• Vantec NexStar 3 2.5

    Vantec NexStar 3 2.5

    Aalaap Ghag, Oct 24, 2005 1823 hrs IST

    The enclosure offers the same sleek look and piano finish of the bigger NextStar 3

    Great looking enclosure, sleek piano finish, drive stays secure

    Below average performance, consequently expensive, unnecessary inner design needs four screws inside in addition to the two screws outside

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So far we've reviewed two Vantec enclosures - a shiny, glossy 3.5" NexStar 3 and a not-so-shiny, not-so-glossy NexStar NST-250U2, a 2.5" enclosure that looked much more sober than the other one. Now this one we have here today, is a NexStar 3 2.5" enclosure which looks exactly like the shiny, glossy 3.5" enclosure. Let's see if this (the NST-260U2) is a better option over the NexStar NST-250U2.

The enclosure offers the same sleek look and piano finish of the bigger NextStar 3, but since this is a smaller casing, it has its own share of advantages. Like most 2.5" casings, this one has no external power supply, as the drive inside consumes less power, for which a standard 5-volt USB channel is enough. The drive is also smaller, so carrying it around is much easier. Also, laptop hard drives are more shock resistant than the desktop hard drives, making them a more sensible option for portability.



The drive takes in standard 2.5" hard drives, but this particular casing has a slightly unconventional way of putting the drive in. Most casings, even the cheap 500-buck ones, have the IDE port on the same side as the USB plug. But this one has a PCB that's longer than the size of the hard drive, and has the IDE port at the inner end. You need to lay the hard drive on top of the PCB, side it towards to the IDE port, and - get a load of this - securely screw the drive down to the PCB with four screws that are provided. Eh? And then you slide it inside the main enclosure and screw that down with two bigger screws. That's a lot of hard work, and for what? The fun fact is that the regular casings are smaller than this one (this is 13.2cm x 8cm x 1.5cm), so the drive, once slid inside, has no place to move about, thereby eliminating the need to screw it down inside. And it doesn't come with a screw driver. More screws, less points.



The cable that comes with a drive is the usual two-ended USB 2.0 cable, but the second end (which takes in the extra power - we didn't need this on our PCs) also has a USB socket into which you can plug in other devices, so you don't use up two ports if you need to use extra power. Thoughtful, but also a bit messy.

New in this set is a carry pouch that is so much more than just that. It's a CaseLogic quality pouch, that can not only house the casing in its own inner compartment complete with a Velcro flap, but also the USB2.0 cable in a net compartment on the other side. All of this stays inside securely when the pouch is closed and zipped up.

Now let's see the performance of this drive as compared to the older NexStar NST-250U2. As usual we used a Seagate 40GB 5400 RPM 2.5" drive with a 2MB buffer to perform the tests on this drive. We used SiSoft Sandra 2005's File System Benchmark to gauge the performance of the casing. Sandra came up with a decent figure of 16MB/s, but a lot of runs on a different test system managed only around 14 to 15MB/s. This score is just the same as the other 2.5" NexStar, and the older Gemini. The PnP HiSpeed casing remains the fastest yet by managing upto 22MB/s from a 2.5" drive, which really is impressive.



The NexStar 3 2.5" casing costs around Rs 1,600. With a performance score of 16MB/s, I would definitely opt for the Rs 1,100 PnP HiSpeed casing which only sacrifices the sleek piano finish and a glowing Vantec logo on one side of the drive, which is something I can live without. And I just will.

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Discussion Board
aashish
,kolkata, on Sep 22, 2006 11:10 PM
where can i buy this casing in kol? contact aashish 9831151692
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vinita_kapoor_m
,mumbai, on Mar 09, 2006 06:29 PM
I am searching for a good usb external hard disk casing for 2.5 and 3.5, would you please suggest any brands that are available in Mumbai. I tried Gemini and one unbranded, it simply fails to recognize properly there is a also a problem of reset. The Gemini and the unbranded donot work properly on win 2000 and win xp.
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james
,Chennai, on Oct 25, 2005 08:06 AM
Aalaap, apart from the looks and case logic case, why is there so much disparity in pricing between the 500 bucks cases and these ones? ARe they different ciruitry wise or something? Are these(1k+ casings) more stable or what??
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Aalaap
,Techtree Test Labs, on Oct 25, 2005 04:59 PM
Usually a bit of performance benefit and then the brand name premium make up the extra cost. But this one doesn't exactly go full throttle on the performance bit.
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Sonam
,Farodabad, on Oct 24, 2005 10:35 PM
The score was less because only one usb connector was used instead of the two provided, so i think that the drive was little underpowered and hence the performance was also less. It would have been better if both the connectors were used.
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Aalaap
,Techtree Test Labs, on Oct 25, 2005 01:29 AM
We always run tests with both connectors connected. Generally there can be around 1MB/s of difference, but not with this drive. On some PCs, the drive wouldn't even get detected unless the second connector was plugged in.
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