Reviews for Vantec NexStar 3 NST-360SU-BK Hard Drive Enclosure

Great SATA Enclosure

Strengths: eSATA Interface; nice looking; USB as a bonus; fanless operation

Weakness: Bulky power-supply; not designed for side-ways storage

I got this primarily for its esata interface. I am tired of slow USB speeds, and my motherboard already had an esata port. I figured I'd get both interfaces in one (esata & usb), which would allow me to use it anywere. Some esata enclosures and drives (like Seagates) are only esata. I wanted both for maximum flexibility.

Installation was relatively painless. I plugged it into USB, and it worked great. I unplugged the usb, then plugged into esata. Also worked great! I have yet to performance test it, but I was happy with it's plug and play performance. You should make sure that your MB supports plug and play, as many will require a reboot. The box comes with a I/O plate with estat connector, which is nice if you need one (I didn't).

The unit is very quiet, as it is fanless. It is also aluminum, which is good for heat dissipation. It does get hot, so beware!

I think the drive is sleek looking, though the front and back panels are cheap plastic, which is a shame. Why save a few pennies on this???

I also did not like the extremely bulky power supply. Give me a all in one unit, not the laptop variety, with a SVHS type connector one one end??

Overall I am happy, even with the minor gripes.

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Great enclosure

Strengths: Quiet, GREAT LOOK, reliable design

Weakness: none

A GREAT BUY FOR A GREAT PRICE. Get this if you're looking for an enclosure with style and reliablity. NEXSTARS ARE VERY RELIABLE LOOK UP REVIEWS ANYWHERE. WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND

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NST-360SU-BK External 3.5in Hard Drive Enclosure...

Strengths: very quiet, but sturdy...looks good also

Weakness: i guess the only thing i can say is that the comparment is very tight and you have to smash in the wires to get hard drive in..

i like the case very much and seems more reliable than buying a manufacturer's external hard drive, such as WESTERN DIGITAL MY BOOK, which crashed after one day of use. the only negative i can say about it is that when you plug the usb or power cable in the back you should be careful not to force it in...i would give it 5 stars, but it is the first hard drive enclosure i've bought so i nothing to compare it to.

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Vantec NST-360SU-BK

Strengths: SATA II ready, 3Gbps eSATA port and adapter.

Weakness: None.

I use it to transfer the data from my 120GB/SATA HD and it works great. Because I don't know if my SATA can be tranferred to eATA or not, I did not test the eSATA yet. But I think it give me a value to use it for my PC to boot from an external SATA HD.
This is a good way to debug the PC if the OS has virus infected or crash.
Also, this box have nice looking. I will purchase the 2nd one when the price go back to

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Best Enclosure !!!

Strengths: Cool Looking! Quiet! Advance Tech! USB2 & eSATA!

Weakness: none

It has a compact sizecool Look. It can hold up to 400G HDD and super fast 3G rate eSATA. You can either stand it up or lie it down. of course standing up looks nicer! User Friendly! Great Price esp. @ pricegrabber!

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MUST Have Enclosure

Strengths: Reliable, FAST data transfer

Weakness: An external (provided with the purchase) power supply is required

My experience with the Vantec USB 2.0 (PATA) enclosure was so good that I decided to purchase the NST-360SU-BL (SATA) enclosure and experience SATA transfer speeds. The Seagate ST3500630AS that it contains has been working flawlessly. A non-technical friend in another state requires a large, reliable, fast and user-friendly external drive. My recommendation is the Seagate ST3500320AS, which draws less power and has more cache than the 7200.10 version installed in a Vantec NST-360SU enclosure. Then transfers can be made via either USB 2.0 or the much faster eSATA, if available.

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Fine package

Strengths: Attractive, easy to set up, and it works.

Weakness: May not support SATA 3.0 on all drives or systems. Does run a little warm.

I had two of these that failed to work with a Seagate SATA 2 drive. They ran fine in USB mode but not e-SATA mode.

The manufacturer advised that with some drives and / or MoBos the signal strength over the external cable is not sufficient for SATA 2 operation.

I jumpered the drive for SATA 1 and it works fine. I had to go online to find the jumper position since it was not printed on the drive.

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good enclosure, eSATA and USB

Strengths: eSATA and USB so you can use either as needed. Fast file transfers with eSATA.

Weakness: Tight fit while installing hard drive. I almost pinched off the LED wire. So be careful. No fan but I don't think it needs it. I leave mine on for hours and it gets warm but not hot.

I have four other enclosures, different brands. The NexStar3 is well constructed. Installation was easy, no different than my other enclosures. Quiet - but noise is more a factor of the installed hard drive than the enclosure.
One of my others gets really hot while in use so I can say the NexStar dissipates heat better than some others.
Looks good, although the shiny black is fingerprint prone.
Strangely, the power cable connector is different than all my other four so it can only be used with the NextStar enclosure.

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Vantec Hard Drive Enclosures Are The Best

Strengths: Very easy to install. SATA II ready, 3Gbps eSATA connection. Also has USB connection. Will also work with the new Microsoft Windows Vista Operating System when it is released to the public.

Weakness: None

I bought this one and also the Vantec NST-360SU-BL at the same time and have had no problems with either one. It's SATA II ready with 3Gbps eSATA transfer rate can move large amounts of data in a very short period of time.


I have 2 options of use since it has the eSATA and the USB connections. I've tried them both ways and of course I like the eSATA the best. But if I'm using a PC without the eSATA connection I can still use the USB connection.


They are perfect for doing backups of your critical files or transferring data between computers. They can also be used for installing programs and/or games and shared between different computers.


As far as heat goes, I left both enclosures on for over 24 hours several times and found out that they were a little warm each time, but the hard drives still performed the way that they are supposed to. Sure it would be nice to have a fan on the enclosures to cool it down more but then the price would go up on them.


I would highly recommend purchasing this product to anyone. I also plan on buying more in the very near future.

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Terrific Feel/Quality

Strengths: High speed eSATA, Extremely sturdy construction, Quiet

Weakness: Glossy exterior is easily smudged, base stand comes off too easily

I'm extremely happy with this enclosure. The installation was kind of a pain since theres so little play in the slide but that only adds to the sturdy feeling afterwards. It seriously feels like a protective case for the drive and nothing else. I'm extremely happy with the eSATA feature since my mobo's sata port was broken off during my latest HD installation.

Great purchase and I would gladly do it again.

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This product rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!

Strengths: ESATA and USB 2.0 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Weakness: NONE

This product is great the ESATA works likes a charm I am currently using to store my mirror images of both my hard drives, I am planning to intall a linux operating system on it too, very fast and 0 problems!!!! HIghly recommend....

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External case has great form factor

Strengths: Slender, quiet, option to mount veritcal...but comes with feet to lay flat already in place.

Weakness: USB connection worked right away, eSATA connection is challenging. Lack of individual leds for disk activity.

The case packaging includes the bracket to go in your case to hook up to SATA on your logic board providing eSata. Unfortunately, I have not been able to get the eSata connection working yet...and have had to rely on the USB connection. I bought this case as being one of the few that offer both SATA and USB, so I am glad for that. I wanted to be able to hook up to my desktop and either of my two laptops (one of them a Mac), so this case was a great option for that. I just wish I could get the SATA connection working. I will be calling tech support for the case to see if they can help. The included documentation is ok, except that it doesn't address what to do if the drive will not show up as a eStata drive.

Otherwise, the case is a nice slender case. I really debated a case with a fan, but the options are really limited that come with the SATA and USB connectivity. Most people say that the case doesn't need it...but, it runs hot...hot enough that I am going to turn it off when not specifically in use to reduce heat in the room and on top of the computer case where it conveniently and attractively sits. I am using this case with a Seagate 300mb SATA, 16mb drive.

Bottom line, as other case become available, I would probably opt for one with a fan to at least get the heat going away from the case and moving away from the computer area.

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Vantec NexStar 3 eSATA/USB2 NST-360SU

Testseek.com has collected 11 expert reviews for Vantec NexStar 3 eSATA/USB2 NST-360SU and the average expert rating is 85 of 100. The average score reflects the expert community’s view on this product. Click below and use Testseek.com to see all ratings, product awards and conclusions.

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