In our time, it is difficult to surprise someone with both external hard drives and cases for them. But among the competitors, the external case for hard drives Zalman ZM-VE300 stands out. In addition to the traditional 2.5" box with a fast USB 3.0 interface, Zalman ZM-VE300 has a unique function - it can mount disk and floppy disk images recorded in it. That is, in addition to the normal external HDD mode, it can work as a DVD-ROM and floppy drive Such devices appeared on the market more than a year ago, but I could only really appreciate their convenience when I saw them in action with my own eyes.Now I am another happy owner of the Zalman ZM-VE300.

Includes ZM-VE300 aluminum case, hard carrying case, USB 3.0 cable, software installation CD, quick guide user and a small screwdriver with bolts to secure the hard drive.

Zalman ZM-VE300 has a spectacular design: a lightweight aluminum case with plastic inserts on the sides, a small LCD screen that displays the disk status. On the top side there is an activity indicator, a socket for connecting a USB cable and a "Backup" button. In addition, a three-position joystick wheel is located on the left side of the box, with the help of which almost all actions are performed. The activity indicator is two-color. White color is used to indicate operation in USB mode 2.0, blue - in USB 3.0 mode.

In order to install HDD in Zalman ZM-VE300, you need to pull out the top board with the display and connect the disk itself to it. Then insert the resulting structure into the aluminum case.

Of the three tested 2.5" drives, the Zalman ZM-VE300 refused to work with one, and accepted the other two normally. I did not find any pattern in its preferences, and, as it became clear from the reviews on different Internet, I was not the only one who had such a problem. So it's probably better to have several different disks ready.

When the disk is installed and the performance is checked, it is necessary to fix it. Bend the seal from the sides of the case, holes for the bolts are hidden under them. As I said, bolts and a small screwdriver are included, so there should be no problems with fasteners. But the seal does not want to get back up, since it is made of hard plastic and after bending it starts to hang out. A trifle, of course, but spoils the impression. A seal made of ordinary rubber would look more harmonious here.

In the first Zalman ZM-VE300 models, the firmware only allowed working with drives formatted in FAT32 to support file system NTFS had to install an alternative firmware from a similar device - iODD-2531. In new batches, the firmware is already more recent, with it NTFS drives are perfectly supported without additional gestures. Download latest version firmware and the programs necessary for updating can be found on the offsite.

ZM.VE300.Firmware.Upgrade.R1288N.zip (343,728 bytes)

In order to install firmware from iODD-2531 to Zalman-VE300, you will need to slightly modify the flash driver. I have updated the latest firmware. After installing it, the device is defined in the system as iODD, but it will not work worse from this. On the contrary, all new chips from iODD-2531 will be added to the functionality, which are not and are not expected in the official Zalman-VE300 firmware.

iODD.2531.to.ZM.VE300.Firmware.Upgrade.R1600N.zip (345,755 bytes)

The Menu is entered and exited by pressing the side switch for more than 3 seconds. Moving through the menu and selecting items is done with the joystick, returning to the previous level - the "Backup" button.

• Main menu:
  • Mode Select- setting the operating mode of the device
  • Setting- adjust LCD brightness and sleep mode
  • information- view information about HDD and firmware version
  • USB Connect- USB connection setup
  • Advanced- setting up a virtual HDD connection
• Menu "Mode Select":
  • dual mode- work in combined mode, external HDD and virtual DVD-ROM/Blu-Ray drive
  • ODD Mode or CD Mode(for iODD firmware) - work only in DVD-ROM / Blu-Ray mode (this mode is usually used when installing the OS)
  • HDD Mode- the device is detected only as an external HDD (this mode is used when connected to other devices besides a PC)
• "Setting" menu:
  • LCD Bright- LCD backlight brightness adjustment
  • Idle Bright- LCD backlight adjustment in sleep mode
  • Standby time- setting the time to enter sleep mode
  • Load default- return to default values
• Information menu:
  • S.M.A.R.T.- S.M.A.R.T information
  • HDD Model- display the name of the hard drive model
  • HDD Serial- display the serial number of the hard drive
  • Firmware Ver.- display firmware version
  • USB Speed- display current connection type (USB2.0: Hi-Speed, USB3.0: Super-Speed)
  • USB Input Volt- display the lowest USB input voltage after connecting to a PC and the current input voltage
• Menu "S.M.A.R.T":
  • HDD Temp.- display HDD temperature
  • HDD Health- display HDD status (Good, Warning, Bad). If Warning or Bad appears, then immediately backup all data and check the HDD
• Menu "USB Connect":
  • Refresh- reconnect device to PC
  • Safe Removal- safe device removal
• Menu "Advanced":
  • Umount VHDD- unmount all disk and floppy images
  • Write Protect- enable or disable write protection
  • Instant Save- remember the image immediately after selecting it (only in iODD firmware)
  • Force USB 3.0- USB 3.0 priority mode (only in iODD firmware)

To use virtual ODD, the image file must be located in the "_ISO" folder, which, in turn, must be located in the root of the hard drive. After that, you need to transfer Zalman ZM-VE300 to the "ODD Mode" or "Dual Mode" mode and use the three-way joystick to select desired file image. Depending on the type of image, it will immediately be mounted on the computer as a virtual DVD-ROM/Blu-Ray drive or as a virtual floppy drive.

It is not specified anywhere in the documentation, but it has been experimentally established that there should be no more than 32 images in the "_ISO" folder at the same time, otherwise Zalman ZM-VE300 will display the message "Too Many Files". This can be easily circumvented by creating subfolders, although this leaves a limit of 32 files per subfolder. There are alternative firmware, where there is no such restriction, but personally, I have all the necessary set of distributions within a dozen files. By the way, as a cheaper alternative to Zalman ZM-VE300, unscrupulous sellers can offer you cases for hard drives of the brand Konoos. Such a replacement is far from being equivalent, since the younger models of Konoos cases support only one image, and the more fancy ones - only three. Naturally, on the websites of online stores, this is modestly silent.

Zalman ZM-VE300 comes with a utility for Reserve copy backup utility. It is recorded on CD, but the latest version is always available offsite. As you might guess, with its help are made backups selected files and folders from your computer to external hard drive in Zalman ZM-VE300. In the program, set up the necessary paths, then press the "Backup" button on the box and the utility copies the information.

But that's not all she can do. With Backup Utility, you can create virtual disks and then save them to the "_ISO" folder on an external hard drive. Virtual disks should be dealt with better. "Virtual HDD" - these are empty files of a given size with the possibility of connecting them as external drives. Naturally, Zalman ZM-VE300 is responsible for the connection and emulation functions.

With the "Safe Removal" function, too, everything should be clear. You can safely turn off the Zalman ZM-VE300 by pressing the wheel or the "Backup" button on the device itself, or you can do it at the initiative of the computer through this function of the Backup Utility.

And this is how the system displays physical hard drives and virtual drives connected or created using Zalman ZM-VE300.

Returning to the topic of installing Windows XP on an HP Mini 210-1130ER netbook. The inconvenience of installing the system from a USB flash drive was the last argument for me to buy Zalman ZM-VE300. After purchasing it, I conducted an experiment: I burned the prepared image to an external hard drive, put a clean hard drive into the netbook, then mounted the image on a virtual CD and tried to install the system. As I expected, everything went well.

The instructions that come with the kit are very poor. All that can be learned from it is where to attach the bolts and how to install the backup software. On the Internet, there are instructions in electronic form, even translated into Russian, but in fact they are no different from the paper version. According to rumors, full documentation is available in Korean, but this is unlikely to be of any help. So you have to be content with what you have.

Zalman.ZM.VE300.Manual.RUS.zip (546,663 bytes)

Zalman.ZM.VE300.Manual.ENG.zip (492,463 bytes)

Since the instructions are quite short, and they do not describe all the features of Zalman ZM-VE300. In preparing this review, I have collected from various sources and systematized helpful tips and undocumented features. Other possible problems discussed in detail at the IXBT conference.

• If you hold down the "Backup" button while connecting the device, the write protection will turn on.
• If you hold down the joystick wheel while connecting, the write protection is removed, and the device switches to the "Dual Mode" mode.
• If you hold the joystick wheel up while connecting, the "ODD Mode" is set.
• If you hold the joystick wheel down when connected, the "HDD Mode" is set.
• If during operation, turn down and hold the joystick wheel, the device will be safely switched off. The same will happen if you press and hold the "Backup" button.
• If during operation, turn up and hold the joystick wheel, the "_ISO" folder will be rescanned and the list of images in it will be updated. This is very convenient if new images have been written to the device in "Dual Mode" or "HDD Mode".
• In order for Zalman VE-300 to remember the last mounted image, it must be safely disabled. Install the desired image, press and hold the "Backup" button or the wheel down, wait for the message "Data Saving ..." and disconnect the disk from the computer. After that Zalman VE-300 will start with the selected image.
• To unmount a floppy disk image or drive from the "Virtual HDD", you must go to the "End Of List" item and hold the wheel pressed for 3 seconds.
• When connecting to a desktop computer, it is better to use the USB ports that are located on the back system block, not on the front panel.
• If the hard drive installed in the case is divided into several partitions, then the partition with the "_ISO" folder must be Primary.
• It is not recommended to install SSD drives in Zalman ZM-VE300, as they are more sensitive to insufficient power supplied via USB and may fail.

In some cases, when trying to mount an image, Zalman ZM-VE300 gives a "DEFRAG" message and refuses to mount the file. This message means that the image file is heavily fragmented.

To defragment files and directories, it is most convenient to use free program WinContig. Its main feature is the quick defragmentation of individual files without the need to defragment the entire disk. Just start WinContig, select one or more image files and defragment, after that Zalman ZM-VE300 mounts everything quietly.

What can I say as a summary? Zalman ZM-VE300 is a very cool thing that justifies its cost to the penny. Now the problem with preparing installation flash drives, a pack of CD / DVD discs with different distributions has been solved once and for all, all this remains in the past. Zalman ZM-VE300 will be a great helper system administrators and advanced users who often have to rearrange the system or use different boot disks.

Despite all the advantages, it was not without its drawbacks. There is no list of recommended hard drive models that work with Zalman ZM-VE300 either in the manual or on the offsite. As a last resort, it would be possible to indicate the recommended characteristics, such as amperage and rotation speed, so that you can choose the right model yourself, but this information is not available anywhere. The included USB cable is short and VERY hard, so if used frequently, there is a risk of damage to the case connector. It would not hurt to foresee extra food so that the Zalman ZM-VE300 can be connected to older computers. Of course, no one bothers to find and purchase the right cable on your own, but it's strange that the manufacturer made such a wonderful device and saved on a penny cable. Judging by the reviews, for some hard drives, you have to additionally put a seal in the case so that the drive does not hang out inside. In my case, this was not necessary, but in general I agree that the mounting system could have been thought out better. Other than that, I'm very pleased with the purchase.

UPD. After the untimely death of Zalman ZM-VE300 (connected to a problematic system unit, and there was a breakdown of electricity on the USB port), I purchased the original iODD-2531. So, there are no described problems with seals. They are of sufficient length and have "horns" at the end, which are tucked under the side plugs and hold perfectly. Zalman also has these "horns", but the seal itself is shorter, as a result, they are useless. The cable is also long and flexible. That's just the case for iODD uncomfortable - soft. I replaced it with a freed case from Zalman. So it makes sense to purchase original iODD devices, and not crookedly copied replicas.

Total contraction of the optical storage market under pressure external hard drives and flash drives due to quite objective reasons, but it also leads to some unpleasant side effects. In particular, software is still actively sold on CD and DVD, so installing it on computers without drives is not always a trivial task. Of course, often installation packages can be simply copied to the same VZhD, but fiddling with a huge number of small files is simply inconvenient. The best way to solve the problem is to use images, since each disk turns into one file, and you can put a lot of them on one small drive. However, a convenient solution to the problem of later use is needed. When translating from stationery into Russian, a computer will require installed program to work with recorded images. But what if this is a "foreign" computer, where it is not? Or, even worse, there is no system at all that just needs to be installed? Microsoft, of course, offers a utility for transferring Windows 7 from disk to a flash drive (or other USB drive), but the range of products on the market is not limited to this operating system. And there are also all sorts of special disks for diagnosing or restoring the system, and just a LiveCD for getting to know various operating systems, etc. In general, when all this was recorded on a CD, it was easier - put the disk into the drive, and that's it. If necessary, just boot from it. Moreover, from any ready-made disk, since all products do not depend on each other and you do not need to prepare a bootable flash drive every time (not to mention the fact that not all software correctly transfers migration from CD to USB drive).

Is there a convenient way to solve all these problems? Now it is. It is even strange that he appeared so late, although the problem has become relevant for a long time. And it is doubly strange that not one of the old participants in the external storage market, but Zalman, better known for its coolers and other related products, took up the solution of the questions raised (although in fact the original developer here is actually something else, as often happens, but it is generally unknown to the general public). Now here's a breakthrough to a completely different market. Moreover, solving the problem using ISO images on any system is one of the main features of the ZM-VE200, but not its only advantage. Which makes you want to get to know the product better.

Design

Even externally, the device is slightly different from most "typical" external modules, although it has the same design. The case with dimensions of 135.3 × 78.6 × 13.1 mm and weighing 98.5 grams is mostly made of anodized aluminum and can be black or silver. Good, but not exclusive :)

But a small monochrome LCD display in the upper part of the front surface is an unusual element. But it is very useful, although its main task is just to select a “working” image (which is done using the jog-dial on the left side of the box), which will be mounted on a virtual optical drive. However, in addition to this, the screen allows you to get information about the installed disk, its temperature (how many paranoid people lack this in “regular” boxes!), Operation mode, firmware version (it can be updated), etc.

All other active elements are traditionally concentrated on one of the short ends and include eSATA and USB mini-B connectors, as well as a write lock slider. An archival thing for a person engaged in computer maintenance (and just often walking in suspicious places) - you can not worry about picking up and taking some kind of infection with you. In general, the last one plus support for two interfaces and, to a lesser extent, built-in diagnostic tools are already enough to make the product interesting for purchase. And we haven't gotten to that yet. main feature! For now, we only note that if support for ISO images and an eSATA interface are not required, you can save a lot by purchasing the ZM-HE100 model: it is also equipped with write protection.

Contents of delivery

In the box with the device, in addition to the device itself, you can also find a pair of interface cables (USB and eSATA), each 50 cm long, a couple of bolts for securely fixing the assembled drive, a miniature screwdriver for tightening/unscrewing them, and a protective leatherette case. The design of the latter allows the use of the hard drive without removing it from the case, although if long-term continuous work is planned, it is still worth taking it out of harm's way - it will be better to cool. And one more element of the kit - a transparent film, about the size of a hard drive - confuses, as it turned out, very many buyers who cannot find a scope for it, and this issue has not been worked out in the manual :) In fact, we have an example touching care of Zalman designers about the little things - it should be placed under the hard drive and placed. The rationale is simple: the box itself is made of aluminum, i.e. conducts electricity, and on the “belly” of the hard drive there is an open printed circuit board, so theoretically something can fail to close, and it will fail.

Functionality

And finally, we got to the most "delicious". A fly in the ointment, however, is that in the "high-speed" mode (that is, when connected to a computer using eSATA), the device does not have any functionality additional to simple copying and storing data. The display simply shows "eSATA Mode", and that's it. Even, by the way, the ability to find out the current temperature of the disk disappears.

So in order to fully enjoy the "features", you should connect the box to your computer using USB. And it should also have a folder named “_ISO”, which should contain ISO images in an amount not exceeding 32 pieces (by the way, when using firmware earlier than 61F from April 29, you also need to use the file system on the disk NTFS - FAT32 and exFAT were added only in it).

If all this is observed, we get the opportunity to choose one of three operating modes, and the current one is shown on the display: HDD Mode for the VE-200 system, it looks like a USB CD / DVD / BD-ROM, in which one of the “discs” recorded in the folder is installed. Which specific ISO image will be mounted can be manually selected using the wheel on the left side, controlling the process by changing the file names on the display. Unfortunately, in addition to what was said above, they will have to be called short names and not use Cyrillic characters: long ones are cut off, and non-Latin characters are displayed as spaces. However, it is difficult to consider this as such a serious limitation. For particularly inquisitive tuning lovers, we will briefly hint that the problem of Russification, as well as expanding the list of supported types of disk images (in fairness, with any exotic), can be solved using firmware, but at your own peril and risk ... Yes, and flash it instead of "native" follows in a not too trivial way (but here's how - look on the Web yourself;)). Dual ModeCompilation of the two modes described above: connected to a computer external module generates two devices - both VZhD and optics. Accordingly, we get access to all stored files (and, as mentioned above, it can be limited to reading only, which is very useful when working on someone else's potentially unsafe computer), as well as the ability to work with ISO images.

The latter is possible in two modes. The first and the simplest, namely mounting images while the operating system is loaded, always works great and does not cause problems. Thus, you can throw out all CDs and DVDs with distributions stored at home, having previously “rolled” them into images. The 32-file limit won't interfere much with this - after all, images can be stored in different folders (such as "ISO_office_program", "ISO_linux", "ISO_windows_system", "ISO_games", etc.) simply by renaming the one you need to "_ISO" before use. A more serious limitation, perhaps, is that this format is not very suitable (or not suitable at all) for storing some copy-protected toys. But here there are no complaints against Zalman - the company did not plan to encourage piracy. Yes, and such disks do not belong to the system, so it is quite possible to work with them in the old fashioned way - with the help of software virtual CDs.

For system disks (from different Linux distributions to all kinds of “resuscitators”), another usage scenario is most relevant, namely booting from a virtual CD drive! Here with her, to be honest, not everything is going smoothly. As practice has shown, such virtual drives are not supported by a considerable number of motherboards. Intel boards(more precisely, used by the company BIOS versions), and not only sold separately, but also found in laptops. This problem concerns not only the ZM-VE200 - we also encountered it, for example, when testing the Silicon Power Ultima 155, where the controller is clearly different. So the culprit should be sought among the programmers who worked on the load module (the problem only manifests itself at this stage), but this, of course, does not make it easier. However, most tested computers do not have such problems - booting from a virtual drive is exactly the same as from a regular one: you just need to select it in the BIOS or (which is available on most modern motherboards) use a special boot menu. Accordingly, you can install any operating system - not necessarily originally designed for this use case (which is true for Windows 7) and without any traditional dances with a tambourine and fuss with third-party programs (which are needed for such an installation of Windows XP). At the same time, unlike flash drives, some of which support the allocation of part of the disk space for a virtual CD, it is not necessary to be limited to just one system - there can be several “bootable” disks. You just need to choose the one you want - and it will be a special LiveCD for "repairing" the system or a bootable Windows disk 95, the drive (and the computer) doesn't care :)

Test Methodology

The question arises - did not all this developed functionality affect how the VZhD received after installing the hard drive will cope with traditional tasks, such as storing and transferring information? That is why we subjected it to traditional testing. The technique is described in detail in a separate article. There you can get acquainted with the configuration of the test stand, and with the software used. The only change is that instead of the Seagate Momentus 5400.5 ST9320320AS hard drive traditionally used in tests, which is already too small and slow from the point of view of modernity, we decided to take the top model Seagate: Momentus XT ST95005620AS. It is clear that for an external hard drive this drive with a platter speed of 7200 rpm and an additional flash buffer is redundant (especially since it costs somewhere like that twice as much as a “regular powder” of the same capacity, and even 750 GB in a traditional performance can be bought cheaper), but in this case you can be exactly sure that it will not become a bottleneck. Yes, and we will compare the subject with fast two-interface models.

Competitors

As the latter, we took the recently tested Verbatim Store'n'Go (with Samsung HM500JI 500 GB inside) and Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex (inside Momentus 5400.6 ST9500325AS 500 GB) with a "regular" interface module (supporting USB 2.0) and Power eSATA Upgrade cable. While the GoFlex doesn't provide versatility the easy way (you need to change the interface module to go from USB 2.0 to eSATA and back), it's one of the few (like the Verbatim drive) that supports powered eSATA modification, which is somewhat better than a couple of cables. VE-200, for which the latter can be blamed. But you can't complain :)

Lavalys Everest 5.0

As for the speed of data transfer over the interface, Zalman has nothing to brag about - regardless of the interface, it lags behind competitors. Let's see how this will affect tests closer to practical use.

IOMeter

But in random operations, where the hard drive installed inside is decisive, the kit we assembled easily and without straining unconditionally takes first place.

Intel NAS Performance Toolkit

A fast hard drive coupled with eSATA allows the VE-200 to struggle for leadership, but as soon as you switch to the more common USB 2.0, it immediately begins to lag behind competitors.

A similar state of affairs develops when recording data. However, is it really worth worrying about? Yes, of course, about 20% of the lag is a lot, but the external module supports not only USB 2.0. So it's enough just to use eSATA - this option is faster than USB at times. And regardless of the implementation;)

Unless, of course, you lean on the use of VZhD to transfer information, and not as a “working” drive, you can’t fix the situation with a fast interface. Alas, but such is the fee for a functionally complex controller.

Prices

The table shows devices in Moscow that are relevant at the time you read this article:

Zalman ZM-VE200

N/A(0)

Total

If you try hard, you can make a whole list of claims against Zalman VE-200: no support for USB 3.0, eSATA without power, performance is lower than it could be. All this is so...

However, the real and potential disadvantages are more than offset by truly unique functionality! In principle, as we have already said, initially this was not a development of Zalman, however, since the company was able to discern a good idea and become the main global seller of its implementation, the award, it seems to us, will be quite at the address :) Indeed, the need for something like this has been in the air for a long time in the air, since often the only task that an optical drive performs in modern computer, is the installation of the operating system. Or some kind of service. In general, for the sake of episodic loading, keeping such a device (despite its low price) on the farm becomes uninteresting. With the ZM-VE200, we get a very convenient and fast CD/DVD-ROM in addition to a capacious and productive external hard drive. Moreover, all the shortcomings of the second functional component are not critical - against the background of the still well-selling VZhD, equipped with only USB 2.0, it demonstrates a completely different level of performance in favorable conditions;) Which is only exacerbated by support for write protection, which, judging by our Conference , for many users of mobile external drives, who are forced to work with them on potentially unsafe computers, is very relevant. And there are no complaints about the first one at all, if we compare it with, for example, a USB drive. It's all in one here. Perhaps, of course, the price will scare away some potential individual buyers, however, in the economy of a system administrator, service engineer or a real enthusiast of computer technology, such a box, as it seems to us, will be an indispensable thing.

Pocket ZALMAN VE300. For those who don't know - this pocket is not just a SATA->USB 3.0 adapter, this pocket can also emulate an optical drive in hardware with any disk, the images of which can be uploaded to the HDD. Well, FINALLY, I myself got this pocket at my disposal! True, this is not quite ZALMAN, and not at all at the price that was two years ago. But I think it's worth it
(Price - $59 as of August 2018.)

Why didn't I buy the Zalman itself? And because the VE300 is no longer in stores, they may have stopped producing. Appeared more a new version VE350, but judging by the reviews, it works much worse than the 300th, and even the latest firmware did not solve all the problems.
There are not many differences between IODD and Zalman - a slightly different firmware, logos on the box and a different case. By the way, you can upload firmware from Zalman to IODD and vice versa.

Let's move on to my purchase.
The seller offers only black pockets (and also sells pockets 2541 (similar to Zalman VE400)).
Tracking number provided, working.

Item ordered March 29, received May 3.

Packing - a cardboard box in which there is already a factory box with a product.

Photos of parcels and boxes

Inside - two layers of cardboard ... pallets or what? One contains a case and a USB 3.0 cable (with SAMSUNG logos, 1 meter), while the case contains a bag with a screwdriver (the screws do not attach to it, it is very difficult to tighten anything) and 4 screws (only 2 are needed) and a warranty card.
In the second "pallet" - actually a pocket in the bag.




There is no paper instruction in the kit, the seller offers to download its electronic version.

Also, the kit does not include a disk with the Backup Utility iodd 2531 utility, you can download it.

The pocket itself is aluminum, the upper part with electronics is plastic (acrylic and polycarbonate).




Of the controls, we have a lever that can be moved up / down and click on it, and a “backup” button. There is also a two-line monochrome display and an activity indicator (blinking white when connected via USB 2.0 and blue when connected via USB 3.0).
Size comparison with external HDD and 2.5 HDD. Dimensions 136x78x13.



The pocket is quite large and, unfortunately, does not fit into.
The case from the kit is completely different from the chic one that comes with the zalmans. Soft, rag and small (the lever is constantly pressed).


Soldering quality:





Screw holes are hidden behind elastic bands on the sides. Screws connect together the upper and lower parts of the pocket. I do not recommend using the pocket without tightening the screws - the top part together with the hard drive can be pulled out simply by pulling the cable in the connector or shaking the pocket - the hard drive will push out the top part.


Without media, the pocket shows the inscription "iodd 2531". With the media, access to the menu appears. Current firmware: R1288N. The letter N indicates that the pocket is flashed with the NTFS version of the firmware. New ones, 1555 and 1558, are available on the manufacturer's website. I'm not going to reflash yet.


The menu is called up by long pressing the lever. Moving the lever up / down, pressing the lever - menu item selection, "backup" - back.
On the menu mode pocket mode can be selected (HDD, ODD, Dual).
AT Settings- adjust the brightness of the screen backlight, the time after which the screen will darken and set the factory settings.
information- find out the status of the HDD, its model, serial number, temperature, pocket firmware version, USB mode and supply voltage (shows the current and the lowest).
AT USB Connect you can reboot the pocket (it will load new images if you have added them) and run a safe extraction (the pocket will turn off the hard drive and the screen will say "Plug Out").
On the menu Advanced you can "unmount" the hard drive, enable write protection on the hard drive. There is also a “Force USB 3.0” checkbox, but I can only guess what it does.

Some features that you won't learn about from the instructions

1. If you hold the backup button (BackUp) while connecting, the write protection will automatically turn on.
2. If you hold down the left button when connecting, then the protection will be automatically removed
3. If during operation the wheel is turned down and held, preparations will be made for the safe shutdown of the device. The same effect will be from pressing and holding the backup button (BackUp).
4. If during operation the wheel is turned up and held, the _ISO directory will be scanned. Convenient, after writing new images to the HDD.
5. If the BackUp button is pressed in the Menu, it moves up 1 level.
6. In addition to the Menu, the backup button is used for its original
data backup functions (if a backup program is installed and running).

As a carrier, I will use a Hitachi hard drive, taken out of a netbook tortured by service centers.

We prepare the disk for work: we delete the first hidden partition of the manufacturer and create the main NTFS partition.


If you will be partitioning the disk, please note that IODD only looks for the _iso folder on the first partition.
After formatting on the disk, create a folder "_iso" and fill it with images. Declared support for ISO / VHD / VMDK / DSK /RMD /IMA.

I downloaded the images using utorrent directly to disk.
After the update, the images were not mounted and the pocket with the inscription "Defrag" hinted to me that it would be nice to run a defragmentation.
After defragmentation everything worked.
The image is selected by the lever up/down, mounted by pressing the lever.
Any images can be used. Operating systems, boot disks, utilities, but at least games.

Despite the fact that the cable is long and soft, the drive pocket works fine when connected via USB 2.0 through the front panel. The maximum consumption that I saw is 600mA (of course this will still depend on the consumption of the disk itself).

Measurements of the speed of the disk in your pocket and without it.


As you can see, IODD pulled everything it could from this disk.

Let's compare the speed of the disk in the drive (the image of the Win7 HP x64 installation disk was recorded) and the speed virtual disk IODD (the image is the same).
The maximum reading speed of my drive is 16x, Verbatim DVD-R 4.7Gb 16x disc.



Let me remind you that if you install a smarter hard drive or SSD in your pocket, and not an old Hitachi, the speeds will be even more pleasant. And with such a hard drive, the reading speed is on par with CDs (48-52x). Well, the access speed is much better than any optical disc.

UPD Feb 2020
Because got an extra SSD for experiments tried to install it. Naturally, the speed was limited by the SATA2-USB3.0 converter.
CrystalDiskMark

And once again comparing the speed of a DVD and IODD disc with an installed hard drive and solid state drive.

Well, what can I say, this pocket will be a great helper for those who work with computers, especially those that do not have an optical drive.
Personally, I'm already tired of dragging my drive back and forth and preparing an installation flash drive every time I need to install something.
The price, of course, bites a little, but only the dollar exchange rate is to blame - at the old rate, this pocket (like the zalman) cost 1800-2500 rubles.

Thank you for your attention, I hope the review was useful, good shopping, bye everyone!
And I congratulate all radio amateurs and radio professionals on the day of the radio)))

October 12, 2015 Odnokrylov Vladimir 8

Our next review is dedicated to the Zalman ZM-VE350 external hard drive case. The box is designed for 2.5-inch SATA drives and supports high-speed USB 3.0 interface. The device is equipped with a virtual optical drive function, allowing you to connect ISO images on the fly. The write protection feature helps prevent damage to important files.

Video review Zalman ZM-VE350

Complete set and characteristics Zalman ZM-VE350

An external hard drive box that came to us for testing Zalman ZM-VE350 Supplied in a black cardboard box.

Packaging Zalman ZM-VE350

Package Included:

• Boxing itself.
• Case.
• USB 3.0 cable.
• Set of screwdriver and four screws.
• Quick guide.

Equipment Zalman ZM-VE350

The complete cable is 50 cm long including connectors.

USB 3.0 cable

The case is very dense, it is easy to remove the device from it. You can, of course, use the box directly in the case, but we do not recommend doing this, otherwise the inserted drive may overheat.

Zalman ZM-VE350 in case

We have summarized the technical characteristics of the device in a single table.

HDD interface	SATA, 2.5" form factor
Device interface	USB 3.0 (backwards compatible with USB 2.0)
Device interface baud rate	USB 2.0: up to 480 Mbps; USB 3.0: up to 5 Gbps
Working with ISO Images	Virtual optical drive
Indicator	Lights up when power is turned on, blinks when data is being exchanged
Food	USB powered
Dimensions	131x79x13mm (L x W x H)
The weight	96 g (without drive)

Design Zalman ZM-VE350

Frame Zalman ZM-VE350 for the most part made of painted aluminum with soft polymer inserts on the sides. On the front side there is an LCD display and an LED activity indicator.

External box for hard drive Zalman ZM-VE350

At the top there is a Backup button and a USB 3.0 connector (Micro-B type, which also supplies power to the HDD) for connecting the bundled cable.

Upper end of Zalman ZM-VE350

Glued on the opposite side Technical information about the model.

Bottom end on Zalman ZM-VE350

On the left side there is a push lever for navigating the device menu, and the rest of the space is occupied by a soft insert.

Left sidewall Zalman ZM-VE350

On the right side, except for the second such insert, there is nothing important.

Right sidewall Zalman ZM-VE350

The build quality is decent - the buttons and body elements do not hang out. In general, the design gives the impression of a monolithic.

Testing Zalman ZM-VE350

To install a drive into the box, you will first have to remove the module with the LCD screen, which contains, in fact, the entire stuffing of the device.

Base unit Zalman ZM-VE350

For testing, we took solid state drive and connected it to inland port SATA.

SSD connected to Zalman ZM-VE350 board

For reliability, it is worth clamping the module with complete screws - the holes for them are hidden under the bent edges of the soft inserts.

Screw holes on Zalman ZM-VE350

To do this, we used a complete screwdriver - fortunately, the effort required is small, so the miniature size of the screwdriver is not a hindrance. It is worth noting that the screws in the kit are twice as many as needed - four against the required two.

Zalman ZM-VE350 base unit is clamped with screws

After connecting to a PC, the display of our device turned blue and gave out a simple menu.

Display Zalman ZM-VE350

Wherein operating system recognized two devices at once: the USB drive itself and the additional optical drive - completely virtual, which is indicated in its name.

Zalman ZM-VE350 in task manager

This is precisely the main "trick" of this case - you can mount any ISO images by placing them in the folder "_ISO" on the disc inserted in the case. For example, the Windows 7 image downloaded from MSDN was read without problems.

Windows 7 image in Zalman ZM-VE350 virtual drive

However, our copy was originally with erroneous firmware, and for the virtual drive function to work correctly, we had to update the device software to a more up-to-date version. We attach the archive with the firmware and the update instructions below. REMEMBER: This operation carried out at your own risk, and if you are not exactly sure what you are doing, it is better to contact technical support or a service center.

• (122.7 KB).
• (579.78 KB).

However, the drive function can be completely disabled - for this, you just need to select the appropriate mode, of which there are as many as three:

• HDD Mode - drive mode without a drive.
• VCD Mode - "virtual drive only" mode.
• DUAL Mode - simultaneous operation.

Modes Zalman ZM-VE350

Another great feature Zalman ZM-VE350- Possibility to set write protection. This allows you to work even in a potentially or actually virus-infected system without the danger of catching an infection. All you have to do is select "Enable WP" from the menu. The lock icon closes on the start screen - and that's it, no problem.

Setting write protection in Zalman ZM-VE350

Additionally, in the "Information" section, you can see the temperature of the media (we must say right away that for SSD it is determined incorrectly, do not be afraid), S.M.A.R.T. status, serial number and controller firmware version.

Drive information in Zalman ZM-VE350

Now let's check the performance when using the USB interface. 3.0. AT HD Tune 5 the speed graph has an average read speed of 161.9 MB/s with a random access time of 0.169 ms. CPU usage was 9.8%.

An external hard drive today has become one of the essentials for everyone whose activities are somehow related to PC maintenance. The choice of discs and containers is great - for every color, taste and budget. However, there are solutions that stand out noticeably in the general range, one of them can be called an external container. Zalman ZM-VE300 which, in addition to the function of an external disk, can act as an emulator of an optical disc drive.

This allows you to kill two birds with one stone, since an external ODD drive and a stack of disks for it is the same essential item for system administrators, service engineers, and just computer enthusiasts. Installation disks with the OS, various service and diagnostic Live-CDs - as a result, we get a rather impressive list of disks that you should always have with you, and there are more than one copy of important disks. Otherwise, it will be very unpleasant when, at the most crucial moment, a "hackneyed" disk refuses to be read.

But first things first. At first glance, the cost Zalman ZM-VE300 may seem very overpriced, paying about 2000 rubles for an external container without an HDD, albeit from a well-known manufacturer, is somehow too much, for this money you can easily get a good external drive. But this is only at first glance, as we will see later, the device fully justifies its price.

The container is delivered in a medium-sized cardboard box, on which the manufacturer emphasized the main advantages of the device.

It's obvious that Zalman ZM-VE300 in virtual drive mode is far ahead of any existing optical drive today. Even in USB 2.0 mode, which is the main mode, when using this container as a boot disk, only Windows 8 can currently boot via USB 3.0, and this is not always successful, since USB 3.0 controllers from different manufacturers have their own characteristics.

To evaluate how a virtual drive works as a bootable drive, we compared Ubuntu 13.0 LiveCD startup time by burning it to a new DVD+R disc.

Optical drives showed quite expected results: the slowest is the external drive, the internal one is slightly faster. Zalman ZM-VE300 once again showed a significant lead - downloading the image in less than a minute. This is a really great result, which will be appreciated by those who often have to boot their PC from optical discs.

conclusions

We have a really great product that fully justifies its price. Its main advantage is a virtual optical drive, which will allow you to stop using optical discs and external drives. In addition, the virtual drive allows you to work with disk images much faster than any other optical drive. All this makes Zalman ZM-VE300 indispensable assistant administrators, service engineers and just computer enthusiasts.