Zalman External HDD Virtual Drive

Up front, it works. It does what it says and it does it well. There are a few quirks, but once figured out it is a stand-out device.*You might need to pre-format your drive before it can be used with it.I am a Desktop Support Technician (professionally and privately) and as such end up needing a variety of bootable tools and install ISOs. My previous solution was using YUMI multiboot utility. This solution works, but can become cumbersome when using newer versions or when a different Windows ISO is needed. Instead of just plugging in and booting I have to take the time to unpack the appropriate ISO. After having sent a plethora of flash drives to their death from this process, I switched to a portable USB-HDD. While this was more efficient, it didn't remove the unpack step.Enter the ZM-VE300. After learning about the VE300 I instantly knew that it was just the thing I needed if it actually worked. Once I had had its functionality confirmed by a few trusted pundits I pulled the trigger on it and an SSD. I chose and SSD to avoid any shock problems and it will only be written to when a new ISO is added so wear wont be an issue. It isn't quite as plug-n-play as Zalman would have you believe, but if you are in the market for this product you should be savvy enough to overcome it. I had to pre-format my drive before it would function with the VE300. And booting an ISO is a dance of entering into a power, but static state (BIOS, Boot-menu) and setting the VE300 to the appropriate state (ODD and select the ISO). Most machines have booted from it easily via the boot-menus, though a few have required my forcing it in the BIOS. The only machine that I was unable to boot from it was my old Dell E1505. In storage mode it has worked flawlessly.I am thoroughly satisfied with this handy device and would like to see some competition in this space as there is definitely room for some improvement. But don't let that discourage you if you need a tool like this.

I've had my Zalman for about 6 months now and I've been happy with it. I bought it because I had a spare laptop hard drive sitting around and needed an enclosure, and I liked the Zalman's ability to mount ISOs. It's also USB 3.0 compatible.The good: It's well built, looks sharp, and I've had no quality issues with it over 6 months. The LCD menu is reasonable intuitive considering it's small size. It works well in both hard drive and ISO mode on Windows 7.The bad: The small menu navigation lever is hard to operate and poorly designed. Mounting ISOs only seems to work when you're in a supported OS. I occasionally re-image computers at work and was hoping the BIOS would detect it as a removable CD-ROM, but every computer I've tried this on does not detect it. Price is too high considering you can get a good portable HD for not much more.Verdict: I recommend the Zalman if you need an enclosure (i.e. you already have a drive) and you frequently mount ISOs on Windows 7 computers that don't already have that ability. Otherwise, considering the price of the Zalman, you'd be better off buying a portable hard drive or a less expensive enclosure.

10-23-14: I submitted a RMA on the Zalman website just after i posted the update to this review on 10-7. I did not hear back from them. After several attempts at calling in over a few days and getting a simple voicemail message system,(they have no automated phone menu system as you would expect a company to have) I spoke with someone on 10-14 who claimed they just got the rma and after some obvious casual fumbling around sounds, approved it and sent me an email with instructions. I shipped it out Priority Mail the next day. It was delivered to their location on 10-16. Today, 1 week after they have had it in their possession, again took several attempts to get them on the phone(they never responded to my email replies)...I got what sounded like the same person I spoke to before. Again, it was just a similar story. "We just got a letter about it today"...and again, some obvious fumbling around sounds, and my rma was again "Approved" for a new unit.So.....what is this?? Some guy in a basement? Why do I have to make contact for anything to be moved along in the process. The company seem shady to me. My advice, stay away from them and hope your product does not fail.10-7-14: The enclosure has failed after a few months of owning it and with only light usage. All it does now is display the model number on the lcd and will not mount any drive connected to it. I tried known working drives and usb cables....nothing. Submitted an RMA to Zalman, but have yet to get a response. I barely have used the thing since I got it. Honestly, it has been sitting unused on a shelf for the last 2 months waiting for me to get a large hard drive to make more use out of it. I just upgraded my laptops ssd, so I went to put the old 256gb ssd in this case (to replace the hdd I was using in it)...only to discover that the enclosure no longer works. Drive that was in it is fine though. The usb port on the enclosure has no damage, so it must be the internal circuit board that has failed.Either way, this case has a really useful feature with the ODD emulation, but kinda pointless if it fails so quick.

Pros:The ntfs firmware works great on windows based systems.Cons:first thing after opening, you need to flash the firmware to the newest version. without it, you have a paper weight.Ignore all of the menu stuff in the manual. It is for another model.The exfat version does not work.Misc:Would prefer it it supported mac or ext4.use an ssd. It does not have dual usb plugs for additional power.replaced about 100 burned disks and usb sticks.