that the front to screws dont go all the way in the case and looks really bad. cheaply made but comes with a nice case. DONT BUY THIS PRODUCT

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i swapped the HDD in my ps3, so i decided to buy an external enclosure so i could also give my PC some more space as well. i also bought it hoping it would work with the ps3, but unfortunately, it doesn't. i tried all 3 notebook seagate momentus drives i have, but the ps3 just doesn't recognize it.installation was a breeze. the HDD i have is a slower 5400rpm drive (recommended for ps3's) so through esata, i'm getting about 33MB/s transfer speed.the build quality is excellent, and its a very nice looking enclosure. i'm definitely happy with my purchase.

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These enclosures are awsome. I purchased one alongside an IDE enclosure to simplfy my storage situation. I have had these two drives running constantly for the past three days, they get a little warm under heavy load but it's really not that bad. Install was quick and painless (just make sure you have a set of jewler's screwdrivers running around). All of my operating systems detected them as well, the only install I had to do on the software side was add it to my linux fstab. Excellent drives. Warning to those purchasing: Compare your SATA connections to a Maxtor Drive. It is a fixed connection so it will only work with the connections in those locations.

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Great item to have! One thing to remember this is not plug and play or hot swap unless you have the built in eSATA or buy the PCI or PCIE adapter. The adaptor they give you is for SATA in which the computer must load the drive at start up. I liked it so well that I'm glad I bought 2!!!

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This thing is Great! unless you're a PS3 owner looking for a quality external HDD enclosure... For all PC purposes, i have yet to have a problem. it has done everything it needs to do (which isn't much, really- just interface with whatever i plug it into) and its construction is a pretty high qaulity. but trying to get this thing to read on my PS3 is fruitless. i've confirmed this because i've read alot of forums with people having this exact problem with this exact enclosure. so, i'll just use this for work/home transfers and get another soley for home/PS3 transfers/backups.

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Flawless. Works just as advertised. Tiger had it to me in a day. Plugged in a 120GB WD from a Passport that had a bad controller. Worked perfect immediately. Comes with a great case and cables for whatever you need connect it. Highly recommend.

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Best purchase I have made in a while. Within a half hour of receiving it, I was transferring data from the hard drive of a dead laptop. Everything fit together perfectly. A very complete kit for converting a hard drive to external use.

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Works perfectly as a eSATA or USB drive in XP and Vista. The eSATA cable and conversion bracket are welcome extras that aren't always included by other vendors. Excellent value for a product that does just what it says it will.