Introduction

  Portable storage really has taken off in the past 5-6 years, with devices such as USB drives, HDD enclosures and MP3 players becoming more and more commonplace in people's lives. It wasn't that long ago where the only cost-effective way to "sneaker-net" something large was to burn it onto a CD-R to transport it. Well, with the falling prices of flash memory, hard drives, and storage mediums in general, that is no longer the case. We now have USB drives > 1 GB that are easily within most consumers' prices ranges, and the same can be said for the different types of storage used for digital cameras.

  However at present time, for transferring a lot of data, or really large files, USB drives are still out of the question. Or, if you want some sort of data backup outside of your PC, USB drives are still limited, capacity wise. In that case, an external HDD enclosure is probably your best bet. They have become fairly widespread, with many variants out there that offer USB 2.0, Firewire, or eSATA support for either SATA or IDE drives. And, with the huge number of units available, the price of most has dropped to that of a meal for two at an average restaurant.

  Vantec has been active in this sector, producing many HDD enclosures, many of which have looked sleek, including the NexStar GX, reviewed by Diceman just late last year. Recently, they've extended this lineup with the addition of the NexStar LX, a USB 2.0 HDD enclosure that also supports NAS (Network Attached Storage), so it can be connected directly to your network and shared with allowed users. Today, I'll be taking a look at this unit, to see how it performs.

Specifications:

  Besides the standard support for IDE 3.5" HDDs, the NexStar supports a USB 2.0 or Ethernet interface, and HDDs up to 500 GB in capacity. Here are a few relevant specs:

• Interface: IDE to USB 2.0 or RJ-45 Ethernet

• Smart Cooling Fan and Heatsink

• Dimensions: 16.51 x 16.51 x 5.08cm

• More Details

  Outwardly, it's very similar to the NexStar GX, but is quite different in that it offers network connectivity, the idea of which is to be able to plug the unit directly into a port on your router/switch/hub and be able to share data with any computer on your network, which can be quite convenient. As of yet, there is no SATA version, so this enclosure is limited to working with IDE HDDs.

  The NexStar LX enclosure arrived packaged quite well, so if you decide to order this, you can be sure it'll arrive intact, no matter what the delivery man decides to do with it. Once opened, here's what you'll find is included:

• NexStar LX External 3.5 HDD NAS Enclosure

• User Manual

• Driver CD (For Win98 - ack!)

• Power Adapter & Power Cable

• USB Cable and Ethernet Patch Cable

• Screws

  Vantec certainly didn't skimp on anything, providing you with all the connectivity cables so there's no need to go looking for a CAT-5 cable when you want to connect this to your network. They even included a driver CD, instead of just including a note telling the poor folks still using Win98 to go download drivers somewhere. (Or to upgrade already!)

The NexStar LX.

Packaged well.

What's included.

  Here you can see all the accessories and cables that are included. With so much to carry about, (power cables, power supply, etc.), this may decrease the portability of the unit, or at least make it harder to "get working" than a USB drive. However, this is a problem common to any non-USB powered HDD enclosure.

  The enclosure itself has a plastic body, which is remarkable considering most HDD enclosures are made out of metal. I would have expected the Vantec to also be of metal-construction; however, the heatsink at the bottom is the only metal piece. While the plastic of the body doesn't feel cheap and actually feels quite sturdy, certainly metal would have been a better choice, and it would aid in cooling as well.

Accessories.

Interals.

Blower fan at the back.

  However, as Diceman also noted with the NexStar GX, the top plastic cover doesn't feel quite all that sturdy, and feels more like a plastic drive bay cover - not very tough at all. I was hoping Vantec would've fixed this for the LX, but unfortunately, they have not. Further compounding the problem is the fact that the cover just snaps into place via its plastic tabs - not a very reassuring way to be securing your HDD. In order to remove the plastic cover, you have to pry it off, using a small screwdriver or similar tool, and this doesn't inspire confidence in its quality - if those plastic tabs break, the cover's useless. This is one area I would like to see improved; perhaps use a tougher cover that's secured by screws.

Thermal probe.

Back and fan controls.

Front panel.

  Going back to cooling, besides the heatsink at the bottom, there's also a small blower fan included to help exhaust hot air from inside. It can be set to one of three settings: High, Low or Auto, via dip switches on the back. When set to Auto, the fan/blower will adjust its speed according to the temperature taken by the internal temperature probe, which can be seen above. I'd advise leaving it set to Auto, as when on High the noise is noticeable, but not bad. However, setting it to Auto kept the noise undetectable, while still keeping the drive relatively cool.

  The front panel has three LED indicators, all of which can glow blue. They indicate HDD activity, Power, and Network Activity, and are not so bright as to distract. The back has the standard connectors such as power, reset, and the interface connections.

Heatsink and grip feet.

Plastic cover.

Plastic tabs.

  The bottom shows that the heatsink is quite substantial, and should provide adequate cooling for any HDD you could stick in here. You can also see that both sides of the bottom have a row of grip feet that should keep this enclosure steady on most any surface you put it on, short of any oil slick. The bottom is also where you screw in the HDD from.

Closed.

Front view.

Maxtor HDD used.

Installation:

  Installation of HDDs into enclosures can be tricky at times, because of the shortage on space. However, this wasn't the case with the NexStar LX, which provides clean, understandable instructions on installation. Before installation, they advise you to set the drive's jumpers to Master, which I already had done, since the drive I was using was coming out from another enclosure.

  Unlike the NexStar GX, there is no separate heatsink bracket; the heatsink is this time permanently attached to the body, so you just have to screw it onto that. However, before you do that, you'll want to attach the data and power cables. The IDE cable in the NexStar has already been positioned and folded for the right position, and is the correct length, so you shouldn't have to twist or turn it too much to get the HDD installed; the same goes for the power cable. Both cable plugs easily connected to the HDD, without having to apply too much pressure; some power cables are notoriously tight and difficult to insert and remove; this was not the case for this Vantec enclosure.

Installed.

Screws in bottom near heatsink plate.

Comparison.

  Once everything's connected, you place the HDD in the body, as seen above, and then screw the HDD in from the bottom using the provided screws. The HDD should fit quite tightly, so you may have to carefully put it in place after connecting the cables. In the case of the HDD I used (the Maxtor 80 GB 7200 rpm seen above), the screw holes didn't perfectly line up, but nonetheless the screws did go in.

  Lastly, you'll want to position the thermal probe so that it's touching the HDD so it gets a good temperature reading, since it controls the speed of the blower fan when it's set to auto. In the leftmost picture above, you can see it near the top left corner of the HDD, in between it and the wall of the enclosure.

Different sized.

Powered on.

  Finally, we see a little comparison of the Vantec NexStar LX to the previous HDD enclosure I was using, an el-cheapo generic 3.5" enclosure that you might find on sale at your local Mom & Pop computer store. As you can see, the old enclosure has a typical metal body, but is longer and weighs more. The NexStar LX is tighter-looking square unit that's a bit sleeker - it certainly wins in the design department.