Zalman ZM-VE300-B 2.5IN Aluminum External Enclosure USB 3.0 W/ One Touch Backup Black

Comment:
Awesome gadget. Being able to install OS's without burning disks or creating boot-able USB devices is a huge time saver for IT folks. Its also much faster installing them from a USB 3.0 virtual drive rather then a physical disk. I also like that the ISO files work from a folder and any spare space is used for standard external drive storage.It all comes down to how long the wheel on the side holds out. I think id rather see three small buttons or a rocker switch provide the same funtionality rather then this one side wheel. It just feels a little clumsy.

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USB 3 drops with supplied cable on Asus U36 laptop. Works reliably with WD passport cable from another drive.

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It's a good gadget especially the bd-rom

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Very nice aluminum enclosure. Currently being used with a cheap Agility 3 60GB SSD. No problems so far, very fast (195MB/s Read - 175MB/s Writes according to ATTO using USB3.0 connection). Virtual ODD is a very nice feature. You can load all your setup ISO's onto it which speeds up installs dramatically as it's much faster than an actual optical drive.Only one cable needed, no extra power needed which I like. Comes with a protective case and a short USB3.0 cable. Would be better if it was longer.

Comment:
I've had this unit for about 6 weeks now, I use it at work as a SysAdmin for loading ISO files on to servers and workstations as well as for backing up media. I love the speed of the unit, its incredibly fast and I can even load HD videos off of the drive with smooth framerates. I'd recommend getting a 2.5 drive thats faster than 7.5k RPM to take advantage of the USB3.My major complaint about the unit is how finicky the USB3 cable is. 75% of the time I plug it in windows fails to detect the unit and I have to unplug and replug it back in on the device side several times before it picks it up. If i knock the cable even slightly it will lose power or connectivity to the computer. It's incredibly frustrating. I would give it a 2star review but I dont have my OrderID number handy.

Comment:
eSATA was really useful on the original iodd2501, for updating HDD/SSD firmware. But I've been waiting for USB 3.0 version for a long time, and this is it! I'm getting 100MB/s read and 70MB/s write speed on OCZ Vertex 2 90GB SSD 1.35 firmware.Make sure to update  ZM-VE300 with latest firmware from Zalman.Thank you Zalman for having it available in Canada!I use this thing to load .iso and floppy images, computer detects it as if it was a real USB DVD-ROM or USB floppy drive. Must have for any comp technician. Haven't tested it with MAC, but the older iodd wasn't able to boot from Mac.