Customer Reviews

Vantec NexStar NST-D100UFS 2.5-Inch/3.5-Inch SATA to USB 2.0/eSATA/1394a Hard Drive Dock (White)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I've only had it for about a week now, but it's quite easy to use and the transfer speeds are nice! Although I can't yet speak to the longevity of the product, it's very flexible and I'm happy so far. Having so many interfaces means I can connect in the best way to any of my computer configurations.

Systems used:

Macbook Pro 15" - OS X 10.5 - Firewire and USB

Dell Latitude e6410 - Ubuntu 10.10, Windows 7, OS X 10.6 - Firewire and eSATA

Pros:

- Works with every OS/connection I've tried.

- Has very nice transfer speeds with FW and eSATA.

- Able to quickly swap drives (unmount, turn off, switch drive, turn on)

- Drives stay cool

Cons:

- None yet, I will update if/when problems arise.

Drive Use: I've used larger, power hungry 3.5" drives as well as delicate 2.5" laptop drives in here and all have worked flawlessly. I did an initial backup of data to a 3.5" drive which ran for somewhere around 6-hours and the drive never got very hot (being exposed is sort of like a built-in convection cooling system!). That drive also ran all weekend and there were not problems during that time. Although in general I only run the drives for a few hours and then store them away.

I've also done a FireWire daisy-chain through my LaCie 2Big drive and had no problems accessing (reading/writing) the drive through and extended (several hours) backup cycle which was using both drives on that daisy-chain.

Backups: Although I've got a RAID system to back up important data, it is filling up and I find that there are things that don't really need to take up space on my RAID (e.g. movies), but I want to keep backed up (just in case). It's great to use my old spare hard drives (I've got a couple of 500gb 3.5" drives that _used_ to be the RAID, just collecting dust) that I can now use as large USB drives! Just stick it in, transfer data, remove and put it back on the shelf! This is really nice way to store data "just in case" and it's so painless to change drives!

Test out OS: I can connect this drive with eSATA and install an OS or some specific configuration and boot to that drive to see how I like the configuration, BEFORE changing my drive with all my settings/data on it! I really like the ability to test out a new OS without taking up space on my internal HD or (worse) upgrading my current OS to find that something doesn't work like I want and then trying to downgrade (not easy in ANY OS I've seen). I currently have a triple-boot laptop and it's a real pain to change, so I really like having the ability to test a system before committing to the change! I've also noticed that the eSATA transfer is quite speedy, even on a laptop!

Oh, USB: To be sure, I've connected through USB and done some transferring to make sure it works, but since my computers have other interfaces, I will only use USB when required. It's SO slow to transfer anything more than 1GB.

At first the relatively thin plastic casing made me worry that this might be cheaply constructed, but it's proven to be a solid little device and quite convenient. I'm using it to track Pro Tools recording sessions and audio files to and then handing my clients the drives when we're done. I also use it to catalog sound effects and recording sessions onto hard drives that I'm now able to insert, use, remove and store in their own plastic cases like little VHS tapes. Pretty cool!

This item has worked flawlessly. I initially purchased it because my 2003 model HP Desktop lacked any of the newer SATA connections. It works out and now I can make use of the 1TB disk drive that has been stored for about a month. It features 2 fire wire ports as well. Not sure why you would need two but at least they are there. Supposedly PCs communicate better with fire wire connections as opposed to USB 2.0. I am also going to be using this device to create additional storage on my DVR as well. Extremely satisfied.

I use mine on an (older) 17" iMac (with FW400) with TimeMachine. I have two 1.5TB Seagate drives that I swap out for backups. Works good.

Used it to connect to my mac pro. My first choice would be to get extra mac pro drive sleds, but find myself using this more and more. Especially useful for backing up something on a bare drive. (always keep your data in at least two places)

The most valuable thing to me about this drive dock is the number of cables and ports that come with it. I had about used up my USB ports on my Mac, so I just keep this one plugged into my firewire port, leaving the few USB ports free for other attachments. The unit is very fast, compatible with OS-X, and as simple as any drive dock to use. Been reliable so far. Well-deserved 5 star rating.

Bought 2 of these - based on price - instead of the Thermaltake equivalent. We use barebones drives by the dozen in work and have around 10 drive docks of various types.

These looked a good compromise of price and interface.

The first was faulty from the get go - dropping connection mid file transfer, failing to be found at boot etc etc. And this was on more than one machine (a mix of iMacs, Mac Pro, Macbook Pro). The 2nd seemed to work fine - but after a few weeks now suffers the same thing. I missed the deadline for returning the first dock because I was traveling. The 2nd one died outside of Amazon's return window.

So, 2 months after purchase, both are useless. We simply can't trust them to work.

The original Thermaltakes are still working fine - some are now 3 years old and going strong.

Maybe others have had better luck. Maybe mine come from a bad batch...but I'll be buying Thermaltake again to replace these and will avoid this manufacturer going forward.

Bought this to use as an external cradle while working in video software or audio editing because of the firewire. It's too slow and drops off for continuous use.

On the third time I used it, I pulled a standard sized hard drive out of a machine to copy some files to another machine and I left it it the NexStar over night on accident. When I put the drive back in the machine, it would not work. It was skipping and restarting and I tried multiple ways to get it to recognize but it wouldn't. The drive was clicking and un-bootable / unaccessible. Now I have to save up to have it recovered professionally. It was a caviar black drive that I've only had a few months and I'm not saying it was either the drive or the cradle (or my own handling - not likely ;) - only I've not had a lot of luck with the cradle in general.

It's hit or miss with some of my laptop drives. Sometimes I have to prop it up slightly for it to hold the connection.

When it works, it's transfer speed is ok via usb / firewire. Haven't tried the eSATA port.

Needless to say, I no longer put anything in it I am worried about losing.

I wouldn't buy it again and wouldn't sell it to a friend.

Vantec NexStar NST-D100SU 2.5-Inch/3.5-Inch SATA to USB 2.0 and eSATA Hard Drive Dock (White)

Nice design but for me, this Vantec NexStar dock is practically useless. I bought two of these to use with my MacBook Pro with an express 34 eSata card. My computer would not recognize the eSata connection to either dock regardless of which of the three different e34 eSata cards I used. However, my G5 tower recognized the docks without a problem. So I figured I could still use the two docks in firewire mode with the MacBook Pro. No good. The MacBook would recognize the first drive I connected but try to daisy-chain a second dock and the original dock falls off line and the second never mounts. So if all you need is on dock to attach via firewire to your MacBook, great but that is all you will get.

If you're looking for a 60 dollar paper weight, then this is for you. Don't bother if you were hoping to dock drives in it for use. It only mounts when it wants to and if it does mount, it decides to unmount after a few minutes of use.