Attractive, durable package for mobile storage – Joe
SUMMARY: Attractive, durable package for mobile storage.
The good guys at Vantec were nice enough to send over a sample of their latest 2.5″ external hard drive enclosure to try out, the Vantec NexStar SX. This is a very sleek, aluminum alloy unit that certainly can take some hard knocks under travel.
Key Features
- IDE to USB 2.0 (NOTE: Also available as a SATA to USB 2.0)
- Holds 2.5″ drives 9.5 mm or smaller
- Aluminum Alloy Construction
- Install with or w/o screws
- Size: 130mm x 75mm x 15mm; Weight: 200 grams with typical hard drive
- Supports Window 98SE / ME / 2000 / XP / Vista, Mac OS 8.6 & Above
- Includes USB Cable, Carry Case, mounting screws, screwdriver and Driver Disk (W98 only)
Note: For new hard drives, you will need to initialize and partition your hard
drive before it will appear in Windows Explorer or on your Mac desktop.
The USB port should provide 500mA of current. However, in some instance the USB ports may not provide sufficient current. In those instances some systems may require the use of the second USB connector for additional power or an external power adapter, which should be 5V and a minimum of 1A; the connector is center positive.
The back shows the Off/On switch, external power port, activity LED and USB port:
Opening the enclosure is very easy – just press the serrated levers on the sides near the top and both the top and bottom covers easily slide off:
The bottom shows the CY7C68300C chipset used:
Hard drive installation is drop-dead easy – line up the pins and push the drive into them; I did find that removing the HD was a bit more difficult – it’s a snug fit and I did not want to use a screwdriver to lever it out, so inserting my fingers into the small space available is not difficult but did require a bit of force to remove the drive. As a snug fit and with the cover in place, it is very possible to install the drive without using the provided screws – it would take a very hard knock to dislodge it.
I used a relatively slow drive to test it out – a Fujitsu Mobile MHR2020AT hard drive, 20 GB, Ultra ATA100, 4200 rpm, 2 MB buffer, ATA-100; its maximum internal data transfer rate of 32.5 MB/s.
The results are typical for enclosures of this type and will vary by each drive’s specs.
Vantec’s NexStar SX 2.5″ HD Enclosure is an attractive, durable package for mobile storage – overall a very nice package with a street price of under $20.
Many thanks to Vantec for sending this our way – a nice product!
SUMMARY: Attractive, durable package for mobile storage.
The good guys at Vantec also sent over a sample of their latest 2.5″ external hard drive enclosure to try out, the Vantec NexStar SX for 2.5″ SATA drives. This is a very sleek, aluminum alloy unit that certainly can take some hard knocks under travel.
Key Features
- SATA to USB 2.0 (NOTE: Also available as an IDE to USB 2.0)
- Holds 2.5″ drives 9.5 mm or smaller
- Aluminum Alloy Construction
- Install with or w/o screws
- Size: 130mm x 75mm x 15mm; Weight: 200 grams with typical hard drive
- Supports Window 98SE / ME / 2000 / XP / Vista, Mac OS 8.6 & Above
- Includes USB Cable, Carry Case, mounting screws, screwdriver and Driver Disk (W98 only)
Note: For new hard drives, you will need to initialize and partition your hard
drive before it will appear in Windows Explorer or on your Mac desktop.
The key features are the same as for the IDE version reviewed earler with the exception of the har drive connector:
What I was curious about was the difference between the IDE and SATA drives.
For this test I used a Toshiba MK6034GSX, a 60 GB SATA drive, 5400 rpm with an 8MB buffer; for the IDE test, I used a Fujitsu Mobile MHR2020AT hard drive, 20 GB, Ultra ATA100, 4200 rpm, 2 MB buffer, ATA-100 2.5″ drive.
Compared to the IDE drive I used, this SATA drive was 5.6 MB faster – 26.2 vs 31.8 MB/s – part of this is attributable to the faster disk speed, so this is not a direct comparison (I only have so many drives to test!); however, no doubt that faster drives will speed up data transfers.
Vantec’s NexStar SX 2.5″ HD Enclosure is an attractive, durable package for mobile storage – overall a very nice package with a street price of under $20.
Many thanks to Vantec for sending this our way – a nice product!
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