New amazing Hard Drive Dock (Vantec)
Vantec Hard Drive Dock
Introduction
There seem to be so many different ways to protect and house all your important data in this day and age. Throwing in the need to transport that same data makes the options much more numerous. From the smallest flash drive to the largest file server you can surely find some form of data storage to suit your needs. One alternative that has been popping up lately has been hard drive docks or pods. These little docks make it incredibly easy to retrieve data from a hard drive.
Vantec, a company known for different forms of external storage, is the next in line to release a pod. The NexStar Hard Drive Dock is an incredible looking device that will take any 2.5 or 3.5 internal drive and make it external. And all this is done without having to disassemble anything. All you have to do is drop the drive in the top of the dock, give the drive a second to be recognized by Windows and you are ready to read and write all your data.But how is this unit different from the one we previously reviewed a few weeks ago? Well, read the next few pages and find out.
Vantec words on the NexStar Dock
The Vantec NexStar Hard Drive Dock is a complete and easy way to add or swap hard drives to your computer. It gives you the flexibility of connecting any SATA I/II hard drive to your computer via USB 2.0 or eSATA connection without opening up your computer case or installing into an enclosure. Simply just insert any 2.5” or 3.5” SATA I/II hard drive into the NexStar Hard Drive Dock and you are ready to transfer, copy, or backup files. Quick and easy, the Vantec NexStar Hard Drive Dock is the perfect solution to access your hard drive in seconds.
Packaging and contents
I have seen many Vantec products in my life and most of the times the products are all packaged in the same matter, a well-taken picture of the unit on the front cover and plenty of details on the back.
As you may have guessed the package includes the unit itself along with USB and eSATA cables for connectivity. A neat addition to this package, especially for those who don’t have a built-in ESATA port, is an adapter to convert a standard SATA to an eSATA. What made the dock very appealing is everything equipped in the box is white in color including the dock.
Specifications
NST-D100SU
SATA Hard Drive
2.5” or 3.5” Hard Drive
SATA
USB 2.0 & eSATA
Up to 1TB
Dual 5V/12V 2A
Plastic
136x83x87mm
Windows 98/SE/ME/200/XP/Vista
Features
Install and Access Hard Drive in Seconds
Simple to Use Design; No Need to Add Enclosure or Open Case
Eject Button for Easy Removal of Hard Drive
Compatible With Any 2.5” or 3.5” SATA I/II Hard Drive
Add Storage to Any System with USB or eSATA
Plug & Play
Attractive Blue LED Power & HD Activity Light
Transfer Rates Up to 480Mbps w/USB 2.0
Transfer Rates Up to 3Gb/s w/SATA
Closer look
The NexStar from Vantec utilizes the same basic concept as the Thermaltake unit we reviewed here a couple of weeks ago. They both take a SATA drive and convert it to be used externally. No need for the disassembling and assembling of enclosures. It’s just a matter of sliding a hard drive into the top of the dock and you are off and running. But the one major difference between the two units and something I pointed out in the review is a SATA connection to the PC. The Thermaltake unit lacked this and Vantec includes this. This is a huge advantage for the NexStar. With eSATA being the choice of a growing customer base who in their right mind would leave this off?
For anybody needing to move large files the SATA connection is a better choice due to the speed benefits it has over USB’s 480 mb/s transfer rate. No matter the port you pick to use hot swapping is supported.
The unit we received was white in color and looked pretty good as it was clean and dashing. Because the unit is open air it looks very different to the standard hard drive enclosure. This open-air approach means that no fans or aluminum structures are needed for cooling. Making this a no noise solution.
A circular power button and a narrow light bar dominate the front of the dock. On the Thermaltake unit the power button was positioned on the rear making it difficult for the operator to position the unit for easy accessible and tidiness. Activating and shutting down are therefore much easier on this unit. The button and the light bar glow blue when power is giving to the unit.
The top is where you would insert your laptop or desktop hard drive. The trap door automatically folds down when inserting a 3.5” drive but there is no need for the door to open when using 2.5” drives. The button on the left is an eject mechanism, no need for having to pull the drive from the unit. Just another example of good design.
The back of the drive dock houses all the plug-ins for the unit. Here we have the much wanted eSATA port.
Installation
Installation of the dock is about as simple as boiling water all that is needed is a connection to the PC and one to power. After that insert your drive.
Testing
When it came to testing there isn’t too much to do but to measure performance across the USB and eSATA bridges. We used a Seagate 120GB SATA I drive in the dock to see how well it works. We added the Thermaltake Blac X in for a comparison.
Testing Hardware:
Motherboard
ASUS P5E3
Processor
Intel Core2Duo e8400
Ram
OCZ DDR3 14400
Video
Zotac 8800GTX
HDD
Seagate 7200.8 120g SATA
Power Supply
Tagan BZ700
OS
Microsoft Vista Ultimate
Cooling
Thermalright Ultra 120
Case
Open air
Results
All that can be said here is that eSATA (bottom image) is obviously faster to use. Seriously, the time that it takes to install the eSATA bracket is well worth it as the speed difference between USB 2.0 and eSATA is truly noticeable.
Conclusion
The mere function of the Vantec NexStar Dock makes it worth its weight in gold. The time it saves when backing up or saving data makes it a no-brainer when looking for your next storage device. And for the technician who needs a way to retrieve customer’s data this is a must have in your PC toolbox. At to that the fact that NexStar have cleaned up the design of the unit, placed the powerswitch on the front and added eSATA and you have a compelling product.
Searching Google for possible pricing we came across one retailer advertising the unit and it was Directron which was in pre-order status. It was listed at $40 which was the asking price for Thermaltake Blac X. Not that bad of a price as this is the pricing for most quality HDD enclosures.
The only downside to the NexStar is that it is not available yet.
We gave the TT unit a ‘Must Have’ award but the NexStar did a one-up on it and added eSATA so we are giving it a ‘Highly Recommended’ award. It isn’t often that we receive a product for review that makes us slap our heads and say “Why didn’t I think of that?”, but the NexStar Dock made us do exactly that. It does all the right things in all the right ways. Well done Vantec.
