Nexstar 3 2.5" USB External Hard Drive Enclosure Review

     Last April we had the chance to review Vantec's sleek 3.5 External Drive Enclosure.  Now they are back with the smaller 2.5" version and it looks better than ever.  Can good things come in small packages?  Lets find out!

     Vantec has chosen to stick with the same packaging on both the 3.5" and the 2.5" drives.  Don't worry the size of the box makes it easy to tell which drive you are looking at.

     The finish on these enclosures comes in three colors; Onyx Black, Brilliant Red and Midnight Blue.  Once again the Metallic series finish must be seen to be believed.  Both the blue and the red capture the light and dazzle my poor digital camera.

Features:

• Aluminum Casing Cools Down Your Hard Drive

• Transfer Rates Up To 480MBPS w/ USB 2.0  (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

Specifications:

• Model: NST-260U2-BK, NST-260U2-BL,
  NST-260U2-RD

• Interface: IDE to USB 2.0

• Dimension: 132 X 80 X 15 mm

• Supports: Window 98SE / ME / 2000 / XP
  Mac OS 8.6 & Above

     The Nexstar 3 2.5" comes with a manual, drivers disk, mounting screws, a USB cable and a carry bag.  The drive also supports an optional power supply for some drives that may require additional power.  As with most USB mass storage devices, the Nexstar 3 will Plug and Play on most systems.

     The actual size of the drive is barely larger than the drive itself, making this the perfect tool to move large files on the fly.  The Aluminum enclosure barely adds to the size or weight of the bare drive.

The install:

For the test install I will be mounting a Toshiba 12 gig I have used in other 2.5' enclosures dependably.

The drive mounts on the board with a gentle push into the bracket on the left.

     Four mounting screws are used to secure the drive on the back.  Notice the LED mounted at the top right.  This will serve as both a power and activity indicator when we are done.

     Two more screws secure the board in the enclosure.  Here is the finished drive.  The Vantec symbol on the front is where the LED light shows the drive status.

Quite the nice upgrade from my old bulky USB drive enclosure!

Benchmarks:

     The performance of the enclosure depends greatly on the drive choice.  To measure performance I mounted the drive directly to the USB 2.0 port on my Soltek MB and also as the only drive on a traditional IDE channel using an adapter.

     First the IDE results.  The IDE driver is the current NVIDIA NForce 4 driver.  Our Toshiba drive posts a modest average read of 11.6 MB/s and a burst speed of 17.9.  The speed may have been affected by the adapter slightly as well.

     For the USB we are also using the latest NForce 4 drivers and Windows XP SP2, so no additional drivers are needed.  Just plug it in and go!  With the Toshiba drive installed in our shiny Vantec enclosure, we posted the same average read as the IDE install.  Our burst speed was actually higher, showing the advantages of USB 2.0 over traditional IDE.  The CPU utilization takes a slightly larger hit on a USB install, but at 3% its marginal at best.  Like the 3.5" Nexstar 3 enclosure, the aluminum case acts as a heat sink during use.  I measured the drive temperature during benchmarking several times.  The peak heat reading never exceeded 87 degrees.

     My favorite thing about the Nexstar 3 2.5" enclosure is the portability.  The ability to slip the drive and cable into a quality case and take it with me easily replaces my USB flash drives.  Not only can it hold more, but the speed is not noticeably slower even with this older drive.  And the Nexstar just looks better.

Conclusion:

     Vantec has shown the success of their full size Nexstar 3 enclosure wasn't a fluke.  The Nexstar 3 2.5" drive Enclosure shows that the same good looks and performance can come in a smaller package.  For most of us performance is second to portability, the Nexstar 3 2.5 could fit in your back pocket.  The carry case only sweetens the deal.  No more stacks of disks, no more fumbling for the flash drive, the Nexstar 3 2.5 is the new king of portable storage for me!