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Vantec NexStar LX NAS StorageDescription: Vantec's NexStar LX is a square white case. The front of the NexStar has a clear plastic light. Three LEDs are in this light. One is for hard drive activity, one is for power and and one is for network access. When lit, they glow blue.
The bottom of the NexStar LX is made for stackability. It has a ridge that lifts it up off the ground or another NexStar LX NAS unit if they are stacked. With more and more external drives, like when used in small business, stackability is nice for organization. Rubber feet prevent the NexStar from sliding on surfaces. In the middle of the bottom is an aluminum heatsink. This heatsink helps remove heat from the drive. This was a downfall of the NetDisk, it just heated up and there was no where for the heat to go.
The back of the NexStar LX has all the necessary ports. There is a 10/100 networking port, USB port, power port, reset button, power switch, and fan control switch. A fan port is also present which is great because the fan behind it adds to the cooling. Unfortunately, there is only a 10/100 port, I would like to see some Gigabit access since all motherboards are coming Gigabit nowadays and small business generally have a Gigabit backbone.
Installation: Installing a drive into Vantec's NexStar LX NAS storage is fairly easy, but it is a tight fit to get a drive in. Once the drive is in, flip the NexStar over and screw it in from the bottom. The screw holes lined up without an issue.
After screwing the drive in, the temperature sensor is placed in the front of the drive. This is a nice feature of the NexStar LX. The temperature sensor controls the fan, so when the drive is not in use the fan is quite; well at least when the drive is cool the fan is off. Of course, the switches on the back of the NexStar LX control the fan whether it is in auto mode (temperature sensor), or manual. Manual can have a high or low fan speed setting.
Once everything is in, snap the top back on. The top only lines up one way; therefore, it cannot be put in wrong.
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