NexStar 3 USB External Enclosure Review

     Let's face it, we all like toys.  Make it sleek and shiny, or put some fancy lights on it and we're already reaching for the wallet.  The NexStar 3 is the latest external 3.5 hard drive enclosure from Vantec.  Sleek and stylish, can this pretty boy perform as good as it looks?

     The Vantec NexStar 3 is a light weight, all aluminum chassis, and comes in four glossy colors: Steel Grey, Onyx Black, Brilliant Red and Midnight Blue.  As with all polished aluminum components, the enclosures look terrific in person and defy digital cameras to capture their true color.  Trust me, these drives are so shiny they capture every fingerprint.

     Vantec has provided us with the Onyx Black and Brilliant Red for testing.  I am not normally a fan of red components but the NexStar's orange/crimson finish is a head turner. Here the Onyx is shown with the included stand attached.

Specifications

• Aluminum Casing Cools Down Your Hard Drive

• Transfer Rates Up To 480Mbps w/ USB2.0 (12Mbps w/ USB1.1)

• Easily Add Storage To Any System With USB

• Hot-Swappable: Plug And Play Without Rebooting

• Attractive Blue LED Indicates Power/HDD Activity

Contents

     The NexStar 3 comes with software, manual, power supply, USB cable and a matching vertical stand. Very complete considering that the software is not necessary on most installs and the setup is so intuitive I never needed the manual.  My only complaint is the ugly generic grey USB cable sticks out in striking contrast to the other attractive components.  The inclusion seems like an afterthought and a matching black cable makes more sense.

Setup

     Setting up the hard drive is a snap.  The hard drive cage slides out of the enclosure, insert your drive and attach the power and IDE cables.  Use the enclosed screws to secure the drive in the cage and reinsert the cage into the enclosure.  The cage is held firmly in place by two guide rails.

     The enclosure cable for the activity light plugs into the pins shown here on the right of the IDE cable.  A handy sticker shows the correct orientation to keep you from hunting the manual down in the future. 

     Two screws hold the cage in the enclosure tightly on the rails to minimize drive vibration.  As you can see, the power switch and cabling are clearly marked.

Test System

Benchmarks

     To test the NexStar 3, we used the standard HD Tach 3 and Si-Soft Sandra 2005.  The drive was tested using the MSI  onboard USB 2.0 slots and installed as the only drive on the second MSI EIDE channel.  The IDE channel is using the VIA VT8235 chipset at ATA 133 speed.  The USB 2.0 is using the latest Windows XP USB package.

First the IDE tests

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     With the drive installed via IDE, we get a solid 31 MB/s in Sandra and an average read of 38.4 MB/s in HD Tach.  These are pretty normal numbers for the WD 160.

Now the NexStar 3 test

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     With the drive installed in the NexStar 3 we see a slight drop in both tools.  The HD Tach score drops to29.4 MB/s and Saundra scores us a 25 MB/s.  Not bad considering we have added another layer of hardware to the mix. 

     I did notice the drive gets quite hot after running benchmarks for an hour or so.  The aluminum case is designed to act as a heat sink for the drive.  No fans or venting are present in the enclosure.  I would compare the heat to that felt from the bottom of a high performance laptop.  Vantec's use of the enclosure itself as a heat sink is a clever way to reduce the noise and size of the enclosure making it the smallest external 3.5 enclosure I have used.

Pros:

• Ease of install

• Great looks

• Price

• Size

Cons:

• Heat

• Speed

Conclusion

     Its easy to like the color and style of the Vantec NexStar 3 and the light weight aluminum construction barely adds to the weight of the hard drive.  Compared to other external enclosures we have tested in the past, it just seems sturdy and well built.  While the heat buildup was noticeable, the only real drawback to this or any external drive enclosure is the loss of speed.  But lets face it, you don't buy a external enclosure to speed up your system.  The NexStar 3 adds style and portability to your hard drive and does it with confidence.  I would not hesitate to recommend this as the nicest external enclosure I have used.