Removable media has come a long way since my first computer, which had a pair of 5 ¼” floppy drives. The 3 ½” floppy was out then, but was new and wouldn't become popular for a year or two, and wouldn't be the standard removable media for several years. The CD had been for music only for some time before we started seeing CD drives on PCs, and even though CDs are gradually being replaced by DVDs, the 3.5” floppy is still around. A few other removable mediums have been tried. The early home computers used cassette tapes. The mini-disk really didn't fly, though I do occasionally see them for drivers, mostly to keep the packaging for the hardware smaller. The first floppy I used was similar to the 5 ½”, but it was 10”, I think. The latest trend in removable media is the thumb or flash drive, and they are being made in sizes up to 32gb.

The problem with all earlier forms of removable media is capacity. Even a 16 or 32 gig flash drive can be a little small for some uses, and they are pretty expensive. Think about it, you can pick up a 500 gig HDD for the price of a 16 gig thumb drive, or a 750 gig for the price of a 32 gig thumb drive. For that matter, you could get a RaptorX for the price of the 32 gig flash drive.

Today, we will be taking a look at the Vantec NexStar Hard Drive Dock, an external solution for simple swapping of hard drives. Will the hard drive dock make the external hard drive enclosure obsolete? Read on to see.


The NexStar Hard Drive Dock comes in a mostly black and green sleeved box, as Vantec products usually do. The dock is well protected in cardboard sleeving

Specifications:

Model: NST-D100SU
Device Support: SATA Hard Drive
Device Size: 2.5” or 3.5” Hard Drive
Internal Interface: SATA
External Interface: USB 2.0 & eSATA
HD Capacity: Up to 1TB
Power Supply: Dual 5V/12V 2A
Material: Plastic
Dimensions: 136x83x87mm
System Requirements: Windows 98/SE/ME/200/XP/Vista

Features:

-Install and Access Hard Drive in Seconds
-Simple to Use Design; No Need to Add Enclosure or Open Case
-Eject Button for Easy Removal of Hard Drive
-Compatible With Any 2.5” or 3.5” SATA I/II Hard Drive
-Add Storage to Any System with USB or eSATA
-Plug & Play
-Attractive Blue LED Power & HD Activity Light
-Transfer Rates Up to 480Mbps w/USB 2.0
-Transfer Rates Up to 3Gb/s w/SATA