Are you in the market for a nice external hard drive? One that is small, fast, and reliable without breaking the bank? Did you ever think about buying an external enclosure and purchasing the hard drive separately? It is much cheaper if you do it that way, but which one do you buy? Today we are going to look at the Vantec NexStar-3. Maybe this review will help you decide if it’s the “one” for you.

The package
First impressions of the packaging were nice. The item on the box looks very nice. The graphics, etc. look great on paper. see image
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front

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back

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Inside the package
Upon opening the packaging, I was presented with the enclosure inside of an anti-static bag. see picture
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After taking the enclosure out, I lifted the white “tray” out of the box to reveal the other contents of the package. In the bottom of the box I was greeted with a nifty case, a double sided usb cable (it has male and female connectors on one side and then regular males on the other ends), the software driver cd, and manual. see pictures
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tray out

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contents of box

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The cable

The cable, as stated above, has both a male and female connector on one end and one normal sized male connector and smaller sized connector (also male) on the other end. The reason for putting two connectors on the cable is because not everyone has a usb 2.0 interface in their computer, especially some older laptops. They will not put out enough power in one usb port to run the hard drive so there are two connectors to pull power from two usb ports. Incoperating a female connector on one end is a really good idea, not many other manufactures do this. The last enclosure I had did not have this little feature, there’s a plus for vantec. The reason for the female connector is that you can still use that usb port if you need to when the drive is plugged in. (note: if you have usb 2.0 you don’t need to use both connectors) see pictures
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cable

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The Case
The case is a very nice addition to the contents. The case is a sturdy zip style case. It has two compartments, one compartment is for the enclosure itself, the other compartment is for the usb cable. The case also boasts a wrist strap. The case zips closed, it is a very nice little case to carry the enclosure in to protect it for everyday travel. see pictures
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the case

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The Enclosure
After taking the enclosure out of the anti-static bag, I was amazed as to how nice this thing looks right out of the package. The finish is top quality, Vantec really had quality and style on their minds when designing this product. It is very stylish and light. Mine is gloss black, but the enclosure is also available in a red, blue, or grey color. see pictures
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usb 2.0 input and DC input

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front activity light

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Disassembly
Once you take the screws in the back of the unit out, you can then slide the PCB out. The PCB is what the hard drive will be going on and what holds everything else. see pictures
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the pcb “top”

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the pcb “bottom”

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Drive Installation
There is only one way the drive can go onto the PCB, notice the holes for the screws on the bottom of your drive and on the PCB. Also, Pin 1 matches only one way, so there is not a risk of accidentally putting the drive in backwards on the board and bending pins. All you have to do with the installation is take your 3.5” drive and slide it into the IDE connector, flip it all over, and screw the supplied screws into your drive, thereby securing it to the PCB. see pictures
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Drive screwed in, i only used 2 screws for review

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(Installation cont.)
Now that the drive is on the PCB, all that needs to be done now is to slide it all back into the housing. This part is very easy, there should be no trouble getting it into the housing. Once the drive is all in the housing there should be the two black screws that need to be screwed into the back of the enclosure to secure the contents. After that, it’s all done. Now, all you need to do is plug it into a computer. If the drive is brand new it will need to be partitioned and formatted to your file system of choice. After that Windows or Mac OS X or Linux will mount it without the need of drivers. The drivers contained on the disk are mainly for older non-plug and play OS’s such as Windows 9x. see images
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all in

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All plugged in
Once you have it all plugged in, you will be able to bask in the beauty of the activity led, it’s a BRIGHT! blue. It is very nice and a very nice touch to the enclosure. see pictures
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Conclusions
My final conclusions on this enclosure are very positive. I am very pleased with this unit, it is a big step up from the other cheap chinky enclosure I had before. see pictures
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cheap enclosure

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The biggest, most important thing that really sets the Vantec apart from the cheaper enclosure is the way the drive is actually secured onto the PCB. As you can see with other cheaper enclosure, the drive just slides onto the IDE connector, there is no protection against the drive slapping around inside of the enclosure and potentially resulting in damage to the drive. I would take this factor into consideration when buying an enclosure because it will really save you in the long run.

With that said, this makes the Vantec a big contender. Now ,how about this usb 2.0 jazz, is it really any faster than some of those cheaper drives? Simply put, yes, yes it is. I have seen a BIG performance increase from the Vantec over the other cheaper model. It is much faster in getting data. I did not take diagnostics, but it is seemingly faster.
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Pros: Very sleek and nice looking, usb 2.0, padded carry case, female connector on the usb cable, activity led that looks sweet, drive connects and screws into PCB, adding more durability and longer life for the hard drive.
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Cons: None, except I’d like to have seen IEEE 1394 (firewire) connector on this unit, but they do make one with firewire, so that’s not really a con.
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Final thoughts
This unit is definitely worth the money ($23.99USD). It is much more protective than the cheaper enclosures that cost the same or less. The way it’s made makes it look uber sweet and the padded case is a nice addition. I think if you’re looking for an enclosure, this would be the one I would recommend, or any of the other vantec enclosures. They are very nice and sturdy.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
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Where to buy
New Egg – More vantec enclosures – Vantec.com