VantecNexStar HX, 3.5" SATA III Hard Drive Enclosure USB 3.0 With Fan (NST-387S3-BK)

I purchased 2 of these as I had a feeling from reviews they would work for me which they do. I've tested a variety of 6TB and 8TB drives in them and they copy (write and read) just perfect. For that reason alone I give these 5 star as a previous manufacturers enclosure I purchased from Amazon didn't work worth a darn with these same drives!!!! (It would copy anywhere around 200GB and then "time out"... drop the USB connection, re-connect and I'd have to restart the backups). I tested and retried this 4 times with the same results every time.... These NexStar replacement enclosures suffered NO SUCH PROBLEM...However, the build quality on one of them was far less that desirable. As stated I purchased 2 at the same time. So here's some pro's and con'sPro's~~~~1. Made of metal not plastic.2. The fan is on the Circuit board side of the drive not the metal drive case side. I like that.3. 2nd enclosure I tested was perfect in assembly and everything slotted in clean and very easy. SImple to install a drive4. Had zero problems with testing writes of 1.5TB data to various 6TB and 8TB drives. All worked clean as expected.Con's~~~~1. 1st enclosure had a bent grill over the fan (After some effort I was able to flatten it almost perfect)2. 1st enclosure had a bent mounting bracket for the drive. There are 6 brackets that the drive rests on and can be screwed down to. The one right at the back of the drive was visually bent totally out of alignment and I had to bend it back in order to secure to the drive to that bracket.3. 1st enclosure drive mounting brackets were all "slightly out of alignment". I had to squeeze the metal to be able to secure the drive to the frame with the provided screws. (2nd enclosure was a perfect alignment and fit, no problems whatsoever)4. 1st and 2nd enclosure. The active LED light is almost useless!!!! It is held so far back from the frontbezel that you have to be almost a foot away to see it!!! I resolved this by using some Metal Ducting tape. I first put electrical tape on the circuit board (Ducting tape is conductive) and then put the Ducting tape over it plus I lined the plastic hole where the led butts up against. The result isn't perfect but now at least the blue flashing light is visible. I used the light as an indicator that the copy is still progressing...Conclusion~~~~~~~~~I had one that clearly must have been manufactured on a Friday at 4:55pm!!!!! and was a low quality build. None the less, both enclosures worked 100% perfect with WD and Seagate NAS drives I tested. That was more important to me having wasted a lot of time on an enclosure that simply could not handle the same drives (BTW, I've since discovered others reported the same problem I had with that original faulty enclosure)So I'd recommend these enclosures for their solid build, metal construction, easy install and solid performance hence the 5 Stars and I'm giving NexStar a pass on the lower quality manufacture on the 1st enclosure I tested as it was fixable and not the worst thing I've dealt with. :-)UPDATE 02/08/25~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I've performed several more backups to 6TB and 8TB WD Red drives in these enclosures (and in early copies I even did content compares to ensure they copied 100%). They've been excellent so far plugged into a USB 3.1 (5Gb) port. The mod I did to enhance the Blue LED worked like a charm. It's not overly bright but is now more clearly visible. I also chose these enclosures because of the included stand which makes it easy setup multiple drives in a line. If you are not using the stand and want to lay them flat, you can do as others have done and stick some rubber feet on the non-fan side to stop the drive sliding around on a desk/flat surface.Still recommending (even considering the 1st enclosure that some bent metal work and fan grill)UPDATE 3/15/25~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I purchased another 2 of these enclosures after another manufacturers enclosure failed on me. I had the other enclosure a few years but recently mounted a mere 6TB drive into and it would just stall copying. So not knowing if it was the drive or the enclosure, I put the suspect drive into one of these NextStar enclosures and performed a huge copy to it. Worked flawless. Not only that, the USB transfer rate connected to a USB3 port was consistently in the 95-100MB/s which is much better than I was getting from the "other" enclosure even when it worked.Due to living in a warm climate, I always buy enclosures which have fans. I've found that having the fans on high produces no discernible noise and I know for certain that drives will last a lot longer when not running hot all the time. So I'm really pleased with the fan's ability to cool the drive 5-10 degrees Fahrenheit.I use the drive enclosures in the vertical position. The only issue as I've noted before is the Blue LED is not highly visible so I've made a small change to the enclosures to double the light output which I prefer, others may disagree and prefer the subtle light.Regardless, I now have 4 of these NexStar enclosures and I'm really pleased with them. I'm using them with 2 x 8TB and 2 x 6TB WD NAS drives.

Edit: after reading the reviews I noticed that someone had a problem with Linux..If you're using USB (das) enclosures with Linux. You'll need create a mounting point and then edit the fstab in /etc/fstab after you configure this (for any HDD or das not just this seller's) then they will automatically mount without any issues. Be sure to Google the correct process....I currently host a small media server using another brands dual bay das..I bought this product to host an extra small 2 Tb drive That I had laying around .This Enclosure was well packaged , it has very clear directions , photos, a parts list and a thank you note.The installation was supper easy and quite similar to other enclosures , I LOVE the fact that this unit comes with a fan.I May be in the market to purchase more for my Business, Hopefully they come out with a 2 bay version.my only regret is that i did not buy another one and now i have to wait until I get another drive :'( lolThank you guys!

Short version: I bought this to house a 16TB Seagate Exos series drive and it is working for me.Long version: Upon opening the box and removing the enclosure from the packaging, I noted a lot of rattle inside. Once disassembled I discovered that the rattle was due to the plastic fan blades, and one of its mounting screws, swimming freely inside the interior of the enclosure. Ugh. I was tempted to immediately send it back, but since putting the parts in their proper places was pretty simple, I gave it a second chance.The interior frame is metal (unlike some competitors) which helps with heat dissipation, and it can be solidly mounted using 4 supplied screws. Unfortunately the frame rattles inside the sleeve. This is because the inner frame is held in place by a lengthwise tongue and groove arrangement which has considerable play. You don't notice this until the weight of the drive is a factor, then it rattles from side to side when the case is moved. Ugh. Another simple remedy; I stuck thin strips of black cloth electrical tape onto both metal tongues. Then it fit snugly without rattle. Why is this important? Vibration is not good for drives; it can lead to soft errors an worse. Especially a big heavy Enterprise-class drive.Once powered up (as the product listing warns, the enclosure looks 100% dead until a drive is attached and the USB cable plugged into a working computer) the drive is instantly recognized at full capacity. The fan kept the drive cool (even at minimal fan speed) throughout a day-long extended S.M.A.R.T self-test. It's been in use since then, without problems.Other observations: The blue activity light is tiny and shines through a tiny window in the front faceplace rendering it almost invisible. Also, the SATA-USB bridge interface chipset is a much-maligned JMicron variety; however; I haven't noticed any anomalies.