Vantec NexStar 3 NST-360U2-BL 3.5-Inch IDE to USB 2.0 External Hard Drive Enclosure (Midnight Blue)

by Vantec

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 3.5 x 1.5 x 3.5 inches ; 2.3 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0009HMT9Y
• Item model number: NST-360U2-BL
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,500 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 2, 2004

Product Description

Form and functionality collide with style in the NexStar 3 External Hard Drive Enclosure from Vantec.  With its mirror finish, sleek curves and bold colors, the Vantec NexStar 3 stands out from the crowd. The sturdy drive cage protects your hard drive while the aluminum case effectively draws away the heat, protecting your drive from overheating. Available in 3 vivid colors (Onyx Black, Brilliant Red and Midnight Blue), the NexStar 3 lets you store your personal data in an enclosure that matches your style!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nice enclosure, November 30, 2006

By 

Nikon131 "Nikon131" (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vantec NexStar 3 NST-360U2-BL 3.5-Inch IDE to USB 2.0 External Hard Drive Enclosure (Midnight Blue) (Personal Computers)

I got the Vantec enclosure to replace my old Macally enclosure. First the Vantec is a small case. I installed a Seagate 250gb HD into this and it is a snug fit. The black front panel slides out you lay your HD in the tray in, screw it, attach cables, attach LED connection and slide back in. ((When I first got this I slid this open real fast, but be careful the LED light connection was already hooked up, I nearly messed up the connectors.))

As I said the case is slim, the HD pretty much lays against the outer Metal case and the heat is dissapated this way, no fans in this case. The blue is a nice metallic blue, I don't know if it's mirrored, but it's nice. The logo you see is the where the blue LED is behind, which kind of sucks cause I don't like alot of obnoxious logos, but thats just me. ((You can disconnect the LED and not have the light on)) I have had this case for about two weeks and have found it to be very quiet, well there are no fans so it's really the sound of the HD.

The little stand clip is removable so you can lay it flat if you want. I read the reviews on this case at Newegg btw and went on the positive reviews there, this case got a 5 out of 5 with 99 reviews or so. (at the time of this review they had a better price on this case) USB 2.0 is quite fast. Not as fast as firewire, copying 50gb's of data took about 30 minutes. But after the inital back up, later synchronizing is easy. Of course this might be my HD.

I am quite happy with the case, form, and size. I wouldn't hesitate to get another one.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enabled me to get all the files off my old hard drives, April 11, 2009

By 

Robert Moore (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Vantec NexStar 3 NST-360U2-BL 3.5-Inch IDE to USB 2.0 External Hard Drive Enclosure (Midnight Blue) (Personal Computers)

Over the years I've gotten a number of computers and gradually accumulated a stack of hard drives with files that I wanted to recover. For reasons I won't go into I had a substantial number of files stranded on various drives. Having gotten a new laptop I decided that it was time to gather up all my old files and then dispose of my unwieldy collection of drives.

I decided to get the Vantec NexStar for all my IDE hard drives (I will certainly get a SATA drive for an unused 500 GB hard drive that I will want to use for backup). I was delighted at how easy it was to use. You just put it in its container, hook up the cables and power supply, and start downloading. The disc came with a software disc, but my version of XP instantly detected each of the drives. Sadly, none of my hard drives are large enough to use as back up. Still, I have all my files back.

In short, it performed at advertised and definitely did the job.

38 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice drive but picture misleads, November 28, 2005

By 

C. Myers "pootboy" (severna pk, md USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Vantec NexStar 3 NST-360U2-BL 3.5-Inch IDE to USB 2.0 External Hard Drive Enclosure (Midnight Blue) (Personal Computers)

Having dealt only with seriously ghetto enclosures prior to this one, it was nice to get a drive of quality heft and construction. Install was a snap, and I got no complains on performance. Only quibble I have is that the drive I got is a more subdued blue, almost navy-- not really very reflective-- I was all excited to get a vibrant shiny electric blue like in the picture, but it almost may as well be black unless the room's real brightly lit. Most people probably don't care about that kind of crap but my whole computer, mouse, and keyboard light up a vibrant blue and I thought it would go nicely. Ok yes I'm a geek, shut up.