In the eleven years since Vantec opened for business, they have managed to insert the Vantec name into the mind of most anyone who has ever opened a side panel on a computer with the intention throwing money inside it. Better, faster ...stronger, Vantec has the technology. And Vantec has some talented product designers with an absolute gift for making the buying public reach for their wallet. Vantec was one of the first to make a power supply more than just the dull gray metal box you wanted to keep hidden away and into a showpiece you want to take out and show your friends. And like the sleek black aluminum Stealth power supplies, the entire Vantec product line would seem to be an exercise in form meets function.

As well as their highly successful cooling products, notebook accessories, power supplies, PC mods and peripherals Vantec makes some very affordable and stylin' storage solutions. Their latest being the very popular mirror finished, aluminum Nexstar 3 line of external hard drive enclosures. Latest until now that is, today we will dissect the first Nexstar GX hard drive enclosure, model number NST-370GX. I fully expect more models in the line as the "GX" offers some nice improvements over traditional external enclosures.

The Nexstar GX NST-370GX as you would expect supports 3.5" IDE (Parallel ATA) drive and uses a USB 2.0 connection. A Nexstar 3 enclosure to support eSATA (external Serial ATA) is already in the works. If the GX proves successful, future eSATA support has got to be on the drawing board for it as well.

Pretty average fare for a external enclosure, so just what are these improvements?

How about a built in 3-port USB 2.0 hub.
A micro security slot.
A large beefy passive heat sink.
"Smart" thermally controlled active cooling.
And my personal favorite, "Smart Power", that allows the unit to power on and off in unison with your computer.

Packaging

Everything arrived unscathed having been meticulously packaged with plenty of peanuts and bubble wrap.