Vantec Nexstar 3 External 3.5IN SATA Black Hard Drive Enclosure USB2.0 W/ Power Adaptor & Stand

Comment:
others had problems getting eSATA to work, but for them, all they had to do was limit it to SATA150. unfortunately for me, its not that simple. i have yet to figure out how to get eSATA working on my Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H which has an eSATA port on the back. at first i thought it was because i was running in IDE mode, but even after i figured out how to get it to run in AHCI mode, it still won't recognize the drive. so for now (or quite possibly forever) i'm stuck using USB2.0. so theres definitely some issues with the eSATA on this enclosure. my case seems rare, but many others aren't able to get it to do the advertised 3Gb/s. as for me, i don't know if its my motherboard, or the enclosure.another thing that bothered me was the power cable... its only ~3' long and the plug does not work well with my APC surge protector as it takes two spots.other than that, the enclosure is great. if you can manage to get it to run in eSATA, this is definitely an awesome enclosure. but for all the problems i'm having, i would give it a 3.5 - 4.

Comment:
Appart from the strange power connector, this is an awesome enclosure and i would highly recommend it.

Comment:
I bought this enclosure to pair with a 640GB Seagate drive to use as a DVR expander drive. The DVR I have I have read is pretty picky about compatibility with many external HDDs, especially drives that have both USB 2.0 and eSATA connections. After putting it all together though and running through the setup on my PVR, which took all of 10 min, everything is running perfectly fine. My only complaint about it, which is pretty minor, is that the connector cable inside the drive gets a little bunched up when sealing everything up which worries me slightly if I ever decide to put a different HDD in, that the cable might snap. Other than that, this drive is perfect for anyone looking for an external enclosure

Comment:
I bought this enclosure to house a 500GB SATA2 drive that would not fit in my case. The build quality appears to be quite good. I will only be using this case as a once in a while case as I currently have plenty of drive space inside my PC. This will solely be a backup drive.

Comment:
I bought this enclosure to house a 500GB SATA2 drive. The build quality appears to be quite good. I noticed it vibrates more when it's laid flat, so I decided to mount it on it's side with the included stand, and that cut down on the vibration and noise it caused.What I noticed is that the enclosure gets hotter when it's lying flat, rather than on it's side. Maybe it's just me.For those of you like me who don't want a bunch of LEDs and lights lighting up your room at night, you can disable the attached LED by simply not plugging it in inside the enclosure. Heat isn't much of an issue. According to SpeedFan, the hardrive inside the enclosure is about 6 degrees Celsius hotter than the HD inside my computer. Enclosure HD = 46 degrees Celsius, HD inside computer = 40 degrees Celisus.

Comment:
Nothing but good things to say about this drive, works and looks awesome ive got a 1TB seagate in mine and ive been backing up all my data over the eSata cable and the transfers have been lightning fast. Would definately consider buying another.

Comment:
I currently have two of these, each one with a 320GB Seagate Barracuda inside. The first time I turned the hard drives on they overheated a lot, but every time since then they've been perfectly fine. One of my two cases came with screws that were too long but the other one was fine. I haven't had any problems after day 1.

Comment:
I like this black color version just as well as the blue! This enclosure and a 500 7200.11 will be used as a PVR on FTA satellite

Comment:
very nice unit, good cooling for hd, easy plug and play, comes with all the cables needed, esata or usb, my only concern is the power adapter is kind of short, and it has a loose part, i hear rattle inside but otherwise very good deal for under $30 can't go wrong

Comment:
this is a great enclosure. High quality, tough, easy to install the hard drive, has fast usb connection or external SATA. Looks great on the desk also.

Comment:
The noise was unnverving to my ear, however, because of the high frequency it didn't affect people that are over 20 years old. Also, the wire kept becoming loose, knocking it by a mere 1mm could cause the drive to diconnect. If i had a choice, i wouldn't buy it

Comment:
Comes with a pci-bracket for a fake e-sata.Using a seagate 7200.11 500gb HDD, the combo remains quiet and can makes you forget it even sits on your desk.

Comment:
Good and cheap for using for USB storage. It's about medium quality and I won't be running it on 24/7 but it seems like if I did it'd stay cool enough.

Comment:
What can I say? It's a HD enclosure. No problems with heat, looks great on my desk, use it with no problems with my macbook pro. had a chance to try out eSATA which was fantastic, allows me to use the drive as the primary hard-drive for my old desktop PC too. Pick one up on sale so you can download more... movies... This review was modfied by poster @ 03-26-08 01:38 AM

Comment:
Build quality has definitely dropped since the last time I bought one of these! The included screws are too *long* to properly mount a Hitachi DeskStar 7K1000 resulting in a drive that slides around and is only kept in place by the friction of the integrated SATA connector! I had to mount the drive with some shorter screws I just happened to have, but the new design inside is not as secure as the old design and the flimsy metal plate the drive is mounted on will flex when the loaded enclosure is picked moved, causing the drive to knock around inside the enclosure. Moreover, the threading/screw holes for the external case would not line up properly, requiring unwelcome force for proper case assembly. Finally, the power cord is roughly three feet long--far too short for my desk setup--and instead of having a detached power converter which is connected to the wall via a generic three-prong type cord (as is used for computers, monitors, etc) it now has a bulky and unwieldy wall wart! The cord barely reached from the floor (where it is plugged in) to my desk and I have no choice in where I put the enclosure unless I can go find an extension cable, adding to clutter and mess behind my desk.These used to be great enclosures but they've really taken a turn for the worse--truly a shame.

Comment:
Worked well for the first six months. I only used the eSATA a few times, when I needed to do large transfers. Most of the time I just use the USB, as the speed is nearly the same either way. However, I decided to plug-in the eSATA cable the other day, and the internal connector broke. Now it is a USB only drive. The quality of the connector is really poor, I expect the designer expected you would just plug it in once and leave it. Now the hard drive I had installed inside it has failed. I expect this failure was caused by excessive heat.

Comment:
The enclosure looks very nice, build quality is very good. I used it with my WD SE16 250G drive. I have set the jumper to SATA1 speed so I can't comment its ESATA compatibility with SATA2 drive. USB port worked right away, eSATA works after using the SATA to ESATA cable included in the package. One thing need to pay attention is that you can not connect both the USB and SATA cable on the drive enclosure at the same time, it will not be recognized. Overall a great package, a bit expensive but so is other SATA drive enclosures. I really think all drive enclosures should be cheaper as they use very simple Tech.

Comment:
I've been using this case for 6 months and I haven't had any troubles with it whatsoever. It looks great, and works great too. The rubber feet on the one side of the case work quite well at dampening vibrations if you place it on a hard desk.

Comment:
Well I bought it for $35 along with a 500GB Western digital for $100, so it comes at less than most 500GB external hard drives and this is faster and more reliable, awesome. The eSATA bracket was very useful. I thought it would run a bit hot but it's very good. Was very easy to deal with as a newbie, easy installation, no driver no nothing. Just plain simple. Love it. This review was modfied by poster @ 02-20-08 05:51 PM

Comment:
I'm using this to backup my documents, and to store common drivers and software I use frequently. The LED plug fits kind of tight and possible puts too much stress on the cable if you pull out the drive. It's a bit noisy to leave plug in when drive is not being accessed.I would a matte finish, but mirror finish looks nice nice as long as it doesn't show too many finger prints.

Comment:
Vantec enclosures once again fail to disappoint me. This is the third unit I've got. I also had an IDE one and another SATA one. This thing has eSATA, and it comes with the eSATA cable and a eSATA bracket if your motherboard doesn't have the port on the back. Another nice thing is that the power brick is on the plug, so the brick itself is not dangling everywhere. The only drawback is that the brick will interfere with other plugs.

Comment:
I wanted a portable hard drive to backup my files, and i already had a 160gb IDE hard drive so i bought this case. Although it dose have some heat to the touch i guess that is a given. But What i rely like is that if i leave it on but do not use it it like goes into sleep mode, and when i accesses something from it, then it boots up. I recommend it for anyone needing a extra bit of storage or backup space.

Comment:
I got this along with a seagate 500 GB drive. Plugged the drive into the case, plugged the case into my laptop (USB), formated the drive with several partitions, and transfered data at 20 MB/s. Then I hooked up the Sata to eSata connector in my desktop, hooked it up using eSata to my desktop and everything worked just like that.It is fast, has USB and eSata connections and works right away. The only thing is that it does run a bit hot, but that is to be expected with no real heatsink capablities.

Comment:
Very nice and great quality HDD enclosure. It comes with all the needed cable to hook it up on your PC. USB2 Cable, eSATA cable, and even a SATA to eSATA cable/bracket in case your PC doesnt have eSATA. I didnt use USB2, but I was pleased with the speed provided with eSATA. It is just as fast as if the drive would be plug internally. The only downside is that it's running a bit warm, but that is to be expected with no ventilation and with the enclosure supposed to be used as a heatsink (which I really doubt because the hard drive is barely touching aluminium inside except from the contact points made with screws to hold the drive. Also take not there's no backup softwares included, but I agree that it would probably be a dummy soft anyway, so it doesnt matter much after all and you end up paying less.

Comment:
Aside from the fact that I can't put my 1TB drive into this, I think it is an excellent product. Installs easily, and I haven't had a single problem with it. Speeds are obviously slightly slower than an internal, but that is to be expected. I would recommend one of these.