Please note the following requirement for USB enclosures, eSATA enclosures and Docks. 

For Enclosures:

It can vary depending on the age and type of the Enclosures.

2.5" SATA drive, USB enclosures:
The maximum capacity is 4TB or more for the current shipping model as of this writing (Feb 5, 2020). Please write to support@vantecusa.com for further help or questions.

2.5" SATA drive, eSATA enclosures:
Please check with your system manufacturer on the eSATA port, some system eSATA may only support 2TB drive. Our eSATA enclosure maximum capacity is 4TB or more for the current shipping model as of this writing (Feb 5, 2020). Please write to support@vantecusa.com for further help or questions.

Please READ these Limitation: 

1)  For 2.5" SATA drive, Maximum Capacity alone is not the only thing you have to check, the other important criteria are the thickness of the drive. If your 2.5" enclosure will only fit a drive with the thickness (or height) of 7mm drive, trying to put a 9.5mm thickness drive into the enclosure will not fit.

2)  The power requirement of the drive is also very important. Most drives are designed for installing into the systems with unlimited power. If you purchase a big capacity drive with power requirements that exceed the power your USB port can provide, it will not function. This is the fault of your USB port lack of power and your power hungry drive, not the enclosure issue. The enclosure uses minimum power. Your Drive plus the enclosure MUST not exceed the power capability of your USB port.

3) Support AF or 512e drives only, do not support 4Kn drives.

3.5" SATA drive, USB enclosures:
The maximum capacity is 16TB or more for the current shipping model as of this writing (Feb 5, 2020).
It is maybe 2TB for an older or discontinued model. You can also write to us for help concerning an older enclosure(s) capacity. Please write to support@vantecusa.com for further help or questions.

3.5" SATA drive, eSATA enclosures:
Please check with your system manufacturer on the eSATA port, some system eSATA may only support 2TB drive. Our eSATA enclosure maximum capacity is 12TB for the current shipping model as of this writing (Feb 5, 2020). Please write to support@vantecusa.com for further help or questions.

Please READ these Limitation: 

1) The power requirement of the drive is also very important. Most drives are designed to draw less than 13 watts per drive. The enclosure uses minimum power and the ac adapter that comes with the enclosure are designed for most standard power requirement of the drives. If you purchase drives that draw too much power (greater than 13 watts) and exceed the specifications of the enclosure ac adapter, it will not function correctly. Please check the label on the drive for the power specifications. If your drives exceeded the limitation, you may have to purchase a bigger ac adapter for your needs, please contact Vantec Support for sizing the ac adapter for your needs and to purchase optional bigger ac adapter. 

2) Support AF or 512e drives only, do not support 4Kn drives.

Older 2.5" or 3.5" IDE drive, USB enclosures:
If you are using an older USB enclosure for IDE drive, generally for 2.5" IDE, USB enclosure it is 320GB and for 3.5" USB enclosure is 750GB. 

For Docks:

It can vary depending on the age and type of interface of the Dock.

Docks are designed for 2.5" or 3.5" SATA Drives, for current shipping docks as of this writing (Feb 5, 2020), 2.5" SATA HDD/SSD, the capacity ranges from 100GB to 4TB, and for 3.5" SATA drive, it is 500GB to 16TB.
Please write to support@vantecusa.com for further help or questions if you are not sure.

Please READ these Limitation: 

1) The power requirement of the drive is also very important. Most drives are designed to draw less than 13 watts per drive. The dock uses minimum power and the ac adapter that comes with the dock are designed for most standard power requirement of the drives. If you purchase drives that draw too much power (greater than 13 watts) and exceed the specifications of the dock ac adapter, it will not function correctly. Please check the label on the drive for the power specifications. If your drives exceeded the limitation, you may have to purchase a bigger ac adapter for your needs, please contact Vantec Support for sizing the ac adapter for your needs and to purchase optional bigger ac adapter. 

2) Support AF or 512e drives only, do not support 4Kn drives.

For ALL DISCONTINUED products, please check the specifications on the product page. 

Yes, all our USB Enclosures and Docks are compatible with Windows 10 Operating System. Just plug into any USB port on your Windows 10 system and it should function just like your older OS. You do not need to update any firmware or drivers. It is plug and play.

1394 firewire for windows 8/8.1/10

About Windows 8/8.1/10 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

If you are using Windows 10, here is something that you need to know about Firewire drivers.

Firewire was native to XP/Vista/7 and do not require any drivers, it is already all built into the OS.

But, Microsoft has removed the built-in (native) driver from windows 8/8.1/10 and turns it into a standalone package. You need to use the same standalone package to install the drivers manually and it will work with all our cards.

There are two install package.

1. MSI

2. Drivers Only

Unzip the files to a folder, you should see a folder with drivers and a MSI (exe) install program.

You can use either but not both.

After you install the 1394 OHCI Legacy Driver.msi file, follow these steps:
Right-click the Legacy1394.inf file under one of the following paths based on the computer's architecture:
 

• C:\Program Files\1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller (Legacy)\x86_driver
• C:\Program Files\1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller (Legacy)\x64_driver

1. Click Install.
2. Open Device Manager in Control Panel.
3. Expand IEEE 1394 Bus host controllers, and then locate the host controller.
4. Right-click the host controller, and then click Update Driver Software.
   The screen shot of the host controller and the Update Driver Software is listed in the following
   Example:
   
   
    
5. Click Browse my computer for driver software.
6. Click Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer.
7. Click Generic1394 OHCI compliant host controller (Legacy), and then click the Next button.
8. Click the Close button.

Sometime problems may occur during first installation or use, we at VantecUSA like to help you get it working to resolve the problem. We have a team of support staff that is here to help you. Please write to us first before you return the product back to the place of purchase. We are committed to help you get the product setup and working correctly. You can reach us via email at support@vantecusa.com. We will reply to you very quickly to assist you.

It is always a pleasure assisting our customer solve and resolve problems related to our products.

Thank you for looking into our products. We do value your patronage.

Best Regards,

VantecUSA Customer Service Team.

If you are experiencing connection issue, like drop connection, cannot recognize the second drive, unable to format drives or another strange symptom, make sure you are using the provided ac adapter.

This is caused by your drives drawing too much power from your USB port and your USB port cannot provide enough power to the drives.

We have found out current newer SSD (per drive) and HDD (per drive) power requirement are exceeding the power of one USB port as a result the provided AC Adapter is required.

The current version of JMicron RAID Manager software is 32bit. It is not compatible with OS X 10.15 (Catalina) because the OS requires all apps to be 64bit.

It is compatible with OS X 10.14 and older version.

Yes, All our M.2 NVMe Enclosures supports NVMe Module both M Key (PCIe Gen3 x4) or B+M Key (PCIe Gen3 x2). Example of NVMe with B+M Key is the WD Blue SN500 NVMe SSD, Part# WDS250G1B0C, WDS500G1B0C.

Please do not get confuse M.2 NVMe B+M Key with M.2 SSD B+M Key. M.2 SSD Module will not function in the NVMe enclosure or on the NVMe add-on card.

Yes, All our M.2 NVMe Add-on Card supports NVMe Module both M Key (PCIe Gen3 x4) or B+M Key (PCIe Gen3 x2) too.

If you are not sure write to support@vantecusa.com for assistance.

Yes, the NST-271C31-BK will support TRIM.

If you have an older version that will not support TRIM, please use this link to update the firmware.

https://www.vantecusa.com/CKEdit/files/NST-271C31-BK_TRIM.zip

Download, unzip and follow the pdf instruction to flash the firmware.

Some enclosures you purchase may come with the following USB cable shown below or Dual cable.

For USB cable shown below, the right way to connect the cable is to plug the single USB C to the enclosure first
and the other end to your system USB port shown. Do not reverse the connection, it may not work.  

For Dual cable (two cable, C to C and C to A) the right way to connect the cable is to see what type or port is available
on your system and use the C to C or C to A. First plug the single USB C to the enclosure and the other end to your system USB port

There is a firmware update to for NST-205C3-SG or NST-206C3-SG.

This firmware update will not affect the module and can be perform with or without the NVMe module.

Just plug enclosure to the System USB port and run the firmware update software. If your enclosure firmware is current, it will not change. If your enclosure firmware is not current, it will update to the latest.

Here is the link: https://www.vantecusa.com/CKEdit/files/NST-205C3_206C3_FW_UpdateUtility_v133_01_00_03.zip

Dear User,

Thank you for purchasing any of the following products:

UGT-PC345, 4-Port SuperSpeed USB 3.0 PCIe Host Card W/ Internal 20-Pin Connector
UGT-PC341, 4-Port SuperSpeed USB 3.0 PCIe Host Card
UGT-PC331AC, 3-Port USB 3.0 Type A/C PCIe Host Card
UGT-PC371AC, 2-Port USB 3.1 PCIe (10Gbps) USB-C & USB Type-A
UGT-PCE430-4C, Quad Chip 4-Port Dedicated 5Gbps USB 3.0 PCIe Host Card
UGT-PCE430-2C, Dual Chip 4-Port Dedicated 5Gbps USB 3.0 PCIe Host Card
UGT-PCE470-2C, Dual Chip 4-Port Dedicated 10Gbps USB 3.1 Gen 2 PCIe Host Card 

These products listed above DO NOT require any drivers if you are installing into a system using Windows 8.1 and Windows 10.
Microsoft has included the necessary drivers (built-in, native drivers) in the OS. Do not use the provided CD drivers, it is ONLY needed if you are using Windows 7 or older OS.

DP Alt Mode is DisplayPort Alternate Mode. DP Alt Mode is a functional extension built into SOME USB-C port. There is two types of USB-C port, with DP Alt Mode and without DP Alt Mode (only as a data port). If your system’s USB-C port comes with DP Alt Mode, it can have DisplayPort functionality for primary or secondary HDMI display. If your system’s USB-C port do not have DP Alt Mode, connecting to a video adapter with HDMI will give you a blank screen.

These DP Alt Mode carry non-USB signals and are optional capabilities unique to the USB-C connector or port, like DisplayPort or Thunderbolt 3. All Apple systems with Thunderbolt 3 can be used with USB-C with DP Alt Mode. Most USB host controller add-on card with USB-C port on Windows systems does not have DP Alt Mode function.

Please check with the system or addon card manufacturer to verify support for USB-C with DP Alt Mode capability before purchasing a USB-C adapter with HDMI port.

Multi-Stream Transport (MST) is a specification that allows multiple monitors to be Daisy Chain together. This capability allows Video signal to pass from the computer to monitor (1), and then to monitor (2) and more.

This capability is supported in Display Port (DP) v1.2 specification, in general, monitors that have support for daisy chain will have two DisplayPort, one in and one out. Daisy chaining monitor also requires termination of the chain. The last monitor on the chain needs to be terminated, this is done thru the OSD (monitor On Screen Display menu). If you are using a different version of the DisplayPort monitor, should always put the older DPv1.1 as the last monitor in the chain.

Please check the requirement and manuals of the monitor's daisy chaining for further instruction. Daisy chaining does have its limitation due to the amount of video on the chain. In general, the first display will be your primary display and the 2nd and 3rd displays will be cloned.

Besides the monitors, the DP cables used also must be DP version 1.2 

The write-protect switch on these enclosures is designed to block any OS-level file access.

The switch needs to be set first before it is connected to the USB port.

To change the storage to read-only, change the switch to lock position and plug the USB to your system like you normally do and you will see the OS view the files as read-only.

To change from lock to unlock or vise-versa, do a USB “safe to remove” first, unplug the device from the USB port, change the switch setting, and plug it back into your system.

It is not designed to change the mode while the storage is connected to the system. Changing mode while connected may produce an undesirable result.

There are many reasons why a USB storage device will not show correctly on your System.
Here are some reason and possible solution:

1) The hard drive that you install into the USB storage is new and was not prepare to use with this System.

Solution: Use system disk tool to prepare the drive for use by initializing, partition and then formatting the drive. Once that is done, the System OS will detect the drive correctly. For help with preparing a new hard drive for use, please refer to the FAQ on "Preparing a New Hard Drive for use".

2) Your system does not have the proper drivers and requires updates.

Solution: Safely eject the USB device and Run Windows Update to ensure all drivers are up to data, before connecting USB device again.

3) The System is not seeing the USB enclosure.

Solution#1 (for self-powered enclosure): Shutdown and power OFF system, power OFF USB enclosure, disconnect the USB enclosure, turn system power back ON, log back into your system, wait for system to fully loaded all drivers, connect back the USB enclosure directly into the USB port on the computer, avoid connecting thru a hub, and finally power ON the USB enclosure.

Soultion#2 (for bus powered enclosure): Power OFF the system, disconnect the USB enclosure, power back ON system, log back into your system, wait for system to fully loaded all drivers, and now connect back the USB enclosure directly into the USB 3.0 port on the computer, avoid connecting thru a hub.

4) Under power condition and the drive is not spinning up.

Solution: If you are connected to a USB 2.0 port and the drive in the USB enclosure is not spinning up, it may be an under-powered condition. This can be cause by the drive in the enclosure drawing too much power and the one USB port is not sufficient to power the drive. Please connect to a USB 3.0 port that can provide more power to the drive in the enclosure.

5) Do not have USB 3.0 port, under power condition and the drive is not spinning.

Solution: Use a USB Y cable. If you are using a USB 2.0 enclosure, we provided a USB cable with an extra power connector (the Y) to supplement the power requirement of the device. By connecting both (Main and Supplement) USB connectors to the system, it should provide enough power for most devices to work correctly with your system. If the power requirement for the device (hard drive + enclosure) is within the specification of just one USB port, you just need to connect only the main connector. 

6) System still cannot see the drive.

Solution: If the system cannot see the drive, you may want to try another computer to see if the problem is related to this computer.

7) USB DEVICE CANNOT SEE IN OS X

Solution: Try Force boot into safe mode and it will reset the USB.
Shutdown system, wait 10 seconds and restart.  Right away hold down shift and will boot into safe mode.