Then turn the carrier and hard drive over and attach the hard drive with four screws (provided).
Next, slide the carrier and hard drive into the enclosure. Be careful not to pinch the power cord for the LED. When the carrier is almost completely slid in, stop and reattach the LED power cord. Then fold it slightly so it will double over into place and finish closing the enclosure. Install the two screws removed in the first step, and you’re done with the actual enclosure part.
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From here, closing up the PC, plugging in the AC adapter, and plugging the cable into the PC were all that were involved to complete the installation. Upon reboot, the PC identified new hardware and added it as “external SCSI mass storage.”
There is an ambiguity in the manual. Under “Features,” it claims the device is “Hot-swappable plug and play without rebooting.” In a later section it says, “Warning: NEVER remove the NexStar 3 while the hard drive is in use. Doing so may corrupt the data on the hard drive or damage the hard drive, NexStar 3, or computer.”
I advise some caution here. Some operating systems, such as Windows Vista, employ “delayed write” to improve performance. Using “Safely Remove Hardware” in Windows, in my opinion, would be the safest way to disconnect the drive.
This enclosure utilizes passive cooling – it does not have a fan. It relies on the surface area of the aluminum housing to dispel heat. In over a week’s use, I’ve observed it getting warm to the touch, but never too hot to be uncomfortable.
Performance
All measurements were made using DiskBench by nodesoft.com (No Design Software). The first test consisted of creating a 200 MB file in a temporary directory on the external hard drive. The second test involved reading that same file back in. Then the numbers were compared to the PC’s internal hard drive. The drive installed in the external enclosure is a Western Digital Corp. 250 GB model WD250JS-60MDB1. The drive in the PC is a Hitachi 500 GB model HDT7250VLA.
- Create 200 MB file on the external hard drive. Time: 1802 milliseconds, transfer rate: 110.988 megabytes per second.
- Read the same file back. Time: 238 milliseconds, transfer rate: 840.336 megabytes per second.
This compares to 1743 milliseconds, 114.745 megabytes per second create and 242 milliseconds and 826.44 megabytes per second read back for the internal C: drive on this machine.
Summary
The NexStar 3 works as advertised. It was neatly packaged and easy to assemble and install.
Pros: snazzy black mirror finish with chrome accents, passive cooling with no fan noise, complete kit with cables for both USB and SATA and PC card adapter included, and readable paper manual.
Cons: power cord too short for some setups, and the snazzy black mirror finish collects fingerprints like crazy.
Specifications
The NexStar 3 is made by Vantec Thermal Technologies of Fremont, CA. http://www.vantecusa.com
- Model: NST-360SU-BK
- Device Support: SATA I/II Hard Drive
- Device Size: 3.5''
- Internal Interface: SATA
- External Interface: USB 2.0 & eSATAHD
- Capacity: Up to 1 TB
- Power Supply: AC
- Adapter Material: Aluminum
- Dimensions: 206 x 123 x 33mm
For more information about how we tested, please see
Installing an External SATA Hard Drive - Comparison Testing External Vs Internal Hard Drives
