Vantec NexStar HD Dock

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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Vantec NexStar HD Dock - We have touched on these units in the past, namely the Thermaltake BlacX, and the only gripe back then was that the product did not utilize a faster bus technology, namely SATA. Vantec has had a product out for a while now called the NexStar Hard Drive Dock and I have been using one on my personal system and on our test bench configurations for months. It is a hell of a nice product. Fast as any SATA II drive’s bus on your system as long as you have an eSATA port to plug it into, which almost all motherboards have now days, if not for years already. Take a quick look.................

Please discuss this mini-reveiw.
 
I went to pick up a blacx but I saw this and got it instead, its $10 cheaper then the thermaltake ESATA version + it's better looking =) works good so far, using it on USB as i dont have any free SATA ports right now.
 
I would like to buy it but I cant find it in any shop in EU:mad:

Do you know any shop (with this product in stock) which has international shipping ??
 
Rebel44 said:
I would like to buy it but I cant find it in any shop in EU:mad:

Do you know any shop (with this product in stock) which has international shipping ??
Click to expand...

No clue. From the Vantec page...
http://www.vantecusa.com/front/where/store/eu/d

I did send the US manager a note on this thread, will see if we get a response.

DragonNOA1 said:
That does not sound like you at all but thanks for the video!
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I had a pro come in and do the voiceover, as well as a professional hand model, his name was George.

Digital Viper-X- said:
I went to pick up a blacx but I saw this and got it instead, its $10 cheaper then the thermaltake ESATA version + it's better looking =) works good so far, using it on USB as i dont have any free SATA ports right now.
Click to expand...

While the eSATA is the bomb for big files, I backed up GIGS of info on my BlacX without issue over USB2. Just don't be in a hurry. :) Both are still great products.
 
nilepez said:
Not sure when it came out, but the BlacX ST0005u works with USB and ESATA.

I haven't noticed it locking up my system when I turn it on (though I do cancel out of the scan the Vista does every time I turn it on).
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The BlacX was not available in the USA in eSATA last time I asked. Let me ping TT on this and see what they say.

Here is the link to BlacX you are talking about and it looks pretty robust in terms of connections.
 
nilepez said:
Not sure when it came out, but the BlacX ST0005u works with USB and ESATA.

I haven't noticed it locking up my system when I turn it on (though I do cancel out of the scan the Vista does every time I turn it on).
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I have that version its been on newegg for couple of months. . It works beautifully on every computer I have connected it I have only tried with USB though cause my computer doesn't support esata yet....
 
Cheating at benchmarks? WELL I NEVER! :p

Awesome mini review. More to come I hope? heheh
 
Could you please make your next video review about a product you really hate? Actually hearing you tear into a bad product would be sweet.

It would also make a nice ring tone. :)
 
2 comments...

1. The vantec unit has a whole bunch of reviews on the egg about the unit killing drives or catching fire in one way or another. Buyer beware whenever buying something with more than one review mentioning smoke and/or fire, not to mention HD killing.
2. If you want the thermaltake version of the same thing, you have to search for the model NUMBER (ST0005u) since newegg left "blacx" out of the product name/description for some reason. I'd have bought one of the thermaltake ones a while ago if they'd put the product name in the description instead of just the model number (I was *this* close to buying the USB one that comes up when you search for "blacx"), but I suppose I don't really need one since I've done just fine without one so far.

Newegg would probably sell more of the esata version if they had bothered to put the product NAME (blacx) on their site instead of just the model number, but I suppose with a company that size they don't always have the time to do things right. The funny thing is, there are probably a few dozen people who have been complaining about the egg not stocking the esata blacx even though they've had it for sale for a while. Maybe they're saving it for their friends? :)
 
Did we really need a 3 minute video to tell us that it operates as advertised?
That's hardly [H]ard.

I would have at least expected some benchmarks to show that there is no speed difference between it and a standard internal port. Or maybe some futzing around with it by plugging in the USB to another pc while the Esata is in use. Or for crying out loud at least run a game from it and give it a subjective analysis, i.e. does it get hot enough to burn my elbow? Does the disc spinup distract from the game? If I bump it with my mouse does anything happen? If it's too close to the monitor does the magnetic field cause distortion?
I hate to give you a hard time about this, but I was really expecting more.

 
soulman76 said:
Did we really need a 3 minute video to tell us that it operates as advertised?
That's hardly [H]ard.

I would have at least expected some benchmarks to show that there is no speed difference between it and a standard internal port. Or maybe some futzing around with it by plugging in the USB to another pc while the Esata is in use. Or for crying out loud at least run a game from it and give it a subjective analysis, i.e. does it get hot enough to burn my elbow? Does the disc spinup distract from the game? If I bump it with my mouse does anything happen? If it's too close to the monitor does the magnetic field cause distortion?
I hate to give you a hard time about this, but I was really expecting more.

Click to expand...

Erm, does iwhat it's supposed to do - very convenient (have been after one for months in the UK though, the esata version that is)
 
soulman76 said:
I hate to give you a hard time about this, but I was really expecting more.
Click to expand...

Let's face facts, it is an external SATA drive with half the cover cut off that actually uses the SATA bus..just like the drives in your case. :) The interesting part is the application and usage of it. It works, its a SATA dock. Cool product, just wanted to share. If you want to drag race'em, more power to you. I just don't really give a shit about that part of it and don't find it to be important to our reader base as most will know what the SATA part in eSATA means when it comes to data transfer speeds.

This this is [H]ard because it is just that easy.

We will likely be doing more stuff like this in the future in the news. Light content that will at the least be interesting if not educational. And besides, with a product like this it is nice to share the basics with our readers, because I know a lot of people are not aware of products like this or don't really 'get it" until you see it being used.

But now you will know to NOT click on the video. Don't expect anything in-depth to be delivered in that medium at [H] at least not any time soon.
 
Video was nice. Looks like a great product. I have been looking at the TT equivalent and might go with this just for the price. Feel free to grab one of Steve's pr0n drives next time though for a good test.
 
soulman76 said:
Did we really need a 3 minute video to tell us that it operates as advertised?
That's hardly [H]ard.

I would have at least expected some benchmarks to show that there is no speed difference between it and a standard internal port. Or maybe some futzing around with it by plugging in the USB to another pc while the Esata is in use. Or for crying out loud at least run a game from it and give it a subjective analysis, i.e. does it get hot enough to burn my elbow? Does the disc spinup distract from the game? If I bump it with my mouse does anything happen? If it's too close to the monitor does the magnetic field cause distortion?
I hate to give you a hard time about this, but I was really expecting more.
Click to expand...

To be honest, I don't see what the point would be in doing that. It's eSATA. The speed performance, if there would be any difference at all, is negligible at best. I think if Kyle noticed a particularly odd lack of speed despite it running off SATA he would have made a note of it, or probably contacted Vantec about it before posting a review and would have included that mention as well.

I think I could see your point on the hookup of USB to it though. Are you talking about having it hooked up to more computer simultaneously for access? At that point I don't know why you'd do that. If you needed the data to be accessed by more than one computer, typically you'd probably invest in a NAS enclosure instead. (Network Attached Storage)

Also, I don't know why you'd run a game from a drive that's externally connected. That just...that just seems to be begging for issues, regardless of what enclosure/dock you would use. Heat wise, I'd say its going to get as hot as a hard drive gets under normal operating conditions, so I think that pretty much answers it. Bumping a hard drive with ANYTHING though? Seriously, if you're going to be doing that at all, you shouldn't be allowed to touch a computer in my opinion. And if you don't know the answer to your last question, you shouldn't be playing with magnets either.

As far as expecting more, I think what you're expecting is the kind of questions that cater to a person who's been living in a cave when it comes to computers. While there might be a couple here or there lurking about amongst the reader base, the majority of readers I would like to believe would at least be able to know the more common known parts as a given. This is HardOCP, not the Idiot's Guide to Computers.
 
Kyle ..

Can you raid eSATA? If you had two of these things and had an old raid 0 pair of HDDs around could you recover data?
 
This looks like a promising design.

I have a Vantec external USB2.0 enclosure (for IDE) that I really like.

I wonder if they could make a hybrid one of these for both SATA and IDE, I know the market for IDE is dead but for the tech guy recovering people's data (on old PCs) IDE would be nice. Maybe a slightly deeper base, say turn the drive one way for SATA, another direction for IDE.

Just a thought.
 
I wish they had one that did it all (IDE 2.5" and 3.5" + SATA 2.5" and 2.5" drives) to eSATA. I have more "spare" IDE 3.5" drives than I do SATA ones. But it looks nice, at the moment I have to disassemble my external enclosures and put the HDs in them if I need data off an old drive. It isn't difficult but just time consuming and slower since they are USB2 or Firewire max speeds.
 
VX1 said:
This looks like a promising design.

I have a Vantec external USB2.0 enclosure (for IDE) that I really like.

I wonder if they could make a hybrid one of these for both SATA and IDE, I know the market for IDE is dead but for the tech guy recovering people's data (on old PCs) IDE would be nice. Maybe a slightly deeper base, say turn the drive one way for SATA, another direction for IDE.

Just a thought.
Click to expand...
Maybe just include a small adapter?
 
Taldren said:
Kyle ..

Can you raid eSATA? If you had two of these things and had an old raid 0 pair of HDDs around could you recover data?
Click to expand...

I'm not Kyle but I can answer your question. 1. If you have more than one eSATA port, and 2. the controller for the eSATA features RAID support. Then, Yes!, you might be able to recover data off a pair of drives with a RAID0 array on them. As long as you can get that controller to recognize your array.

However, most of the time, this would require that you connect and power on those drives before you boot your system. After which, you would have to configure the array on those drives, without wiping out the previous array. Chances of doing this would increase if the controller used by your motherboard was the same brand as was used to first build the array. But there's still a chance of it working. Just don't turn off either drive until after you shut down your computer.

Also please note that SATA I drives are not fully compatible with the eSATA standard. It appears they were not designed to work in a "hot swap" configuration, like SATA II drives. eSATA is a feature that I always look for when considering a motherboard purchase. Because, with the current price of SATA drives, they are a far superior backup media compared to CDs, DVDs, or BDs. :)
 
$40 on Newegg for that dock, heck there's no reason to not get one "just cause" if you deal with a lot of lose drives on a regular basis.
 
Kyle, keep the video reviews comin WOOT! Its good to see the physical product in all its shiny glory.
 
Are these external docks really limited to only 1TB? Or are they really trying to say that's the biggest hdd you can currently get?
 
Thuleman said:
$40 on Newegg for that dock, heck there's no reason to not get one "just cause" if you deal with a lot of lose drives on a regular basis.
Click to expand...

that's for different dock, only difference i think is the 1394a connection. this dock is $60, and i'll pass...
 
I guess what I was getting at is that all the other reviews done on the [H] have a set of standards that are tested against, and/or similar products contrasted. Let's face it, reviews at the [H] set the bar for other hardware sites to measure up to (real world video card perf test/psu torture test/oc'd cpu stress test). This had none of the elements I expected. It was just a, "check this out, it works like this" video.

Maybe I'm wrong and it wasn't meant to be presented as a review at all, but anytime I see hardware presented here, I am used to it being put through it's paces. This came off to me like an infomercial.
 
I have had the NexStar 3 version of this for about 2.5 years now. Native external SATA interface, along with USB 2.0 and Firewire interfaces if those are needed (never once used them, pure SATA baby!).

Also, this model came with a back plate with an E-SATA interface, so you could plug it into the internal SATA ports and have an E-SATA port in the back, for MBs that did not have a built-in one (which none did 2+ years ago).

Absolutely love this thing. Use it to load in dead/dying drives to repair or extract data from, as well as imaging my PCs boot volumes (Ghost Enterprise) to it for backup purposes. Drives get warm, but never really hot (7200 drives, never tried a raptor/10,000 RPM drive in it though).

Oh yeah, even loaded Vista on this external drive, as a testing system in the beginning and not mess with my RAID 1 XP boot drives. This way I could simply not power the external enclosure on, and XP loads up, but if I want to dick around with Vista, I simple powered it on and then booted into it instead.
 
I am looking forward to more Video reviews for products like this. Not sure if they would work for motherboards, Video Cards or Power Supplies as theres just way to much onfo and graphs for them.

I think the review was very well done, short and sweet with no Bull!
 
I've really debated getting on of these docks but only need an external for backup. I don't think I need this much flexibility.
 
Deusfaux said:
Kyle do you get SATA II speeds over eSATA using this?
Click to expand...

I actually used the NexStar today to pull some data off a disk from my sysadmin's failed system that had a mobo die and one of his mirrored drives corrupted when we went to boot back up.

We pulled a total of 160GB off the disk in several sessions. Took about an hour with us having a couple of beers after we got his new box built.

The top sustained speed the files were writing to my own box (to back up the un-corrupted disk) was around 65MB/s+. I also some some partitioned drives of his copy at 35MB/s as well. The limit was not the bus on the NexStar but rather the disk we were writing to. :)
 
flenser said:
2 comments...

1. The vantec unit has a whole bunch of reviews on the egg about the unit killing drives or catching fire in one way or another. Buyer beware whenever buying something with more than one review mentioning smoke and/or fire, not to mention HD killing.
2. If you want the thermaltake version of the same thing, you have to search for the model NUMBER (ST0005u) since newegg left "blacx" out of the product name/description for some reason. I'd have bought one of the thermaltake ones a while ago if they'd put the product name in the description instead of just the model number (I was *this* close to buying the USB one that comes up when you search for "blacx"), but I suppose I don't really need one since I've done just fine without one so far.

Newegg would probably sell more of the esata version if they had bothered to put the product NAME (blacx) on their site instead of just the model number, but I suppose with a company that size they don't always have the time to do things right. The funny thing is, there are probably a few dozen people who have been complaining about the egg not stocking the esata blacx even though they've had it for sale for a while. Maybe they're saving it for their friends? :)
Click to expand...


I contacted them with some of that information and here was there response:

Hi,

We had sold thousands of these and we only have a few customer reports back that the unit damaged their hard drive. After further investigation, the possible cause was the hard drive wasn’t handled properly or somehow the hard drive is being shorted out. If our unit is defective, then the first thing that would burn up would be the adapter itself, if the hard drive components start buring up, then it might be the hard drive that is causing it. A simple static electricity and even some oil from being contact by your hand on the circuit can on the hard drive can cause components on the hard drive burn up or heat up. As long as you handle the hard drive with proper procedures, it shouldn’t damage the hard drive with our adapter. If you have any further question, please don't hesitate to ask and we will do our best to answer them.

Regards,

Technical Support


Pretty fast turn around response in one day cudos to them.

KM
 
A couple of things:
  1. These docks use an adapter chip, so depending on the speed of the chip you may be getting slower speeds than if your drive was connected directly to your motherboard. The chip is necessary to switch between the USB/SATA/1394a/etc interfaces.
  2. I have both the Vantec and the ThermalTake units here. The TT unit seems to be a mostly better design as it hugs the drive a little better to prevent wobbling and it doesn't go as high up the side of the drive so the drive can breathe/cool a little better. The TT also feels more solid. However the Vantec has the power button easily accessible on the front while you have to fiddle around to the back to get to the TT power button.
  3. It is possible to damage the drive if you have the power on to the dock while inserting or removing the drive. There are warning on both docks about this.
  4. For hot swapping you want to be using your SATA ports in AHCI mode, not IDE compatibility mode.
  5. If you're using an Intel chipset based motherboard, the chipset drivers have been broken regarding write caching. Within the past month Intel has fixed this so everyone should update their chipset drivers. You should be looking for at least version 9.0.0.1011 of the Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility
 
Deusfaux said:
See but I think the enclosure does limit to SATA I speeds.

Same drive out of it will have bursts over 150MB/s, but then when in the dock, those bursts will be capped off below 150MB/s

I think that's a bit of an issue, especially as we get closer to having drives that will have sustained speeds near that limit or above.
Click to expand...

Whatever you say bro. I have been measuring speeds of drives across SATA buses for years now and the only limit I see are the disks in one or two drive configuration.

I have SATA RAIDs here that I can pull 230MB/s sustained on, a solid 50MB/s+ is nothing to sneeze at.
 
So wouldnt you agree it doesn't reflect so well on Vantec and especially this product to advertise one thing (SATA II) and deliver less (SATA I)?
 
Deusfaux said:
So wouldnt you agree it doesn't reflect so well on Vantec and especially this product to advertise one thing (SATA II) and deliver less (SATA I)?
Click to expand...


Maybe I am not understanding. So you are saying that it does not use a SATA II bus?

I don't think you could saturate the SATA I bus with one hard drive, much less the SATA II bus.
 
That's what I'm saying yeah.

I don't know of a drive that could saturate SATA I either... HOWEVER

current drives are fully capable of achieving burst speeds over the 150mb/s limit, right?

If I take a given drive, (lets say my WD6400AAKS), and run HD Tach / HD Tune tests on it, it'll get bursts over 150mb/s out of the dock, and always less than 150mb/s in the dock, everything else equal.

Now I fully realise that for real-world performance a SATA I cap isnt going to really affect me, because sustained drive speeds are currently below that.

But we really aren't that far off from drives (like some SSDs) that could do sustained performance at 150mb/s or above. And I honestly think the dock limit that, because it's capped at SATA I speed as far as I can tell.

Which is an issue, because it is advertised as more capable (SATA II speed).



I mean, if you could demonstrate how one could prove whether the dock is SATA I or SATA II speed not looking at burst speeds, I'd love to hear it. Vantec isnt really helpful when I email them.

And for the record, every review I could find on the net also showed burst speeds capped below 150mb/s, for drives that might normally get 250mb/s or something out of the dock.
 
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