iodd 2541 USB 3.0 External Encrypted Hard Drive Enclosure [Virtual DVD Blu-ray ROM/VHD/Booting/SSD/HDD/2.5] Made in Korea (1 Unit/lot)

Great for IT techs.As a photocopier technician I use this to reload firmware on a variety of MFPs particularly Konica Minolta copiers. I can’t store all model’s firmware on a single flash drive so this is great, much better than a keychain of flash drives. I did however decide to keep encryption turned off for quicker boot.KM Copier firmware tips:-You must use VHD files renamed as .RMD so it appears as a flash drive to the copier.-Use it in Optical Disk mode not hybrid mode.-Mount only one image at a time.-Write protection must be turned off or otherwise the copier will try to use IPSW update mode that’s not what you want.-I made my own external power pigtail so I could power using a usb battery pack as the MFPs require powering on with device connected it doesn’t always mount quick enough using the MFP USB’s power. Pigtail is essentially a usb 2.0 extension cable with another male usb plug added for only power and ground, and disconnected positive of power on the data side of original male plug to prevent electrical damage. None of the pigtails you buy premade for external hard drives will be wired correct for the way I wanted to use this.-I still carry a usb flash drive in my tool bag in case I come across a very picky machine that won’t talk to this product but I haven’t found one yet.[^^^^^ this section of the review will not apply to 98% of you who are looking to use this product for its “intended” purpose. My use case is very particular and specific and I got lucky it worked for me, but I couldn’t find any info on my own without buying one and trying it out]Other review notes:-Works great to boot ISOs of anything you like.-Works with HDDs and SSDs nicely-User Interface is tricky to learn but consistent-Touch buttons work much better if you apply the screen protector material it comes with.-very high quality feeling usb3.0 cable included.-case is nice-easy to disassemble and install your own drive, tight fit which is good so it’s not rattling around nor do you need to wedge something in it to keep it from rattling.-don’t rely on manual too much, play with it and learn, but it’s one of the better manuals I’ve seen on a device like this.-learn the shortcuts of holding down specific numbers to unmount all etc.Definitely recommend for anyone who wants to get rid of a mess of usb flash drives and is also absolutely done rewriting ISO images to flash drives over and over. Keep multiple OSes. Keep multiple versions. Keep important software or distribution images.

Reading through the description, I thought this all seemed a bit too good to be true. Sold on the idea of just having one external drive act as an external disk, multiple disks (vhds) and optical disc, along with pin encryption, I decided to give it a go. This unit has become my best tool for nearly every computer repair/diagnostic situation. For computers that cannot not boot from external flash drives I can mount an iso image and the iODD acts as a virtual disc reader so the computer will boot. While booted from the “disc” I can mount either the hard drive or mount a virtual drive (really handy when needing to deal with multiple file systems) to transfer files.I currently have a 250GB SSD in it so that mounting images is as fast as possible and it works well. Once plugged in and powered on, it asks for your pin (optional) and then goes to the last setting or “USB Mode” (hard drive, optical disc, vhd, combo) you had it on. Navigating the menus does take a minute to learn but there are also some shortcuts available by holding numbers on the pin pad. I highly recommend finding the manual and reading through it to get the best use out of it.This enclosure is great overall and has great security features but does still have some drawbacks depending on your view. First of the pin pad is great but there are times when I’d have to push firmly on the numbers for it to register the input. Second is objectively speed, when I initially got the iODD I had thrown a 1TB hard disk in it to test it out and everything. Running a couple speed tests I found I was averaging around 100MB/s and if I was booting a computer to the optical image it would take a few extra seconds to mount (mounts after bios detects devices) I then decided to try am SSD I had lying around and did get improvement but nothing I’d expect from typical external SSDs. My speed improved to just over 200MB/s but it was fast enough to mount images for a bios to catch it. The speed is not an issue for me, working with a lot of computers you become patient and 200MB/s still beats most of them running hard disks.So this enclosure offers a great deal of features and I really can’t imagine getting as much done as fast as I’ve been able to without it. Highly recommend this for anyone that uses live cds, manages multiple file systems and so on.