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Vantec NexStar LX

Info: vantecusa.com
Price: 69.99  US

It's not often we publish reviews on storage devices, but a while ago Vantec contacted us asking if we wanted to review their latest NAS device. I had a peek, it looked sexy, ease of use and good connectivity. Suffice to say that today we'll be having a look at the NexStarLS where you can insert a Parallel HD into a little white or black box and then majestically transform it into a Network Storage Device, so that no matter where you are you can always access your data as it's quite a portable device and so easy to use.

This product ladies and geeks is not for the low-level PC enthusiast. This product, as strange as it might sound, is a highly configurable dedicated computer that has everything removed except what's needed to get it attached to a 10/100 Ethernet LAN and talking to just about any network file system and protocol that is available.

The Unit itself has a few nice features, smart cooling (passive heatsink under the HD) and smart fan. You can connect to either USB (2.0) or Ethernet 10/100 MBit/sec and it can handle HD's up-to half a GB (Parallel, not Serial ATA). The product comes in two flavors: the NST 375LX-BK and WH which is short for black and white versions respectively. We have the white version.

The product itself is in fact a really tiny dedicated computer that is running on an Operating System, so with that in mind the essence of this product is in fact a small server. Why should you have a server in your network ? Simple answer, to share files in the easiest way. Since this product acts as a server, ALL PC's within your network can connect to it, with or without access rights. You can manage it from any client as you simply log into the web-interface and configure it.

Let's have a peek at this portable storage product.