Intro:

    Anyone doing any hardware upgrades, or perhaps pc repair, usually comes across hard drives. An extra hard drive is a good thing, but what if you want to use it externally. Or perhaps you aren't too PC savvy, and have an extra hard drive laying around? Vantec has just an enclosure for that, the NexStar. This particular unit supports Firewire and USB, so hooking it up between PC's, and any reasonably newer PC should be a breeze. Let's take a closer look shall we?

Product description:

    With the NexStar 3.5" External Hard Drive Enclosure, you can back up your valuable data, transfer your collection of videos and songs, or even carry that important presentation with you quickly and easily.  The NexStar is also an ideal way to add an extra hard drive to your system without having to open your system and deal with jumpers and cables.  The NexStar also features a sturdy housing with aluminum covers to dampen noise and cool your hard drive.  The NexStar supports both FireWire and USB2.0, offering speeds up to 480MBps.  The NexStar 3.5" External Hard Drive Enclosure is a portable, flexible and convenient solution to any of your storage needs.


Features:

 - Aluminum Covers To Reduce Heat
 - Supports High Speed USB 2.0 & USB 1.1
 - Supports FireWire
 - Hot-Swappable & Plug-n-Play
 - Compatible With Notebooks & PCs
 - Easy Installation


Specifications:

The packaging:

    After removing shrink wrapping, is pretty much what you would see below. I usually get glare even when I don't use the flash for product shots, so this time, I just removed it. The only thing missing is the yellow sticker saying this unit is USB and Firewire capable. The bottom of the box reiterates what you see above. Opening the box you can see a well packed unit.

(1) Top of Box	(2) Bottom of box	(3) Contents

Included:

    Unpacking everything yields the next six pictures. First, we start with the stand. This holds the NexStar upright. Some smooth rubber pushes up against the aluminum sides of the unit to help keep it a bit more secure. Yes, you still can slide it easily, back and forth, but it is more than adequate to keep your cat from pushing it out of the stand, and maybe even keep your unit from falling over. A large complaint on my end is the lack of rubber on the bottom of the stand. With just plastic on the bottom, your unit could slide around on the top of your case, which could scratch it for one, and I just don't feel very secure with it sliding around up there. I say on top of your case, but you could put it on your desk, but your PC had better be on your desk for that to happen. I'll explain in a minute...

(4) The stand ^	(5) Bottom of the stand

    The software CD contains your driver for Windows 98 systems, and the manual. The manual is short, but to the point, and I actually have put it online on the next page, so I won't get much into that.

   
    In picture 9, there is the USB 2.0/1.1 cable, the Firewire cable, the AC cord that attaches to the power brick, and a bag of screws and a screwdriver. I later found an additional bag of screws in the packaging later, which was a nice surprise. The four included hard drive screws are designed to fit flush internally, and the four included screws that attach the sides of the NexStar are eyeglass small. Having a total of 8 screws of each in two bags is quite a nice touch. So is the screwdriver.

    One thing I would like to point out is the length of the USB and Firewire cables. Lets say about 3 feet long. I would like to see six foot ones myself. With three feet, that does limit where you can put your unit unless you already have longer cables on hand, or plan to make a purchase in that aspect.

(6) The CD	(9) Cables, screws, screwdriver (not pictured extra bag of screws)

    The power brick is essential in a 3.5" enclosure, since the neither the USB, or Firewire port is able to supply the 12 volts that an IDE Hard Drive needs. The cabling is long enough to fit above or below a desk, if need be, with the addiction AC power cord that goes to the brick. I won't break out my tape measure, but I think you can make it work just fine. I've included a close up shot of the brick for mine and your convenience.

(7) Power brick	(8) Close up of specs

Included still, the enclosure:

    Now here's the part everyone has been waiting for. No? Well...Below you can see various shots of the enclosure. The LED, and writing in on the right side. Keep that in mind of you want to put this atop your case and observe the LED.

    Moving inside there is a Molex connector for power, and an 80 pin IDE cable. Note that this one is zip tied for neatness, but really all it serves is making it harder to close everything up since you have to shove wires near flush to close the side properly. Both sides come off of course, since you use those bottom screw holes on a Hard Drive that many of you have been wondering what they were about before.

    The back contains all of your connections. From left to right, a standard USB 2.0/1.1 connector, two Firewire connections, the power connection, and on/off switch. So, if that wasn't apparent just reading it, you won't lose a Firewire connector since the unit can use the other one for daisy chaining another Firewire device. Nice. :)

(10) The unit	(11) What's inside	(12) The back

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