• Vantec NexStar NST-250U2 HDD Enclosure

    Vantec NexStar NST-250U2 HDD Enclosure

    Ameya Dalvi, Oct 21, 2005 1743 hrs IST

    The NST-250U2 design is nothing like the 3.5" variant...

    Neat looks, Aluminum alloy body, No disconnections, Sleek and Portable.

    Slightly Expensive, No screw driver.

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Before I proceed to the performance, a word of caution that I choose to mention in all my USB 2.0 device reviews - To take full advantage of this product, make sure your PC has USB 2.0 ports. The USB 1.1 and 2.0 ports look alike and most of the USB 2.0 devices work with the USB 1.1 ports, but at much slower speeds. But USB 2.0 is a significantly faster connectivity standard as compared to USB 1.1. The USB 2.0 can manage a theoretical throughput of 60 MBps, while USB 1.1 can do a maximum of 1.5 MBps in theory. If you have purchased your PC in the past year and a half, there is a fair chance of you having USB 2.0 ports on your PC. Check your motherboard manual to be sure. Worst case, even if you don t have those ports, you can simply pick up a generic USB 2.0 PCI card for around 300 bucks. That will do the job.



We used our Seagate 40 GB 5400 RPM 2.5" drive (2 MB buffer) with this casing for conducting the tests. After plugging it into the USB port, I partitioned and formatted the drive like any other hard drive and it showed up as a Windows partition. No drivers were necessary under Windows XP. We conducted our usual read and write tests on this drive to gauge its transfer speed along with SiSoft Sandra 2005 File System Benchmark that gives us a fair idea of its performance. The results were pretty decent and at par with the Gemini casing that we had reviewed before. The drive managed an average write speed of 15 MBps and a read speed of 16.9 MBps. It managed a drive index of 16 in SiSoft, which is exactly what the Gemini managed. Though the performance was acceptable, I was expecting a little more from this premium product; a performance similar to the PnP Hi-Speed casing that sells in the same price bracket, which managed a score as high as 22 MBps in SiSoft.



The Vantec NST-250U2 is available for a street price of Rs 1,100 with a one year warranty. If you compare this to the PnP, it loses out on performance. If you compare the Vantec to the Gemini that sells for 1/3rd the price, the things that go for the former are a metal body, brand name, good looks and more importantly the absence of disconnections when transferring large files that plague the Gemini casing. So should one buy it for that price? Yes, only if you like its exteriors and are willing to play a few extra bucks for the same. Else, the PnP Hi-Speed casing is a better product. A pricing of around Rs. 750 would have been ideal for this enclosure.

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Discussion Board
samreth
,delhi, on Nov 17, 2005 01:19 AM
i bought one of these. a Gemini version with a power adaptor. I use it with a Parallel ATA Seagate Barracuda 160 gb disk. When i eject the disk in windows or os x the safe to remove dialog pops up but the disk keeps spinning.. please advise ??
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trakz
,Hyderabad, on Oct 25, 2005 06:02 PM
Where can i get this enclosure in Hyderabad.
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Dr. K. A. Rashe
,Manjeri, on Oct 23, 2005 04:54 PM
A data cord for USB with the other end that can be connected to any IDE drive like HD or CD ROM was shown in these columns that cost around Rs.500. The data transfer rate was almost the same if my memory is correct.
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james
,Chennai, on Oct 25, 2005 07:58 AM
Thats true Dr. But, your HDD will be then naked!!! :) its not exactly portable in that state aint it? so, a enclosure will come in handy (as it also includes the connectors).
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prashanth
,Bangalore, on Oct 23, 2005 04:35 PM
are you sure that it is only around 1,100rs. i mean a 40gb normal IDE hard disk itself costs about 2,200 and this is external with usb interface. wont it be costlier?
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Prasanna
,Mumbai, on Oct 23, 2005 06:14 PM
Mr. Prashant, pls do read the article thoriugh. this is 1100 for the casing and stuff which comes WITHOUT the Hardisk. The User has to BUY his OWN HDD. Thanks and Regards,
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prashanth
,bangalore, on Oct 24, 2005 04:13 PM
oh sorry abt that. i actually didnt read through the whole article was in a hurry...
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