VANTEC NexStar NST-D300SU3 Plastic 2.5" & 3.5" USB3.0 & eSATA SuperSpeed Hard Drive Dock

Pros: Have only used a few times since purchasing -- for backing up mynetwork drives. Formatted multiple disks just fine. Network backups worked great. No issues.

Cons: none

Pros: Sleek design, nice feel, very Apple like

Cons: Unit came with issues in the assembly (power button was flaky, spring load eject was not functioning). Dis assembly of the entire housing/unit/board was required; the unit came improperly assembled. Once the parts (thankfully there were only a few) were separated, the physical issues were gone (after some basic reassembly).

However, the unit immediately exhibited strange behavior when powered on; the unit would reset after about 4 hours of operation. This happened with both Windows and Linux/BSD. This made extended data transfers problematic. The dock continued to function (albeit with a limp).

This unit runs at a slow speed regardless of connection type (SATA I/II/III and USB3.0). This is a known issue with this dock due to the included hardware.

After 3 months of operation, the eSATA interface stopped working; the dock is no longer recognized. "Thankfully", there is a USB 3.0 interface to fall back on. Same hiccuping behavior appears; drive blanks online/offline now within an hour, regardless of activity/load.

Other Thoughts: I had much better luck with the Thermaltake BlacX ST0005U; 25 months of reliable operation without hiccups. Speed is a slow USB 2.0/eSATA, but they're upfront about the capability. I've had the same bad luck with the 2.5" Vantec enclosures, but their 3.5" Hot Swap docks are rock solid.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,
We try hard to provide our customer with the best service. If you have questions about our products, please feel free to write to us for assistance at support@vantecusa.com. We will try our best to answer your questions. We do not encourage disassembling the unit because it can create more problem for the user. Thank you for looking into our products. We do value your patronage.
Best Regards, Vantec

Pros: Works well with multiple PCs and Synology DS1511+ NAS

Cons: Does not work with Synology DS213+ at all using the USB connections (USB 3 ports in back or USB 2 port on front). When using the eSata connection the Synology DS213+ will recognize the drive briefly, but the drive disappears and is inaccessible after 10-30 seconds.

Pros: Seems like it should work and did for me once. The problem appears to be in the cheap cable it comes with.

Cons: Cheap defective cable, I think.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,
We apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused you. We do provide a one year warranty from the date of purchase on your product, so feel free to get that exchanged for a brand new unit.
Please contact support@vantecusa.com
Best Regards, Vantec

Pros: It works.
Inexpensive.

Cons: Flimsy plastic construction.
Obnoxiously bright blue LED.

Other Thoughts: This would be a great little product were it not for the blue power LED. It's way too bright. You could use it as a nightlight. The plastic construction is a little flimsy and cheap, but that might be expected in an inexpensive model such as this.

Pros: Everything! Other than not fully supporting 6Gbp/s

Cons: I carefully read their tech specs online.
Inside, there is only a Sata-II connection. This bottlenecks the USB 3.0 speeds to e-Sata speeds.

I confirmed:
...

Me: "It appears that this device supports USB3 out; however, internally does this use SATA II speed only?"

Them: Support Oct 19 (2 days ago)
"Hi Michael, You are correct. The eSATA port is 3Gbps"

...

eSATA delivers 3 Gbps. 3 Gbps is 384 MBps
USB 3 delivers 5 Gbps. 5 Gbps is 640 MBps.

Pros: Works with every single SATA drive I'v tried on. I used this for regular SATA II disk from an old case and on external USB drives that were no longer working. Just broke down the casing and all of them are SATA disks inside. This thing read them all. USB 3.0 interface is really fast when used with compatible PC.

Cons: None so far

Other Thoughts: Its top of the line, USB 3.0, SATA III and up to 3GB disks... All max specs in the market ATM

Pros: Sturdy, nice rubber feet, USB3 speed, eSATA port too. I've moved multiple TB through this unit already and it works great.

Cons: Blue LEDs are a little too much. Included USB3 cable, while thick and impressive looking, seems to have one end that disconnects if you touch it wrong. (I verified that it's not the fault of the port on my laptop) Minus one egg for a glitchy cable, but that's all.

Other Thoughts: Had a problem connecting to my laptop's USB3 port, Vantec support suggested the right solution for me right away. (check for the latest USB3 driver, duh). So nice to get a reply from a support department quickly.

Pros: Fast, recognized all drives,

Cons: Probably would have preferred it in black, but I'm not going to get picky :-)

Other Thoughts: Looking forward to trying USB 3.0 and also hoping to see how well it works with my ASUS Transformer TF101 Dock (Via USB)

Pros: I'm very impressed with the product. There are a lot of little revisions since the USB 2.0 version that I own (sturdier ejection mechanism, better hard drive support in chassis, single-pin power cord). Vantec finally included a high quality eSATA cable. The old ones were so thin (lacking in shielding) that sometimes computers wouldn't recognize the connection.

Cons: The spring on the power button sometimes doesn't have enough power to pop the button back out. Wiggling it makes it work, but hopefully it is fixed in the next revision.