Vantec Nexstar SATA 2.5IN/3.5IN Hard Drive Docking Station USB2.0 eSATA

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I've owned a single of these for just about two years, and I don't know how I lived devoid of it. I use this point each day, both with desktop and notebook tough drives. It is a single of the greatest small inventions I have come across. I use it for backing up data, for swapping drives around, for recovering data, for occasional booting....all kinds of stuff. I leave a difficult drive in it for my nightly backup. I swap other difficult drives in it for accessing archived information, backing up my program, and so on. I use Acronis to make bootable clones of my technique, so if my major RAID ever dies, I can swap in a clone and be up and running in minutes. I like this so a lot that I have taken all of the external SATA challenging drives out of their instances and rather use this dock exclusively. It is just so substantially much easier to leave every thing hooked up and then just plug hard drives in and out. The only actual con that I have with mine is that the activity light does not operate. It never has. The other thing I want was distinct about it is that I want that the door would absolutely seal off the SATA port when a really hard drive is not installed. Currently, a hole remains for laptop-sized drives. But, with no drive, then all sorts of dust can accumulate in there. They should have made the door completely seal when not in use. Your accomplishment using this with esata will depend a lot on your motherboard. I have utilized this with various computer systems with varying achievement. On my current motherboard, esata only performs with AHCI mode. At times esata will operate in a "non-raid" mode, but other occasions not. On my previous motherboard, I installed a committed esata card, with this dock connected to it. Fortunately, if you can't get esata to perform, there is constantly USB as an option, because this dock also has USB constructed in.

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Conventient, clever technologies with external connections and cabling for each USB and eSATA. USB functions operate excellent, and both three.five and two.five inch SATA drives perform inside. The energy supplies have worked fine for me for more than 1 year. eSATA performs most of the time. Making use of IO load test application I located a dilemma where big 500GB to 1TB drives (maybe all drives) hang when utilizing the eSATA cabling. But, most file copy operations and disk I/O does not achieve the failure rate. When it does fail and hang your technique, you will know why. I tested eight of these and only an older version (USA0804B) series serial number works flawlessly. Light or restricted use, even for operations like Ghost or disk copy, typically performs if your mobo supports eSATA. Heavy IO loads can randomly crash your attached drive, and if this is a issue you might contemplate a higher grade external eSATA chassis with trays, etc. Making use of hardware raid, either mobo or raid card, helps avoid whatever is causing the hangs. Good luck!

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Quite straightforward--does specifically what it says. Excellent for 2.five and three.five inch sata drives. Have used both. None. When employed as a usb drive it functions like all other usb drives. When utilized as esata it could need some disk management information--based on operating program. Esata is quite rapid. I have two of these and use them to house backup drives for my primary machines. I have under no circumstances had a dilemma with either one particular. I love these small guys.

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Brilliant desing, portable, hotswap capability, price tag, lack of assembly (easy removability of drives), eSATA plus USB two. Good quality Handle The style of this semi-enclosure is just genius. It tends to make me wonder why no one has thought of it prior to. Out of the box, nonetheless, my eSATA did not function (and this is the key cause I purchased this unit). The law of averages would recommend that some men and women are going to get a lemon; I am 1 of them. The USB two. does work on mine, so I am keeping it.If the eSATA have been not defective on my unit I would have rated it 5 stars. As it is, a defective unit appropriate out of the box, I can only give it 3 stars.

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Its so nice to have this tiny tools becose prior to i buy this issue i have to set up some wire on top of my tower to plug some HDD to fix fiew thing and now i just have to press power switch and put a HDD inside and even the laptop one particular. That dosen fit whit my toaster on my counter in my kitchen so i have to put in my liveng room whit my computer!He need to have some additional wire to plug a CD/DVD player/burner or other point... Why i purchase this point? Never ever i am going to use this factor but rigt now i use to put a HDD inside only......That look a single toaster but that dont cook toast, only toats the HDD becose i burn three HDD whit this but when you put this inside a microwave 30 minutes and you place some HDD inside that make a mess, attempt it and you are going to see what i am speaking about.

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Appears like a wonderful notion - the door on best is a small cheesy I followed the directions to plug it in and turn it on. Inserted a brand new Seagate 1TB drive. The drive spun up for about a minute then wound down. The blue lights on the front of the Dock and the tiny green LED on the power supply were blinking. I turned it off, removed the HDD, unplugged it from Belkin surge suppressor and plugged it back in. It now appears to be dead. I assume the energy supply failed? Wow - the factor lasted a single minute and now it's useless. I assume that's a new record for me. Don't know whether or not to return to Newegg or start the RMA hassle with Vantec.

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Incredibly simple to set up. Functions perfectly as a backup device with the wonderful advantage of being in a position to quickly adjust drives. This allows for an simple and low cost off-site backup method. I have not had a issue, but this device can be susceptible to dust and dirt in the interface. It is in all probability a fantastic idea to be careful. This may possibly not be a information center item--additional of a household workplace/lab item. I have read some of the other evaluations and I believe I see a pattern. See cons above. Moreover, I have only utilized this device for backup drives. I am not positive about heat overall performance in steady long term use.

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- eSata interface (drive access beyond USB capabilities)- price tag- energy button on front- looks pretty eye-catching for a tech gadget - eject button not created for two.five" drives- a tiny quirky with eSata, but could be controller- separate power supply- not appropriate for continuous use (poor drive support and cooling) All round, as a first accessible dock, it's wonderful. It could have been greater engineered, but it works infinitely much better than the invisible one I had ahead of it.Hot-Plugging eSata is quirky. I powered on the empty dock and it locked up the Computer. With a drive in the dock, hot-plug ON works great. I haven't been capable to test hot-plug OFF yet, since I couldn't afford to shed the information on the drive I was functioning on. It did not show below "safe remove" so I just shut down the Pc to disconnect the drive. I have Vista Biz SP1, ASUS mb w/ built-in Jmicron RAID eSata controller running in AHCI mode. I program on trying 1 of the Intel ICH8R SATA ports to see if it behaves any differently. Also will try with a drive I don't care about to test the hot-plug get rid of and see what occurs.

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Purchased this device for the capacity to easily connect internal really hard disk drives with out getting to open up the computer systems case. Haven't had to use it also usually but I've been operating a 320 gig Seagate HDD in it for a whilst now with out a hitch.So far this point performs as advertised. None.

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I've been making use of it with three.five" Sata Drives. Works as anticipated. I use the six' SIIG Sata cable to connect it to my Pc, not the quick cable that comes with it. Incredibly uncomplicated to use. You do have to press the power button ahead of docking and following undocking. I'm guessing that's where the "hot swap" failures are coming from in other testimonials. The button is big, on front, and presses nicely, so it's not a big deal. The box is plastic and the drive gets HOT when using it.

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Appears good...3.five" drives match snugly. The unit never worked for me. It turned on but was not recognized on any of my 3 laptops or desktops with any of my three HDs I attempted. Then soon after a while it stopped turning on altogether, I guess I got a defective unit. Even though I can not comment on the operation of the unit I will comment on the look and feel. The casing feels low-cost and light. The energy button feels inexpensive when depressed. The USB plug does not fit snugly. The worst thing about the unit is trying to get two.five" drives to match correctly. They either will not remain down simply because the eject button spring keeps pushing them out or if a two.five" does stay down it does not stand up correct.

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USB would perform well - ESATA was often flaky.Was protected - kept in case.Only utilized 9-10 instances for backups Just more than a year - lights on - no 1 home ESATA and USB stopped operating.More trash for the landfills Thinking Twice about future Vantec Purchases

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Looked fantastic, and white colour was distinct than all the black and silver units out there. It had a 9 pin (DIN kind?) power connector rather of a common DC energy adapter. It tended to very easily fall out of the back of the unit when you touch it or move it slightly.Also, after about 8 months of use, the DC power circuit lost some power someplace, and did not supply adequate power to spin up any of my three HDD's regardless of whether three.5" or 2.five" drives. The drives had been fine simply because they spun up a diverse docking unit.

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Really Handy when it works. Energy adapter is not very good at all. I purchased 3 of them, 2 of them are dead already. I end up now with three units and a single energy adapter. Just hope and pray that this last a single will final for while. Unhopefully those are all burnt soon after the 1 year warranty period.

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see other thoughts Wish it was a additional robust style. It ought to have a built in fan. Cables are as well quick. Does anyone know of a different "toaster" style HD dock in a higher quality / higher value point?

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Great construct top quality, straightforward to insert/eject disks. Comes with cables. Very quick w/eSATA. Particularly satisfied. None so far.

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Excellent feel, hyper-handy, worked first time, excellent for backing-up with bare challenging drives. No far more half-assembled external enclosures and fussing with quick SATA cables. It's just like putting toast in a toaster! This is specifically what I necessary. What took them so long to style a thing like this! It has a appear and really feel that would look perfectly at house next to a Mac. (I may possibly get one particular for my Pc as well!)

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More convenient than screws 14mm gap for two.five" drive, but most are only 9mm. Consequently, the 2.5" drive wiggles with the slightest vibration of the desk. The eject button/lever barely makes get in touch with with the 9mm two.5" drive and pushes it out at an angle; I will get rid of by hand instead. A small flap of rubber on the 2.five" slot would have been nice to assistance dampen vibration of the smaller sized drive. I will possibly add one particular myself. I got it because I have a notebook computer system with a drive sled for the optical bay; this lets me access those drives with no switching bay devices.

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I have run 2 incredibly large files(well formatting a 1tb drive) and backing up my process whick was 138 gigs. It took awhile, but finished each jobs perfectly. NONE I only wish it came with firewire to speed things up on large files.

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About the least expensive, functions fine none I have two of these drive toasters, this 1 and an early Thermaltake. Each have worked fine. Other people criticize flimsy construction or early fails, hasn't occurred to me. I use USB only and don't move it about substantially. The energy button on mine is safe and firm; greater slightly than the thermaltake.