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Vantec NST-260SU-BL External Enclosures
Customer Reviews for VANTEC NEXSTAR 3 NST-260SU-BL Aluminum 2.5" Blue USB 2.0 & eSATA External Enclosure - Retail
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Price: $32.99
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Review Summary (58 Reviews): Rating + 4
OverallLast 2 WeeksLast 6 Months
Excellent Rating + 5 41ReviewsExcellent
newegg
71%
Good Rating + 4 8ReviewsGood
newegg
14%
Average Rating + 3 3ReviewsAverage
newegg
5%
Poor Rating + 2 4ReviewsPoor
newegg
7%
Very Poor Rating + 1 2ReviewsVery Poor
newegg
3%
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Reviewer Product Review
cptdickey
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: less than 1 day
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/19/2009 6:46:51 AM

Rating + 4


Pros: Nice fit and finish and your drive is very secure in the enclosure. Haven't had any problems with heat at all. Love the eSATA but...see below.

Cons: The included USB y-cable is enormous, way to big. Wish I had bought a model with an AC power source for use with eSATA. Just bought a third party adaptor.

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N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/20/2009 10:53:02 AM

Rating + 5


Pros: This is a sweet little case.It goes together well and is fairly simple.I use it every day in my line of work,it hasn't let me down.The blue led isn't to bright or annoying.

Cons: none

Other Thoughts: I'm planing on getting the 3.5" case to match this one.

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N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
7/8/2009 4:07:20 PM

Rating + 2


Pros: Nicely constructed, included accessories (pouch, esata braket) are nice.

Cons: Not reliable at 3.0 Gbps. I have varing degrees of SATA link errors whenever it links up at 3.0 Gbps. (On some controllers the link won't come up at all, and falls back to 1.5. Others it comes up, then falls back to 1.5 after errors.

Other Thoughts: I'm using this with an Intel SSD, so I need the 3.0 link speed to not limit the device.
Manufacturer Response:If is faulty in any way, please feel free to contact our RMA dept to get that exchanged for a brand new one. Thank you and have a great day!

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craji
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
6/20/2009 7:36:26 PM

Rating + 3 good stuff


Pros: esata, usb powered, compact design, easy to install, dissipates heat well. sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeek.

Cons: the solder on the usb connector has detached. i believe the longer male component on some usb cables may sometimes stress those points on the board. RMA'd, but up until then it's great.

Other Thoughts: i use the 3.5 sata->esata vantecs as well as the 2.5. after trying multiple companies i've found the vantec cases (and although not perfect) to be by far the all around best.

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Ken Spring Tx
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: more than 1 year
5/5/2009 6:44:57 AM

Rating + 2 Looks Cool... Runs HOT!!!


Pros: Compact, esata, comes with power supply, slick looking design...

Cons: If you consider the average temp of this unit being 120-127F cool.... get one.....

Other Thoughts: If I had to do it again, I would consider one with a fan.... I have a 300 gig Maxtor and its been cooking in this thing for over 2 years... Time for me to jump on a Fanned unit ..... Seriously, I fell for the "Aluminum" enclosures that "keeps the drive cool" lines.... think about it.... if its sealed, where is the heat to go...??? what is drawing the heat away from the HD..??? a sealed aluminum skin??? Alum is not the best conductor of heat...There are no cooling fins, vents, heat tubes are any other type of current cooling technology in this sealed metal tight fitting enclosure... If space permits, get one with a fan... you will be much happier!

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

MRRJr
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/29/2009 2:07:01 PM

Rating + 5 Very Happy


Pros: Easy To Install; Aluminum (keeps drive cool)

Cons: None so far

Other Thoughts: Quick shippment from Newegg (as usual)

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N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/25/2009 6:51:08 PM

Rating + 2 Didnt work


Pros: It worked for about 2 weeks and it came with cables and a esata port

Cons: after about 2 weeks it stopped working. My computer would detect it and when i went to copy something it would start and after about 2 seconds it would say the device is disconnected.

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Sitnalta
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/13/2009 5:04:44 PM

Rating + 5 Pretty much perfect


Pros: Light weight, easy to assemble. The pouch they give you is just the right size to hold the HD, the USB cable, eSata cable, and even an eSata express card! Though it is a tight fit. :)

Cons: None, really.

Other Thoughts: It would be nice if there was a convenient way of powering it when using eSata. I just use the USB cable to do that now, but it's kind of a mess of wires.

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Myles Blackwood
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: more than 1 year
4/11/2009 12:05:04 PM

Rating + 4 Decent Product- Gets VERY HOT


Pros: Does what it says. eSATA, USB2. Always works, and the blue light is bright enough to scare away the boogy man.

Cons: There's ZERO venting for the hard drives, so they get very hot if used for more than an hour. This, as we all know, reduces hard drive life- which is bad. In fact, this thing gets so hot, it's almost hard to pick the device up immediately after using it. (I have TWO of these units, with matching hard drives- and they are both hot after use- with more than AMPLE spacing between them for air flow) Therefore, I am taking a full dot off of the Overall Rating.

Other Thoughts: After taking out my drives, measuring carefully for the best way to get some air passing through this device, I determined that by drilling 3/8" holes with spaces of about 3/8" between each, that the drive (which sits on a shelf in my garage) manages to stay much cooler now. In fact, it's no longer hot to the touch- which means my hard drive is a little bit happier. Not recommended for the average idiot to attempt this feat... not that you're the idiot... as I clearly am! ;[)

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
3/28/2009 11:51:48 AM

Rating + 5 Superb


Pros: eSATA works well, you can use a usb power cable (with sufficient amperage!) to power the drive while using eSATA to read/write. The 5V round plug hole is a bonus; for instance, Rosewill sells a card reader and esata/usb front panel accessory which includes a power cable that fits this! The aluminum helps transfer heat.

Cons: Can't turn off the blue LED. The USB y-cable is bulky.

Other Thoughts: An extremely good case with multiple power options.

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JD
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
3/18/2009 7:02:00 PM

Rating + 5 Great external


Pros: Great Drive, installed 500 gig WD hard drive, plugged it in and it recognized it and booted right up.

Cons: The only con I can think of is that for my particular laptop I have to plug it in and the boot up my computer. It does not recognize it if I try to plug it in when computer is running.

Other Thoughts: Great service and delivery by Newegg as usual. Thanks.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Amazed
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
3/6/2009 2:50:16 PM

Rating + 3 eSATA flakey


Pros: USB works fine!

Cons: eSATA worked one time. Since then the drive disappears when the eSATA cable is hooked up. Even tried a 3rd party USB 5V cable yet eSATA still failed to show up.

Other Thoughts: Tried rebooting, hooking up all cables but eSATA still won't work. Pooh!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
3/1/2009 8:39:57 PM

Rating + 5 If only more cheap stuff was made this well


Pros: Drive fits snuggly. Operation (with USB) flawless.

Cons: Does not come with power supply. Does not work with many 3rd party USB cables.

Other Thoughts: I own two of these. One I've had for about 2 years the second I just purchased for use with a 500gB western digital. These enclosures have been the most reliable pieces of computer equipment I've owned which proves you don't always have to spend a lot to get a lot. My one complaint is finding additional USB cables has been a real chore. Third party cables don't seem to provide sufficient power to run these drives. I'm currently contacting Vantec to get recommendations.

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N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
1/31/2009 11:59:21 PM

Rating + 1 not so good


Pros: really sleek look esata is a plus bright blue light

Cons: sadly this thing rendered a NEW drive useless can no longer use drive for anything other than storage unit.

Other Thoughts: was looking for a usb boot solution got a paperweight in the long run. now what to do with a 80gb drive that wont boot anymore??? sorry not even Gparted can help me tried for 2 hours..

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ThePlayer
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/28/2009 8:23:34 PM

Rating + 4 Looks good, runs great


Pros: Easy install, need only simple usb cable, looks very south beach-ish and protects the hard drive and case helps it cool as well. Comes with carry case. Really high quality product

Cons: Expensive, has extremely long and bulky double mini-usb cord, which is not even required but still annoying

Other Thoughts: Style and function blend together

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Mike K
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
1/25/2009 12:51:06 PM

Rating + 5 Hi Quality Materials-Nice Design


Pros: All metal construction, seems very robust. Well thought out design. Nice paint job. Has all the cables, including eSATA and double head USB (for powering drives if single headed USB doesn't supply enough power to spin your drive-mine did).

Has a nylon carrying case which is a nice touch. I keep my drive always in the mesh pocket side, even when plugged in for "air cooling" through the mesh.

Vantec supplies a port for a 5V DC input on the back side of the drive for those that don't want to use USB power for the HDD. No DC cable is supplied, however, but the manual gives you all the specs you need to find a suitable DC plug/brick.

Cons: While the nylon carrying case is nice, when trying to store both eSATA cables and double-headed USB cable in their pouches, it tends to get "fat", pressing down on the HDD while zipped up. I'm worried that the extra pressure on top of the HDD drive while zipped up will push down on the HDD lid too much in the zipped case? Probably not a big deal, as the HDD heads are not over the disk when the drive is powered down inside the zipped up case.

People have mentioned it needs rubber feet. I agree. The bent metal feet on it are slippery, and may scratch surfaces it's sitting on?

Other Thoughts: It was easy to put a 160GB Seagate 7200 RPM drive in this thing. Slipped right in, with no software needed for my XP and Vista computers. That fast drive only needed a single USB cable to power up the drive, but it's nice that Vantec supplied a double-headed USB cable if you have a laptop that puts out weak power through the USB port.

I corrupted my drive at one point and had to reformat. THIS WAS NOT THE FAULT OF THE VANTEC UNIT. I think I had a hiccup during an eSATA transfer. I think it was because I did not turn off HDD caching. Since this is a portable drive, there is a greater chance of pulling a plug during transfer, causing corruption.
I STRONGLY SUGGEST turning off write caching on the external HDD, by going into "Device Manager", "Disk Drives", right clicking on the external HDD and going to "Properties", and then the "Policy" tabs. Select "optimize for quick removal". It makes copying a little slower, but a corrupted hard drive is no fun! It trashed all my dat

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scottws
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
1/23/2009 10:17:35 PM

Rating + 5 Fantastic enclosure


Pros: USB 2.0 *AND* eSATA support
SATAII internal interface
Slim, attractive design
Includes carrying case
5V power connector support
Easy assembly

Cons: External 5V power connector not included
No rubber feet
Pricey

Other Thoughts: I bought this case looking for a way to get a very compact external hard drive that also allowed me to maximize transfer speed. This enclosure delivered on all fronts.

My cons above are all relatively minor, though I do wish it had rubber feet similar to those found on complete external units, but the ability to get 7200 rpm and eSATA far outweighed my desire to get rubber feet and I have no regrets making the choice I did.

This unit has performed like a champ for me for many months.

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digiscum
Tech Level: high
Ownership: less than 1 day
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/23/2009 7:57:12 PM

Rating + 5 Works fine in eSATA and USB


Pros: I couldn't get my OKGEAR enclosure to work with my Hitachi 7K320 in eSATA. So I gave this Vantec NexStar 3 a try. It works like a charm!

Cons: Doesn't have another standalone cable for the power port on this case - have to use the pretty bulky USB cable for power.

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NecessaryEvil
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/22/2009 6:50:16 PM

Rating + 5 Works fine, gives good speed in SATA


Pros: Well built, my Hitachi 200gb 7200rpm drive went from 30MB/s to 50.4MB/s average speed when using eSATA, which makes it great for running a 2nd OS and just modifying the boot order.

Comes with all the cables, which is more than I can say for some brands retail drives.

Cons: I've read about powered eSATA. If this could have had that, it would be great to plug it in with a single cable rather than USB & eSATA.

The Silver one didn't have free shipping, so I settled for Blue.

Other Thoughts: I also have 4 of the Vantec NexStar CX 2.5" USB only enclosures. The newest one I bought from Newegg (the end of 2008) had a punchout for eSATA, so hopefully they will release a model of that with eSATA as well as USB.

The case just seems unnecessary to me, but I'm sure some people will like it. Personally, I'd rather see it omitted and get the price dropped.


Could be an issue with my motherboard rather than the enclosure, but I have to reboot my computer for my system to recognize the drive when plugged into eSATA. The motherboard, an Abit IP35 Pro, uses a jMicron controller for the eSATA. It's possible that if you use another controller, it is truly plug and play rather than plug, reboot, and play.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Michael
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/13/2009 3:57:13 PM

Rating + 5 Great enslosure


Pros: Works great and looks nice. I like the freebie case.

Cons: Wish it had a power switch so I don't have to keep unplugging the USB to power it off.

Other Thoughts: Someone said eSATA is not hotswapable? Yes it is. If it weren't how would I be able to power it off and then back on and have it come back up? When the SATA cable is plugged in it will try to use SATA, and when only the USB is plugged in it will try to use just USB. If using SATA is being used then the USB must be used for power (no power brick included unfortunately). Cheaper USB cables will not work for power but do seem to work for the USB connection. The USB cable it comes with works for either. Comes up as USB2.0 and/or SATA 1.5gig (my max port speed is 1.5 on mobo) in dmesg in Gentoo Linux. Like I said above when I want to power it down I have to unplug the USB cable, which is kind of a pain. Other than that, great enclosure.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Aardvark
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
1/8/2009 11:43:02 AM

Rating + 5 Solid enclosure


Pros: This box looks very nice, is easy to put a drive into, and functions well with eSATA and USB. The metal case always feels cool to the touch and it adds no noise to my PC.

Cons: Pricey for a box with no drive considering boxes with drives start at just twice this price.

Other Thoughts: I always have to use a USB port for power. It may be completely the fault of the drive, but with only one drive, I can't give a comparison. eSATA always requires I use the USB for power and that certainly is no fault of the enclosure.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Matt
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/1/2009 5:24:14 AM

Rating + 5 Great Product, Will Buy Again.


Pros: eSata AND USB, Standard 5V Power Supply, USB cable, eSata Cable. Easy to assemble. Works FAST. I will buy another one.

Cons: I wish for a few dollars more, it would include an AC Adapter for use with the eSata. I have enough old Sidekick chargers hanging around to do the job.

Other Thoughts: If you have an old T-Mobile Sidekick charger, it works perfectly with this unit.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

caliman64
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/28/2008 9:30:15 AM

Rating + 5 Works Great!


Pros: Works great and doesn't get very hot. Does what its supposed to do.

Cons: None

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/22/2008 1:02:50 PM

Rating + 5


Pros: It looks good. It connects to USB and eSATA. You get the enclosure, usb cord, carrying case, eSATA cable, and an SATA to eSATA converter bracket. It stays cool.

Cons: slides around easily -- needs some rubber pads underneath it to keep it in place.

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robrrb
Tech Level: high
Ownership: more than 1 year
12/10/2008 9:15:54 AM

Rating + 3 Solid for a while, then died


Pros: It is solidly built, and I prefer its aluminum enclosure to the more popular Rosewill RX81U-ES-25A 2.5" SATA enclosure. It looks pretty nice, though the side with the logo is a bit busy, I think.

The light is on the opposite end from the USB port, which adds a tiny bit of length over similar enclosures but I prefer it because you don't have to look at the back of the product.

It feels sturdy, and holds the drive in nicely. Doesn't rattle around or anything. I loved this drive for two years, until...

Cons: It died. It didn't hurt my hard drive (thankfully an indestructible little Seagate Momentus), but it was frustrating to have it just stop working. It must have had a short, because it started drawing too much power. Even when it had its independent support and was on a powered USB hub, it just gave me nothing except a "drawing too much power" error message.

I was afraid the drive was dead, but just bought a new Rosewill enclosure for it (to change things up) and it is working perfectly. Though I am backing everything on it up now that I'm paranoid about the drive.

Other Thoughts: I might be a freak accident, or it might be that the drive is just supposed to last for a couple of years and anything after is gravy. It's cheap, certainly worth the price, but for the moment (not having had another external USB 2.5 enclosure experience) I would buy another Rosewill over it. Even with the cheap plastic-y feel to the internal parts, the rosewill does look nicer and is performing very well.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

dude
Tech Level: low
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
11/24/2008 10:05:16 PM

Rating + 5 neat


Pros: neat looking
easy to install

Cons: can't complain at all

Other Thoughts: aaahh, what r we talking about?

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

okted
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
11/8/2008 10:44:19 AM

Rating + 5 Solid/Cool


Pros: I bought this with a 500GB Western Digital Scorpio Blue, loaded the WD drive, cloned my new macbook's 250GB hard drive to it, booted from the external drive and ran like that for several hours to test it, swapped the drives, and then reformatted the 250GB mac drive and set it up as my time machine backup (sans music/tv). At no point did I have any problems with heat or anything else. I was also pleasantly surprised to not notice a drop in performance running off the external drive. The case is solid and holds the drive snugly. So snugly, in fact, that I had to peel the plastic tab off the mac's drive to get it in, but I figured that was better for heat transfer anyway.

Cons: As has been said in other reviews, the enclosure isn't terribly stable on end or on a smooth surface. The torque of the cable is actually enough to topple it over. This would happen with any such thin drive, however. So if vertical stability is more important to you than portability, I suggest you look at 3.5" enclosures. As for the metal feet, I'm not so concerned with the drive scooting around on my desk as I am with it scratching it (although I haven't yet noticed any marks). All this said, I am completely satisfied with my purchase and have already recommended it to two of my friends.

Other Thoughts: As has also been said, the included fancy USB cable awkwardly fits inside the carrying case, which contains two pouches, one for the cable and one for the drive. The good news is that neither drive I used needed the extra USB plug for power. So I just replaced the fancy included cable with a much slimmer, flimsier USB cable, solving both the storage and vertical stability problem.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

BungleBum69
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
11/6/2008 7:34:26 AM

Rating + 5 Awesome enclosure.


Pros: I had a WD Passport 250GB that died on me within 6 months (due to my own failure to "safely eject").
I pulled the HD out of the WD enclosure and it worked fine when plugged directly into PC.

I got this enclosure to replace the WD one and it's been working like a champ.

Nice and shiny.

The USB cable that comes with it has 2 plugs so you can actually give the drive more power.

I've seen this cable just by itself cost almost half the price of this enclosure...so it's a great deal with the cable.

Cons: The nylon case (not the enclosure) is a little tight.
The pouch inside the case for the drive is really really snug.
And you can't really carry the eSATA and USB cables together in the net mesh.

Other Thoughts: Awesome little enclosure for the price.
I wish it had little rubber feet...the aluminum enclosure sitting on a desk can slide around a good bit.
I found such little feet at a hardware store and it's now the best portable drive I've ever owned.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

MIKE
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
11/3/2008 5:05:35 AM

Rating + 5 AWESOME PRODUCT


Pros: works with 320gb hdd. cool and quiet.

Cons: usb cords included are grey. boo hoo.

Other Thoughts: the binder, cables and hdd enclosure still rock and rock hard. awesome product.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
11/1/2008 5:56:01 AM

Rating + 5 works with 300 GB 2.5 in drives


Pros: no problems so far, just requires that 2nd usb plugged in (included) to get 300gb drives to work

Cons: no cons

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/12/2008 9:54:58 PM

Rating + 5 Great case with eSATA connection


Pros: Great case. Cool looking. Easy to install. Both USB and eSata work great with my motherboard (Intel BOXDG965WHMKR)

Cons: None so far...

Other Thoughts: I purchased it along with new Western Digital Scorpio WD3200BEVT 320GB 5400 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Notebook Hard Drive. This combination works great. I used eSATA connection to clone my Desktop Hard Drive. Much faster than through USB.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

spool32
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/12/2008 11:31:43 AM

Rating + 4 Neat o


Pros: Has a nice solid feel to it. Great case included. Very compact

Cons: The USB cable fits in the case a little bit funny and leaves a buldge, but no big deal.

Other Thoughts: I ordered this on accident but after looking at it, decided to keep it. I meant to get a 3.5" enclosure but I still have a use for a 2.5 so I just ordered another drive for this one. I have one other 2.5 case and like this one much better!

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Daniel S
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/8/2008 10:51:37 PM

Rating + 4 It Does Its Job Without Any Fuss


Pros: Slim, aluminum, and attractive.

Cons: The included USB cable is a little unwieldy. You can't fold it and put it in the carrying case with your HDD.

Other Thoughts: This was the first external enclosure I have ever purchased. I am pleased, with its performance and don't have any complaints with this product. At the same time, having it has shown me what I really wanted my external enclosure to have. If I would have shopped around a little more I could have got an enclosure that had a firewire port. Hard drives mount and unmount to/from the computer quicker when attached by firewire.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Choo Choo Man
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/3/2008 9:18:25 AM

Rating + 5 Nice Enclosure


Pros: Works great. Easy to install the drive in the enclosure.

Cons: Fingerprints.

Other Thoughts: Power supplies are easy to come by for this. Would be nice to have one packaged for a higher price.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Steve
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
5/13/2008 10:58:29 AM

Rating + 1 Both Units DOA


Pros: Beautiful design, very good workmanship

Cons: Would not work. Made excessive effort to get these working but the system never get past the "read error." I bought two of these.

Other Thoughts: I recommend trying another manufacturer. It's upsetting to spend so much time tring to get a product to work, then have to fool around with re-wraping and spending more money on postage for a product that should work.

0 out of 5 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

MattPie
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/30/2008 7:43:25 AM

Rating + 5 Works pretty well


Pros: The case looks really nice. The body is aluminum and the end caps appear to be chromed plastic. Performance is reasonable for this type of device using a Toshiba 160GB Sata-2 drive. The eSATA cable and bracket are a nice touch and work without issue. (Ubuntu 7.10, 8.04)

Cons: The supplied USB cable is somewhat thick and chintzy. You have to wad it up pretty tight to fit in the supplied case. It would be nice if they had provided a power adapter for the DC-in, but the jack size is a very common. Looking around my house, I found two USB hubs and a USB-to-cell phone cable that had the same plug.

Other Thoughts: The power situation is interesting. Most of the time I use only one USB plug to power the drive. If my laptop is running on battery, I need to use both USB plugs to get enough juice.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

BigDom
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
4/17/2008 6:28:41 PM

Rating + 4 HOT! HOT! HOT!


Pros: Sleek, good looking and easy to install.

Cons: This thing gets HOT! HOT! HOT! Maybe it is the 500GB WD I put into it but this is small consideration. This unit really needs some kind of fan. If you do not mind the heat then this is the unit for you.

Other Thoughts: NewEgg as usually shipped quickly and had a good price.

0 out of 6 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Ziggy
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/9/2008 2:44:55 AM

Rating + 5 Easy Setup


Pros: Works great. Easy to install, eSata work great with my mobo. Transfer speeds, are def. noticed.

Cons: I've been having some over heating issues, it might jus be the 120g drive I'm using, but its def but givin me to problems.

Other Thoughts: Some type of cooling would be great, but overall, great product.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

iopfd625
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/5/2008 9:44:33 AM

Rating + 5 Awesome!


Pros: Very attractive and sturdy case. Pulled out Hitachi 80GB 5400 SATA and fit it in under 2 min. No external power source required as it runs off of USB. Definately buy if your in the market for HDD upgrade.

Cons: None!

Other Thoughts: Ballistics nylon/padded carrying case comes with it so it's very portable and very protected.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Sandman
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
3/27/2008 12:08:13 PM

Rating + 5 Vantec 2.5 Case


Pros: Sata, USB 2.0

Cons: none

Other Thoughts: From what I have heard the eSATA doesn't work I haven't tried this yet.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

jmartinez
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
3/21/2008 6:13:31 AM

Rating + 5 Fast and Queit


Pros: Easy to use, fast, quiet and drive doesn't get to hot.

Cons: None.

Other Thoughts: purchased it along with a new Hitachi 200GB 7200 RPM hard drive for my laptop and used this to clone my existing drive to my new one and worked like a charm. Now I used it with my old hard drive as a external hard drive to back up my information.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
3/17/2008 6:37:36 AM

Rating + 4


Pros: Works as advertised, easy install. Consider the performance hit eSATA takes if you disable disk cache.

Cons: 1) Mirror/chrome finish shows fingerprints, would be better with a matte finish.
2) Documentation suggests diabling disk cache for maximum safety but in eSATA mode, this option degrades performance a lot.

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alienmenace
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
3/10/2008 8:40:43 PM

Rating + 4 Great


Pros: Really like how easy it was to put together. And my Western Digital Scorpio WD2500BEVS 250GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 1.5Gb
really works great in this. Really like the color to.

Cons: Tried using the esata, but it won't work. No big deal tho. It does like to get finger prints on it.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Amazed
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
3/5/2008 3:33:49 AM

Rating + 2 eSATA not compatible


Pros: USB 2.0 works fine. Very attractive color (blue) and neat carry case.

Cons: eSATA will not work with MSI P7N SLI Platinum. I tried the I/O eSATA ports on the backplate and even tried a SATA port connected directly to the m/b and no go.

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

KurtMD
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
3/1/2008 11:15:53 AM

Rating + 5 Beauty by any comparison


Pros: Capable of holding huge capacity HDDs (see Other thoughts below). Color is beautiful.

Cons: I haven't been able to get the eSATA port to work in two different PCs and, would have dropped the rating of this case down to a "4" if it would not be for it's gorgeous color and, more importantly, it's capability to work using a Western Digital Scorpio WD3200BEVT 320GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Notebook Hard Drive. (BTW, this could possibly be the reason it does not work VIA eSATA)

Other Thoughts: I'm a PC/Network Consultant by trade with a client base over two hundred (both private and business/corporate clients) and have been using and recommending computer/network technology for over two decades. I added this external case to my repertoire in December 2007 to test it out. I purchased it with a Western Digital Scorpio WD3200BEVT 320GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Notebook Hard Drive through Newegg.com (Newegg ROCKS!) and use it exclusively for onsite client data backup/protection through its USB 2.0 port before major system work. This combo has been TOTALLY problem/trouble free so far!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
2/27/2008 8:28:48 PM

Rating + 5 Great product


Pros: excellent performance even with usb. easy to install. very sturdy.

Cons: none

Other Thoughts: wish it had the power connector for eSATA use.

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CJ
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
2/25/2008 11:16:59 AM

Rating + 5 Worth the money


Pros: Slim sleek design, fairly solid construction, easy to setup. I like the red color on this, it really stands out....if your into that sort of thing.

Cons: didn't come with stand alone power supply.....although power is supplied through USB, so it really doesn't matter.

Other Thoughts: I picked the wrong interface type, my laptop died and I want to retrieve the files of the H.D.D. and then reformat and reuse as an external. Unfortunetly, I assumed my laptop HD had an IDE interface, but infact it had the SATA 15. So I RMA'd this for the Sata 15 version. Ooops, Nobody's perfect.

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N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
2/23/2008 8:27:43 AM

Rating + 5 perfect


Pros: 30 second install time, this thing is actually pretty, and i don't use that term often

Cons: doesn't include a 5v connector. . . use the USB for power instead

Other Thoughts: haven't tried eSata compatability, but i'm guessing it works

i'd but another in a heartbeat

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N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
2/17/2008 7:29:40 AM

Rating + 5 Does What It Is Suppose to Do


Pros: It works. It does not cost a lot of $

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: I am ordering a second one today.

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Dowsire
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
2/15/2008 11:49:40 AM

Rating + 5


Pros: What a great item! I first bought this thinking that it may not work, cause of the 250gig hard drive I'm going to use it for. Cause Vantec said, "USB Powered for drives up to 160GB". Well it works for my 250 just fine. The USB is good but, the eSATA is blazing fast even when used in vista. Don't hotswap with esata cause windows doesn't like it. Since there is no power supply you can use the USB for the power when using the eSata.

Cons: I just have 1 beef with this. Where is the power supply? But then again it came with a carrying case.I wish I could have had a choice, Power supply or carrying case.O well for this price its good enough! Vantec should have had a accesory version that came with a stand and power supply for it for a little extra $. I would have paid for it.

Other Thoughts: Great product, fast service and shipping, Thanx Newegg. Just wish it had a power supply.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
2/3/2008 10:39:57 AM

Rating + 5 Nice for the price


Pros: Easy to assemble and use.
Useful and convenient packaging.

Cons: Supplied USB cable doesn't quite work with 15" laptop.

Other Thoughts: I replaced the original drive in my 15" MacBook Pro and bought this to make use of it. It is a sweet little bundle, and I especially like the included carrying case. But the double-headed USB cable is too short to allow me to use it on my MBP. This would be a real drawback except that the right-hand USB port supplies all the power (and signal) necessary.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: less than 1 day
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/4/2008 12:16:21 AM

Rating + 5 Easy to put together


Pros: It comes with a carrying case, all the cables you need, and it took me less than 5 min to put together and made it start working. It fell 3 feet to a tile floor, when I moved my laptop OOPS, no damage, it still works.. The protective carrying case is great! Comes with all possible necessary hardware, even though I'm just using the E-sata. Purchased this with the Rosewill express sata card-both are working fine, no drivers needed in VISTA..

Cons: Tight slide putting the drive, mounted to the card in at first. I just wiggled it a bit, and it went in.

Other Thoughts: I used a 5 volt adaptor I had from a an old external drive I had, plus it will power up just fine, if you plug in the USB cord in addition to the E sata.
Wish they had supplied their own 5 volt power supply. No biggy, prolly would have driven the price up.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

aknight
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/31/2007 6:49:26 PM

Rating + 5 Love the eSATA


Pros: eSATA definately quicker than the USB connection. They include a SATA to eSATA motherboard connector. The included cable has a 'Y' adapter for extra power if needed. And the extra power USB is inline, meaning you can still have a device plugged into that port.

Cons: The shiny outside is a fingerprint magnet. Shiny comes at a price. Carrying case could have been better designed like with an elastic band to hold the drive in instead of just the material pouch.

Other Thoughts: Keep in mind that while using the eSATA with the included MB adapter the USB is still required for power.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

PTrack88
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/26/2007 11:46:07 AM

Rating + 5 Looks Great


Pros: I purchased this external enclosure to house the 120 GB drive that came out of my Mac Book Pro when I upgraded it to a 200 GB 7200 drive. I use this to run my Time Machine backups to. Works great and looks good.

Cons: I don't need the clunky USB splitter, but I can live with it.

Other Thoughts: Looks good, nice color

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/19/2007 7:12:05 PM

Rating + 5 nexstart esata 2.5 edition


Pros: Small, quiet, runs cool, looks good.
Very easy install.
Nice carrying case.
Fast with esata, fine with USB.
Includes a USB adapter so you could join two cables.

Cons: Note: there is no power brick included despite a 5v power input on the drive case. The power is via USB and works fine on ports directly connected to my mobo - but there is not enough power on a front USB port on my antec case to run the drive as USB only. Very fast with esata (but you also need to connect the USB for power).
No plastic stand to hold it upright - but it works fine standing on edge or flat.

Other Thoughts: Fine price, good way to use an old notebook HDD.

Bought from the egg (of course) - 6 days by U__ including a weekend and snowstorm to arrive TN to MA

13 out of 14 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

BigD
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
11/10/2007 1:15:54 PM

Rating + 5 Worth every penny!


Pros: This case's tiny size and solid construction are a real plus. Not needing an external power supply also a plus. I have not tried the eSATA interface yet so don't know if it would be quicker than USB2 or not. (I have a 3.5" NexStar3, so I knew what to expect.)

Cons: Minor:
Rear applique/decal looks cheap, but does not detract from performance.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

klae
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
10/30/2007 7:46:51 PM

Rating + 5 Fast, quiet and only warm to the touch


Pros: I have been using the eSATA interface, so the trasfer speed far surpasses my PATA internal drives. Sleek look - shiney black. I was a little worried about the stability of the tiny base if comes with but it has not been a problem. First chance I get I think I will be buying another.

Cons: The light is a little bright, but you dont have to connect it either.

Other Thoughts: eSATA != equal hot swapable. windows has a panic attack if you unplug this guy while its on, guess its a good thing it also has USB

12 out of 13 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Foo
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
10/28/2007 3:33:14 PM

Rating + 5 Compact, elegant, and almost invisible


Pros: Good design, frame feels pretty sturdy, I'd feel comfortable tranporting it around on a regular basis. Really fast read/write time on my WD 500GB drive. Pretty quiet as well, but I suppose that's more a function of the drive than the case. I wager that it would be almost silent if it were slightly larger and had some added sound deadening material added in.

Cons: Laughably short power cable (about 5ft). It's fine if you have an outlet nearby, but if your PC is anything over 7ft away from an outlet, forget it. If it weren't for this glaring oversight on vantec's part, i'd give it 5 eggs.

Other Thoughts: Included CD seemed pretty useless, all it had were the installation directions in pdf format and some backup utility. I'll pass.

I'm using it via USB, so I can't comment on it's direct SATA interface setup, but transfers are lightning quick over USB and only takes seconds to initialize from a cold start.

I'd reccommend this to anyone I know.

4 out of 5 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

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