October 12, 2015 Odnokrylov Vladimir 8

Our next review is devoted to the external case for hard drives Zalman ZM-VE350. 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

Equipment and characteristics ZM-VE350

Arrived to us for testing outer box for hard drives 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
Nutrition	USB powered
Dimensions	131x79x13mm (L x W x H)
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 hard drive box 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.

Zalman testing 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 an SSD and connected it to an internal SATA port.

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

At the same time, the operating system recognized two devices at once: the USB drive itself and the additional optical drive are 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 current 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 padlock icon closes on 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), the state of S.M.A.R.T., 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. IN 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%.

ZALMAN ZM-VE300 | Introduction

Today on the market you can find a large number of external equipment or enclosures/boxes for hard drives. Therefore, it is difficult for manufacturers to stand out from competitors. But ZALMAN succeeded: the new ZM-VE300 box contains a unique feature - it can independently mount disk images, that is, it can also work as an optical drive. Of course, you'll also get the traditional 2.5" USB 3.0 hardware.

Specifications table ZALMAN ZM-VE300 (1M1NZ21C00185909)
Housing material	Aluminum alloy, acrylic, polycarbonate
Products webpage	ZALMAN ZM-VE300 Official Page
Retail price	About 1.8 thousand rubles
Form factor	2,5"
Interface	USB 3.0 (backwards compatible with USB 2.0)
Internal interface	SATA
Supported OS	Windows 98, ME, XP, VISTA, 7, 8, Mac OS, Linux
colors	Black, silver
Dimensions	135.3×78.6×13.1mm
Weight (without HDD)	96 g
Contents of delivery	User guide, USB cable 3.0, case, software CD, screwdriver

Design and appearance

The design of the ZM-VE300 is very effective. The body is made of aluminum alloy coated with acrylic. It is thanks to him that the box is quite light, has a small thickness (13 mm), and also removes heat well from the drive. On the front side is a small LCD display that shows the status of the disk, text menu settings. Navigation through the setup menu is performed using a three-way joystick (wheel) located on the left side of the box and the "Backup" button located on top. The delivery set, in addition to the box itself, includes instructions for use and a USB 3.0 cable, a pouch for the ZM-VE300. The drive itself (hard drive or SSD) is not included in the package, it must be purchased separately.

But the main advantages of ZALMAN ZM-VE300 lie in additional features which we will consider below.

Software

The cheapest outer boxes and hard drives supplied without software. Therefore, in order to highlight their products, well-known manufacturers add to the package useful programs. ZALMAN was no exception - the package includes the "Backup Utility (ZM-VE300)" utility, which serves to back up data. Utilities and programs significantly expand the functionality of external HDDs. Installation file backup utility ZALMAN ZM-VE300 was on the CD, which is included in the package, it can be immediately installed on your computer.

This program can create virtual disks (VHD), back up files from specified directories (Backup) and has a safe extraction function "Safe Removal". The interface of the program is very simple and easy to understand. It is a pity that the utility does not support the Russian-language interface.

Below we will consider the basic functions of the utility.

Backup function. If you press the Backup button on the top end, it starts backup directories specified in the settings.

Safe Removal function. Serves for safe extraction USB drive. This function is activated by long (more than three seconds) holding the Backup button on the top end. If you hold down the button while copying files, then the extraction will occur only after the copy operation is completed.

Virtual HDD function- the most interesting feature presented in software package. We will talk about it below.

ZALMAN ZM-VE300 | Opportunities

The ZALMAN ZM-VE300 hard drive box is interesting with the "VIRTUAL DRIVE" function, that is, the ability to independently connect disk images, after which you can work with them in the system.

The choice of the operating mode is carried out through the text menu on the ZALMAN ZM-VE300 display. There you can perform some actions.

Menu

First section of the menu Mode Select allows you to select the operating modes of ZALMAN ZM-VE300. There are three operating modes available.

• Dual Mode - work in combined mode, HDD+ virtual CD/DVD/Blu-ray drive
• ODD Mode - virtual CD / DVD / Blu-ray drive mode
• HDD Mode hard drive

The next section of the menu "setting" drive settings are listed.

• LCD Bright - screen backlight control, the ability to change in the range from 1% to 100%
• IDLE Bright - sleep mode brightness adjustment, also presented in the range from 1% to 100%
• Standby time - adjusting the time after which the ZALMAN ZM-VE300 goes into sleep mode, you can completely disable this function, the time range is from 1 minute to 180 minutes.
• Load Default - load default settings.

Chapter "Information" serves to obtain information about the status of the hard disk and other parameters.

• S.M.A.R.T. – temperature information and state of hard disk
• HDD Model - information about the hard disk that is inserted into the box.
• Firmware Ver - information about the firmware installed on the ZALMAN ZM-VE300.
• USB Speed ​​- information about the transfer speed of the USB interface.
• USB Input Volt - information about the incoming voltage to the box via USB, both the lowest voltage and the voltage that is being supplied at this point in time are presented.

Chapter "USB connect" allows you to reboot the hard disk (Refresh) or execute safe extraction(Safe Removal).

In section "Advanced" you can unmount all images (Umount VHDD), as well as enable write protection (Write Protect).

We have finished describing the menu, now let's move on to studying the capabilities of the drive in practice.

In work

The main advantage of ZALMAN ZM-VE300 is the connection of disk images without the help of additional software.

To connect ISO images just copy the file with the .iso extension, put the ZALMAN ZM-VE300 into ODD Mode or Dual Mode, select the ISO file using the three-position joystick. It will be mounted on your computer as a virtual CD/DVD/Blu-ray drive.

You can also create virtual disks yourself using the "Virtual HDD" feature. It creates empty files given size(we set the size ourselves, except for the floppy disk image), which ZALMAN ZM-VE300 will then connect as external drives. You can create three types of virtual disks: 1.44 MB floppy disk, fixed disk (.dsk), and removable disk (.rmd). The last two types are essentially the same, they differ in the recognition of the disk type under Windows.

We created test virtual disks of all three types (1 GB each, 1.44 MB floppy disk), after which we connected them to the Windows 7 system.

The floppy.ima floppy image appears on the system as a standard 1.44 MB FAT floppy disk.

Then we connected the image removable disk remove.rmd. Windows system immediately offers to format it. After formatting, the drive is recognized as "removable media"

The image of the fixed hard disk fixed.dsk is visible in the system as a hard disk after connection.

You can disable virtual disks with the "Unmount VHDD" command

ZALMAN ZM-VE300 | Tests

HD Tune

Using HD Tune, we evaluated the speed of the disk with sequential reads and writes and with various data blocks. Below are screenshots showing disk performance.

SATA III

We ran four read and write tests with native SATA interface and when connected via ZALMAN ZM-VE300 box with USB 3.0 interface.

As you can see, a 320 GB Seagate hard drive in the case of direct SATA connections gives an average throughput of 70 MB/s for reading and 46 MB/s for writing. The result is not bad, although modern 2.5" hard drives operate at about 100-120 MB / s. When connected via USB 3.0, the average throughput It turns out 69 MB / s for reading and 54 MB / s for writing. Thus, the performance of USB 3.0 rests on the hard drive itself, and not on the USB-SATA controller of the ZALMAN ZM-VE300 box.

ZALMAN ZM-VE300 | Conclusion

ZALMAN introduced ZM-VE300 with USB 3.0 interface, which features a reliable and durable aluminum housing. When connected via a USB 3.0 interface, you will get hard drive performance close to "native" SATA, which indicates a good SATA-USB controller in the box. Also on the ZM-VE300 there is an LCD display and several buttons for advanced functions.

But the advantages of ZM-VE300 are additional features. Box itself can connect CD/DVD/Blu-ray images to HDD or virtual disks. Such support eliminates the need to install an optical drive in the system, and will also be useful for modern ultrabooks and laptops, which usually do not have an optical drive. Virtual disks will come in handy for many work scenarios, and in this regard, the ZM-VE300 can be an excellent solution for enthusiasts and experienced users.

All this justifies the price of an external box of about 1.8 thousand rubles in Russia.

Additional information about the capabilities of the ZM-VE300 you can get in the ixbt conference.

Advantages of ZALMAN ZM-VE300

• Mounting optical disk images and virtual disks
• High-quality assembly, durable aluminum body
• Convenient and simple software
• Good delivery set (case, screwdriver)

Disadvantages of ZALMAN ZM-VE300

• Short and hard cable with no possibility additional food may experience power issues with older computers
• High price

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, this 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 mode 2.0, which is the main one, when using this container as a boot disk, only Windows 8 can currently boot via USB 3.0, and even then not always successfully, 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 an indispensable assistant to administrators, service engineers and just computer enthusiasts.

We will talk about the external pocket (box) Zalman-VE500 (Fig. 1), we will see the unboxing, main functions, characteristics, pros and cons, and also tell you how to solve problems that, unfortunately it has. In the following, we will often refer to this gadget,because this is some kind of colossal saving of time and nerves. Forward!

Fig.1 Box for HDD Zalman ZM-VE500

declared parameters.

Model - Zalman ZM-VE500. The device is presented in black and silver colors (Fig. 1). The back cover is made of metal, and the main part is made of plastic. Connected HDD interfaces - SATA-I/SATA-II, SATA III. PC connection interface USB 3.0/USB 2.0 Powered by USB. See Table 1 for other parameters.

Specification	ZM-VE500
Housing material	Aluminum alloy, acrylic, polycarbonates
Weight	91 grams (Without HDD)
Dimensions	146 x 80.8 x 14 mm
Maximum transfer rate	5Gbps
Nutrition	DC5V(USB Power)
OS support	Win XP/2000/VISTA/Win7/Win8/Win8.1/Win10/Linux/MAC

Table 1 Specification Zalman ZM-VE500

Equipment.

Fig.2 Complete set of Zalman ZM-VE500

Complete set (Fig. 2): W nur USB 3.0, guide, sidewith Zalman-VE500, a cover for it (the material is not leather, but it’s good that it is still there, it serves as a good shock protection), a small screwdriver and two bolts to tighten back cover after inserting into the HDD box.

Everything is very simple here and the instruction is not needed, although it is available at the place where you need to install the HDD.And so, at an angle, we insert the HDD 2.5 "into the SATA connector and lower it into the box, close everything with a lid and screw in the small screws with a small screwdriver from the box (Fig. 3).

Fig.3 Installing the HDD in the box.

Preparation for use.

When you turn it on for the first time, at best, you will be greeted with the phrase "NO ISO FILES" or an error file system. To avoid a file system error, let's immediately partition and format the disk. We will do it for free. EaseUS program Partition Master 12.5.

Step 1.

We find the Zalmana disk, in our case it is "Disk 2 (MBR)" at the bottom of the window there is a graphical display of partitions, right-click on our disk. and select the item "Delete all partitions" (Delete all partitions) (Fig. 4). EaseUS Partition Master 12.5 does nothing right away, we first assign a list of tasks to it, and at the end we confirm their completion.

Fig.4 Disk partitioning in EaseUS Partition Master 12.5
Fig.5 Disk partitioning in EaseUS Partition Master 12.5

A window with formatting options will open, from default settings differs only in that it is necessary to switch from "Logical" (Logical) to "Primary" (Primary). Click "OK" (Fig. 6).

Fig.6 Disk partitioning in EaseUS Partition Master 12.5

All tasks have been set, now we confirm their completion - click "Apply" (Apply changes) in the left upper corner windows (Fig. 7).

Fig.7 Disk partitioning in EaseUS Partition Master 12.5

We confirm our consent and wait until all operations are completed (Fig. 8).

Fig.8 Disk partitioning in EaseUS Partition Master 12.5

Step 2

On the Zalmana disk, create a folder "_iso" (without quotes), and put our images there, the only way Zalman will see them. In addition, you can create more folders in the "_iso" folder, for order, so to speak. For example, we will create "BackUp" "Linux" and "Windows", transfer our iso images to "_iso" and all folders (Fig. 9).

Fig.9 Copying iso images to Zalman ZM-VE500

Menu overview.

In the main menu we can see 5 items:

1. Mode Select
2. Encryption
3. Set W protection
4. information
5. exit

We will consider each of them in detail.

1.Mode Select- Choice of pocket operation mode.

• HDD MODE- Works only in external storage mode. (displayed as local disk)
• VCD MODE- Work in virtual drive mode. (Will show up as the CD-ROM where you mount your ISO image)
• DUAL MODE- Work in two modes at the same time. (Will show up as local drive + virtual CD-ROM where you will mount your ISO image)

2.Encription- AES 256 bit real-time hardware encryption. (To put it simply, access to the files is granted only after entering the password)

• Enable Encryption- Enable encryption.

Enabling and disabling encryption leads to the disappearance of all information from the HDD, make sure you have a copy of the information stored on the HDD, because you will have to re-create the "_ISO" folder and copy the ISO images there.

When you press " Enable Encryption " there will be a warning "Data will be lost!" 1. Yes / 2. No confirm your agreement / disagreement to continue enabling encryption.

2. no- takes you back to "Enable Encryption"

Click 1. Yes ->Input Password- enter a password from 4 to 8 characters. "Confirm Password"- Confirm the password. Next, the device will reboot itself and require a password.

Now on the menu Encripton three points:

• "Change Password"- Change password.
• "hide password"- Remove the password when you turn it on. (The device will not require a password, but if you remove the disk and insert it into another pocket, the data will remain encrypted and will not be available to the user.) If the password is disabled, the option "Hide Password" replaces "Set Password" - Set password.
• "Disable Encryption"- Disable encryption.

Personally, I'm satisfied with passwordless access to the device, so I'll disable encryption.

Click "Disable Encryption" device uswarns "Data will be lost!"(Data will be lost), buttons 1. Yes / 2. No

2.No- takes you back to "Disable Encryption".

Clicking 1. Yes, we will be asked to confirm our consent again "Confirm Again" apparently just to be sure. 1. Yes / 2.No confirm your agreement / disagreement to continue disabling encryption.

2.No- takes you back to "Disable Encryption".

Click 1.Yes- and without entering a password, the device goes into reboot, after which we can use Zalmana without a password. It is interesting that those images that remained before encryption were enabled became available to us. Why did it happen when wewarned of their loss, I don't know.

Set W protection

• Disable W-P- Disable read-only mode - Enable write mode.
• Enable W-P - Enable "Read-only" mode (Protect the device from changes).

information

• HDD Temp: 26 - Hard disk temperature in degrees Celsius.
• HDD Health: Good/Bad - HDD status ( S.M.A.R.T.). If state Bad do backup disk and check it for errors, Good- Everything is fine.
• 100505**** - The full serial number of the HDD.
• Firmware: v1.10- Firmware version.
• exit- Output.

Interface and control.

At the top of the front side of the gadget is an LCD display, below it is a touch numeric keypad, and buttons Menu And Enter.

In addition to the numbers on the keyboard intended for entering the password, the buttons also have control functions. (Fig. 10)

Fig.10 Front side of Zalman ZM-VE500

2 - Up,

4 - to the left,

6 - Right,

8 - Down,

3 - Updating iso file (Update the list of iso images),

5 - Mount (Mount iso-image).

Zalman sees only the "_ISO" folder, the folders in it and the iso images they contain. You can easily navigate through the folders with the arrows, select the desired image, and mount it by clicking on the button 5 . Also, if you uploaded a new iso-image, then in order for it to be displayed for you, you can reconnect the device or press the number 3 .

Above the display is an LED indicator. HDD work. It glows in two colors depending on which interface it is connected to, USB3.0 - glows blue, USB2.0 - glows white. In the upper right corner of the display, you can also see which interface the device is connected to (Fig. 11).

In the upper left corner is a lock icon that tells us the status of the function Set W protection.(In other words, if the lock is open, then the disk is not write-protected; if it is closed, only reading information is available).

The second icon from the left, this is the disk icon, appears only if an iso image is mounted in the CD-ROM.

The third icon from the left indicates the Zalmana mode of operation.

• HDD MODE- letter "H",
• VCD MODE- letter "o" or disk symbol,
• DUAL MODE- letter "D".

Fig.11 Zalman ZM-VE500 interface

Firmware.

If you are a "fan of updates" or are suddenly dissatisfied current version firmware of your device and are sure that it will work better with another firmware, then we will consider the issue "How to flash Zalman ZM-VE500?"

First of all, let's see what version of the firmware, in this moment, installed on the device, click Menu -> Information .

We see Firmware: v1.10.

Fortunately, there is support on the Zalman brand website, and there we will download the firmware we need.

• Link/Link:http://www.zalman.com/contents/support/downloads.html?find_object=all&find_text=ve500

They have a bit of a mix-up with version descriptions there, so I'll attach direct links to files with the correct description.

• Link/Link: Firmware: v1.10.
• Link/Link:Firmware: v1.11.
• Link/Link:Firmware: v2.00.

Since I want to update the device, therefore I download the archive for the firmware - Firmware: v2.00.

And then I ran into a problem when unpacking the archive I needed ZM-VE500 Firmware Ver_2.00.rar, message pops up "Archive is empty." I will leave a link to this archive for now, maybe in the near future Zalmana technical support will fix the problem, but it looks like we will have to flash for the version v1.11.

To avoid the problems that are described in the "Problems" section, I disable encryption and make a backup copy of the disk, which I highly recommend to you !!!

Unpack the downloaded archive ZALMAN_VE500_3637E_FWUpdater_V1.11.rar

Run the executable ZALMAN_VE500_3637E_FWUpdater_V1.11.exe

Fig.12 Firmware Zalman-VE500

We press "Install".(Fig.12)

Fig.13 Firmware Zalman-VE500

Scan bus for "Initio External Storage Devices" - Scanning external storage devices (Fig.13). Simply put - the computer is looking for Zalman, we connect it, and then everything goes on without user intervention.

Fig.14 Zalman-VE500 firmware download progress

The progress of downloading the firmware to the device. (Fig. 14)

Fig.15 Update completed!

Update completed!(Fig.15)

We go Menu -> Information and see Firmware: v1.11. That's all, everything turned out to be very simple.

Problems.

Consider the common problems that users of our gadget have.

1 - The disk is not initialized. Personally, I encountered this problem, my Zalman ZM-VE500 did not want to see the disk, everything turned out to be very simple, I inserted the disk that I used for Windows OS, and did not notice that the first partition of the disk was system, 100 Mb in size. The gadget sees the "_ISO" folder only in the first partition of the disk, so divide your HDD correctly, but what is the right way? written in section "Preparing for use".

2 - Zalman ZM-VE500 does not match password after flashing. You need to flash the device to the firmware version in which encryption and password were enabled, disable these functions and reflash the device.

3 - Zalman ZM-VE500 does not see all iso images. Personally, I again encountered this and thought that this was normal until I saw that all the images were displayed on exactly the same gadget. In short, the problem is solved by the usual Windows formatting, do not forget to uncheck "Fast (Table Cleanup)".(Fig.16)

Fig.16 Full formatting disk

Results. Advantages and disadvantages.

As a result, I will say as in my diploma - "We have considered everything that we wanted to consider." :D, but in general the gadget turned out to be very good. Unfortunately, Zalmana has no competitors on the market in this area, so we have to compare with previous models. Zalman ZM-VE200, 300, 350, 400. Of course, we will not do this, because they are all +/- the same in their main functionality. The differences are minor, for example, up to the 400th model, main element control is a joystick and they are sold a little cheaper, etc. Better bring you pros And Minuses which I found in reviews on popular online stores.

pros

• Saving time. If we compare it with a flash drive that needs to be prepared for installing something from it (format it, download a program for burning images, burn an image, etc.), then with Zalman ZM-VE500 Most likely it will turn out 2-3 times faster.
• Data encryption. You can change up to 50 HDDs and they will remain encrypted.
• Temperature monitoring, and "S.M.A.R.T." HDD.

Minuses

• There is no native safe extraction.
• Windows Safely Remove identifies the device as Zalman ZM-VE350.
• When you update again, all information disappears. (This is taken from the feedback of people, personally, as a result of the update, the files did not disappear for me)
• When formatting and creating an MBR partition, the next time the pocket is loaded, it may display messages that the disk has not been initialized.
• Price. In stores it is sold at a price of 3500-4000 rubles. very big money, judging by the salaries of system administrators, and even without a HDD, and this is at least another 500 rubles. if you buy used small capacity.

Total contraction of the market optical drives under pressure external hard drives and flash drives due to quite objective reasons, but it also leads to some unpleasant side effects. In particular, the 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 The solution to the problem is the use of 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 Windows Migration 7 from a disk to a flash drive (or other USB drive), but the assortment 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 already prepared 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 installed drive, its temperature (how many paranoid people lack this in "regular" boxes!), mode of operation, firmware version (it can be updated), etc.

All other active elements are traditionally concentrated on one of the short ends and include eSATA connectors and USB mini-B, as well as the write lock slider. An archival thing for a person involved 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, turns out to be that in the "high-speed" mode (i.e., when connected to a computer using eSATA), there is no additional easy copying and data storage functionality the device does not have. 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 when USB help. 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 the 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 limitation on 32 files will not interfere much with this - after all, images can be stored in different folders(like "ISO_office_program", "ISO_linux", "ISO_windows_system", "ISO_games", etc.) by simply renaming the one you need to "_ISO" before using it. 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 sorts 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 of the 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 the special boot menu. Accordingly, you can install any operating system - not necessarily originally designed for such a 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 Windows installations 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 "repair" of the system or boot disk Windows 95, drive (and computer) doesn't matter :)

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 bench, and with the used software. 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 external hard disk this drive with a platter speed of 7200 rpm and an additional flash buffer is redundant (especially since it costs somewhere twice as much as a “regular powder” of the same capacity, and 750 GB in the traditional version 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. Although GoFlex does not provide versatility the easy way(to go from USB 2.0 to eSATA and back, you need to change the interface module), it is one of the few (like the Verbatim drive) that supports powered eSATA modification, which is somewhat better than a pair of VE-200 cables, 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 its competitors. Let's see how this will affect those closer to practical use tests.

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 in conjunction with eSATA allows the VE-200 to successfully fight 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, then 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 to the Zalman VE-200: no USB support 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 managed 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 long been in the air in the air, since often the only task that an optical drive performs in modern computer, is the setting operating system. Or some kind of service. In general, for the sake of episodic loading, keeping such a device (despite its low price) in the economy becomes uninteresting. In the face of 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 computer technology such a box, as it seems to us, will be an indispensable thing.