Zalman VE350 External HDD Case and Virtual Drive Review

SPECIFICATIONS & COMPONENTS

The VE350, as mentioned earlier, is a HDD/SSD enclosure that utilizes USB 3.0 super speed technology to provide 5 Gb/s throughput, which as we know is just shy of the SATA III 6 Gb/s threshold.

Zalman has done an excellent job of making this product stand out as it can also serve as a virtual CD drive. What does this mean? For those who may be in the computer repair business, this would allow them to mount their paid copy a OEM licensed Microsoft Windows installation file. This would allow them to simply plug in the drive and re-install Windows. This is also a handy tool for IT departments, as an enterprise version of the operating system could be saved as an image and mounted on the VE350. Thus, to quickly repair the computer, one could simply wipe and install the enterprise image.

Using Zalman’s provided software, one can also backup specific files to the VE350 using the simple one button located on the side of the device. You can pick and chose files that you want to make sure are never lost and have them backed up on the drive. This would be an easy addition for media professionals who want to make sure that those wedding photos they just took are locked down and saved in doubles (or triples).

Looking at the VE350, you will see it is enclosed in a cool aluminum shell to help with heat dissipation. However, your best to toss in a SSD to help with this as well. We opted to through in Samsung’s new 750 EVO SSD to compare the performance across USB 3.0.

On the top of the device you will find a small backlit LCD display that gives you menus for easy navigation and control of the storage device.

The top of the VE350 includes the USB 3.0 port and backup button.  The side of the device has a small spring loaded wheel for menu navigation.

Once we pop off the top of the VE350, you can see that the interface is SATA, and is compatible with SATA I, II, and III. It is also compatible with USB 1.1, 2.0 and 3.0.  The enclosure allows for installation of 2.5″ drives as its dimensions are 135.5 x 78.6 x 13.1 mm.

Let’s take a look at how the USB 3.0 performance compares to the SATA III performance, as listed at The SSD Review.