Vantec NexStar3 Enclosure

Rob Williams · 01-12-2006, 11:58 PM

We all know that keeping our components cool is the best way to prolong their life, and our Hard Drives are certainly no different. Vantec is offering us a great looking solution for our external drives, so let's jump right in.

Discuss the review here!

Jakal · 01-13-2006, 10:27 PM

That's an excellent price, especially with it supporting Sata. I've helped others out with external enclosures and they can be very pricey. I'm glad to see such well known brand step up and produce such a device without charging so much.

I'm interested in the transfer rates though. Seeing as it is Sata interface, I'm assuming a firewire or usb 2.0 connection, would provide great speeds.

Greg King · 01-14-2006, 01:02 PM

The pricing is wrong. The 3.5" enclosure is priced at $45 US. The price I quoted in the review was for the 2.5" enclosure, which is not what I reviewed. I appologise for the mix up and the review will be fixed asap.

Error aside, the USB 2.0 speeds are nice and I have yet to try the eSATA speeds. The only thing holding me back now is the short length of SATA cable that came with it. I will have to pull my tower out but oh well. I am curious now.

07-20-2006, 04:12 AM

is there enough room in the case to use an ide drive with an ide to sata converter board?

in particular, i was thinking of the abit serillel2 adapter but if anyone can suggest another adapter that can fit that would be welcomed.

in addition - can i convert the sata power to normal molex connector too - wasn't sure from the pic if this was a special plug in the vantec case

i wish to take advantage of the esata speeds but with my old ide drive that i have lying around.

Jakal · 07-20-2006, 01:35 PM

You can't increase the transfer speeds of an ide, no matter how hard you try. Sata speeds can't be transferred by just using a sata enclosure. If you've got an ATA-133 you won't be able to get SATA-1 speeds just because it's in a Sata case. If you want to pick up the enclosure just look around for a decent Sata hard drive. I got a 250G SATA-II for around $100, and the prices have dropped since then.

10-15-2007, 12:01 AM

I have this very enclosure and it worked great. I"m wondering how the SATA
port in the side of the enclosure works. Is there an adaptor that would allow me to connect another hard drive to the one inside the adaptor, and transfer data from the enclosure hard drive to another hard drive. I would like to "restore" the image (using Acronis True Image) I have on the enclosed hard drive, that is of 3rd hard drive, onto the 2nd hard drive, via the SATA port on the out side of the enclosure. I have this doesn't sound too confusing. My goal is to have an instantly accessable HD identical to HD number 3, which is a crucial hard drive for my work. Should this 3rd HD fail, I could just pop in the 2nd one, and go.

Any help
Thanks
tom

[UOTE=Jakal;8596]You can't increase the transfer speeds of an ide, no matter how hard you try. Sata speeds can't be transferred by just using a sata enclosure. If you've got an ATA-133 you won't be able to get SATA-1 speeds just because it's in a Sata case. If you want to pick up the enclosure just look around for a decent Sata hard drive. I got a 250G SATA-II for around $100, and the prices have dropped since then.[/QUOTE]

01-12-2006, 11:58 PM	#1
Rob Williams Editor in Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 8,921	Vantec NexStar3 Enclosure We all know that keeping our components cool is the best way to prolong their life, and our Hard Drives are certainly no different. Vantec is offering us a great looking solution for our external drives, so let's jump right in. Discuss the review here! __________________ Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 @ 3.20GHz, ASUS P5K Premium WiFi-AP, OCZ 8GB PC2-6400, EVGA GTX 285 1024MB Seagate 500GB, 750GB & 1TB, Pioneer 22x ODD, Corsair 1000HX, Thermalright Ultra-120, CM Storm Sniper Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Ultrasone PRO 750, Gentoo Linux (KDE 4.3.2, 2.6.31 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter Profiles: Last.fm \| Xbox Live \| Steam

01-13-2006, 10:27 PM	#2
Jakal Tech Monkey Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Missiskippy Posts: 605	That's an excellent price, especially with it supporting Sata. I've helped others out with external enclosures and they can be very pricey. I'm glad to see such well known brand step up and produce such a device without charging so much. I'm interested in the transfer rates though. Seeing as it is Sata interface, I'm assuming a firewire or usb 2.0 connection, would provide great speeds. __________________ AMD Opteron 150@2.9Ghz 1.5v\|DFI Lanparty Expert 4/06 Bios\|OCZ Gold OCZ4002048ELGEGXT-K 2x1024 242Mhz 3v\|Twin eVga 7800GTs 470/1100 If you have a large quantity of Hot Pockets building up, you simply aren't eating them fast enough.- dibene \| Chaos Havok: grrrr im lagging me My Pics

07-20-2006, 01:35 PM	#5
Jakal Tech Monkey Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Missiskippy Posts: 605	You can't increase the transfer speeds of an ide, no matter how hard you try. Sata speeds can't be transferred by just using a sata enclosure. If you've got an ATA-133 you won't be able to get SATA-1 speeds just because it's in a Sata case. If you want to pick up the enclosure just look around for a decent Sata hard drive. I got a 250G SATA-II for around $100, and the prices have dropped since then. __________________ AMD Opteron 150@2.9Ghz 1.5v\|DFI Lanparty Expert 4/06 Bios\|OCZ Gold OCZ4002048ELGEGXT-K 2x1024 242Mhz 3v\|Twin eVga 7800GTs 470/1100 If you have a large quantity of Hot Pockets building up, you simply aren't eating them fast enough.- dibene \| Chaos Havok: grrrr im lagging me My Pics

10-15-2007, 12:01 AM	#6
Unregistered Guest Poster Posts: n/a	Question I have this very enclosure and it worked great. I"m wondering how the SATA port in the side of the enclosure works. Is there an adaptor that would allow me to connect another hard drive to the one inside the adaptor, and transfer data from the enclosure hard drive to another hard drive. I would like to "restore" the image (using Acronis True Image) I have on the enclosed hard drive, that is of 3rd hard drive, onto the 2nd hard drive, via the SATA port on the out side of the enclosure. I have this doesn't sound too confusing. My goal is to have an instantly accessable HD identical to HD number 3, which is a crucial hard drive for my work. Should this 3rd HD fail, I could just pop in the 2nd one, and go. Any help Thanks tom [UOTE=Jakal;8596]You can't increase the transfer speeds of an ide, no matter how hard you try. Sata speeds can't be transferred by just using a sata enclosure. If you've got an ATA-133 you won't be able to get SATA-1 speeds just because it's in a Sata case. If you want to pick up the enclosure just look around for a decent Sata hard drive. I got a 250G SATA-II for around $100, and the prices have dropped since then.[/QUOTE]

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01-14-2006, 01:02 PM	#3
Greg King Tech Junkie Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Indiana Posts: 1,976	The pricing is wrong. The 3.5" enclosure is priced at $45 US. The price I quoted in the review was for the 2.5" enclosure, which is not what I reviewed. I appologise for the mix up and the review will be fixed asap. Error aside, the USB 2.0 speeds are nice and I have yet to try the eSATA speeds. The only thing holding me back now is the short length of SATA cable that came with it. I will have to pull my tower out but oh well. I am curious now.

07-20-2006, 04:12 AM	#4
kev Guest Poster Posts: n/a	is there enough room in the case to use an ide drive with an ide to sata converter board? in particular, i was thinking of the abit serillel2 adapter but if anyone can suggest another adapter that can fit that would be welcomed. in addition - can i convert the sata power to normal molex connector too - wasn't sure from the pic if this was a special plug in the vantec case i wish to take advantage of the esata speeds but with my old ide drive that i have lying around.