My Zalmans last less than 2 years

[mlfixer]

For those who may be looking for the VE300 (because you hate the 400's keypad):

• They're going for about $95 on ebay, shipped from China (Zalman was a Korean company before they went bankrupt, not sure if this happens to be a knockoff product)
• U.S. sellers are selling them for upwards of $200 (on ebay)
• The original price on NewEgg I think was in the $40 range last year for a new unit. It is now out of stock for few months
• Companies that still list the VE300 for sale on their website don't really have it in stock nor can they get any more from Zalman (even if it shows IN STOCK, it really isn't available)

I actually got lucky and found one on Amazon last week for $135, should be here tomorrow, coming from CA. I also ordered one from China, we'll see if it is legit.

Last week I emailed Zalman asking whether they will keep making the VE300 and got no response.

 

[Krynn72]

We bought 3 of the VE300s about a year and a half ago, all of them still ok. Mine sees multiple-times-a-day usage, so hopefully it doesn't crap out on me. I've heard bad things about the keypad one. I think its a better idea, but i've heard the keypad itself fails very frequently

 

[allanc]

Thanks, Allan. Ordered it, so I guess I'll be good for another 18 months or so. That should give me time to check out vtrepair's suggestion of easy2boot. Thanks for all the suggestions.

Larry ... did the Zalman 400 arrive yet?
Your thoughts on the keypad?

 

[Larry Sabo]

Hi Allan,

Yes, it arrived last week. The keypad is okay; takes a little getting used to but quicker to navigate than the wheel-joggle of the VE300. What I don't like, is one can't encrypt just the data (non-iso) section (it's not a separate partition). With ISOs encrypted, entering a key to access an ISO is problematic because it takes so long, you need to re-select the desired ISO after entering the key. With the VE300, it remembered the selection when it snoozed/waited. I just couldn't figure the technique out and gave up on encrypting the drive, which was one of the VE400's main benefits. Also, I found the few PCs I tried it on (Dells) wouldn't boot from the Zalman, even selecting "USB device" as the boot device. It's a waste of a nice Samsung 120GB SSD.

Edit: I also found the keys-presses rather slow to be recognized, so you had to enter digits slowly and pay attention to the screen to be sure they got entered at all.

 

[allanc]

I also found the keys-presses rather slow to be recognized, so you had to enter digits slowly and pay attention to the screen to be sure they got entered at all.

Do you mean that you watch to make sure that the screen flashes or something else?

 

[allanc]

The keypad is okay; takes a little getting used to but quicker to navigate than the wheel-joggle of the VE300.

My biggest pita is the 'mode select' at the top level menu.
The arrow points to 'Mode Select >'.
99 times out of 100 when I press the '6 >' .... nothing happens - even after several attempts and waiting.
I then have to unplug the USB cable and retry, retry, retry.
Do you have this problem?

 

[Larry Sabo]

Yeah, I have to either press keys at a slow rate, and/or, keep an eye on the display to see what, if anything, got entered. I don't recall having a problem with entering Mode select but I'll try it some more and let you know. Haven't really had an opportunity to thoroughly check it all out.

 

[TimM]

My biggest pita is the 'mode select' at the top level menu.
The arrow points to 'Mode Select >'.
99 times out of 100 when I press the '6 >' .... nothing happens - even after several attempts and waiting.
I then have to unplug the USB cable and retry, retry, retry.
Do you have this problem?

Press "Enter" instead. If you do press the "6>" key, press on the "6" not the ">".
Even though it's not marked (and I'm not sure that it's mentioned in the manual) press the "5" to mount the ISO.
Basically I find it pretty reliable if you press gently (like it's a touch screen) rather than hard as if it's a button. And press the actual number not the arrow symbol.

 

[Larry Sabo]

Thanks for the suggestions, Tim. Yeah, the '5' is mentioned in the manual, and I quickly figured out that the number keys are active, not the arrows. It's just a matter of using it more before it becomes second nature.

Have you had a problem with the selection being lost every time/most times when using it encrypted? I don't recall if the Zalman shows up while it's still locked; I'll play with it a bit more and see if I can figure out the best technique for using it encrypted.

Edit: The user manual can be downloaded from here.

 

[allanc]

Press "Enter" instead. If you do press the "6>" key, press on the "6" not the ">".
Even though it's not marked (and I'm not sure that it's mentioned in the manual) press the "5" to mount the ISO.
Basically I find it pretty reliable if you press gently (like it's a touch screen) rather than hard as if it's a button. And press the actual number not the arrow symbol.

Actually, I think that the sweet spot on mine for the number '6' is not the centre of the '6' just slightly to the left ... just a smidgin .
Also, I tried the arrow because the '6' does not usually respond as expected.
It is somewhat of a love/hate relationship.

 

[mlfixer]

Here is an update on my pursuit of the VE-300s (in case anyone is looking for one):

The ebay VE-300 are legit (from China). I got two of them last week. Looks like prices now dropped to $90.
The VE-300 I purchased on Amazon turned out to be a VE-200. The seller refunded my money since they could no longer get the 300.
There was a seller on NewEgg that had the VE-300 for $65 also from China (as of last week) but now it is showing Out of Stock again.

Anyhow I paired my VE-300 with a new Crucial MX200 256gb SSD and it is awesome! installing Windows is so fast it is scary. I formatted the SSD to NTFS, installed the latest NTFS firmware, loaded bunch of ISOs and that is it. I only tried Windows 7 installs so far, curious to see how all the Virus Removal ISOs and LiveCDs will work.

Btw you can make folders for your ISOs. I have an _ISO folder in the root of my SSD; inside it I have a Windows folder with Windows iso files and so on. When you scroll the job wheel you can see all of your folders on the VE300. No need to dump everything into the _ISO unless you like chaos.