iodd Iodd2531 - USB3.0 - HDD - SSD - Virtual CD-ROM - Enclosures - Made in Korea … (1 Unit/lot)

A nice usb attached file based cd/dvd-rom emulator. It let's you "emulate" a real physical cd/dvd (read-only) optical disk drive. The case has a small electronics section with a multi-line backlit LCD panel that produces pixelated symbols, graphics and text. The "jog switch" on the Left side of the unit allows thumb control up, down, and momentary press into the body of the device. The "jog switch" allows scrolling through a two line text menu which displays wrapped text if items have labels that are too long. Then pressing in on the "jog switch" selects the item. - The device arrives without a hard drive, it will take a spinning drive, or an ssd. The software requires the drive be formatted as a "simple" MBR volume, and not a GPT volume. Once the volume type is chosen, the drive can be divided into partitions and formatted with a file system. The enclosure electronics only support NTFS and FAT file systems. The device can function (both) as a USB hard disk, and as a USB CD/DVD-rom drive "simultaneously" or as one or the other (HDD or CD/DVD) "exclusively". Once the drive is formatted creating a folder called _iso and putting iso files into the folder activates the ability to "mount" the iso files in emulation mode. The first time after the _iso directory is created the device must be unplugged and replugged in, so that the device sees the _iso folder and starts in "dual HDD and CD/DVD-rom emulation mode". Once in dual mode the LCD screen lists the iso files it can see in the _iso folder. Scrolling up and down the list with the "jog switch" then selecting one by pressing into the body of the device with the jog switch.. automatically mounts the selected iso file and exposes the file as virtual CD/DVD physical media to the computer. In dual mode, the computer "lists" a USB hard drive and a virtual USB CD/DVD drive (empty), pressing the jog switch to "mount" an iso file is reflected on the computer as "actively inserting a CD/DVD" physical media piece into the virtual drive, and will activate Autoplay. Pressing again on the jog switch emulates "actively ejecting a CD/DVD" physical media piece from the virtual drive. The Last virtual CD/DVD "mounted" is remembered when the device is unplugged and plugged back into the computer.. this is called "saving".. which means "save the current state of the device to memory".. so that when it starts again.. it immediately mounts and exports the iso file as a "filled CD/DVD virtual device" with bootable media already in its slot. The silver switch on top of the device is called the "Backup" button.. which means.. "backup the current state of the device to the device memory, before unplugging it" in my experience it remembers state without doing this.. but if you do press the Silver top button and hold it down long enough the LCD displays "Data Saving..." as a confirmation. Microsoft VHD and RMD read/write formats are also supported, but I have not tried those. WindowsToGo is supposed to be supported but I have not tried that yet. A virtual CD/DVD-R burn function to allow a computer to burn virtual media would be helpful, but the current software does not emulate read/write media that looks like a piece of CD-R or DVD-R media. It comes with a black neoprene carry case wrapped in black fabric. It also comes a white USB cable that is 3 feet long, has a USB 3.0 micro-B style end (not a type C) [this is the split, dual sided connector that looks sort of like a mini-SATA connector] that plugs into the top of the device and a normal size type A connector on the opposing end to plug into a computer. The internal drive connector is a normal SATA drive style connector with power and signal sides. The case does not have a facility for mounting the drive, the drive is plugged in and shoved into the case and held in place by friction and a landing zone at the bottom made of plastic that works to center the drive in the case. The case display and electronics are bolted into position by "peeling" the flexible top of the rubber strips on eithr side away from the grooves to get access to screw holes in the side of the case. The electronics package with the drive attached is shoved into the case until the copper accented holes of the electronics packages line up with the holes in the case. A minature screw driver 1 inch long and four tiny screws are provided.. however you only need two to secure the drive electronics to the sides of the case.. and by association, with the entering plastic base inside the case for the user supplied SSD or spinning drive.. the drive is also secured. The rubber strips are then "pressed" back into the sides to cover up the screw access holes used to secure the electronics package. Because the ends of the rubber strips are narrower than the main body of the rubber strips they flex underneath the groove edges and smooth out of their own accord. Advanced menus contain a LCD panel brightness, USB volt meter, Drive model and serial number and manual mode control. Some antivirus suites will (hide) the HDD by default, and it must be manually forced (online) from the Windows Computer Management > Disk Management - control panel component, by right clicking the Left drive grey control box and clicking on (Online) to bring it online and automatically assign it a drive letter. Hot swap and possible data corruption depending on the Operating System handling of USB devices is still a problem enforced by the Operating System behavior. The enclosure Advanced menus do provide features to manually Safely disconnect.. but mostly it just seems to work. The GPT volume limitation, and requirement for MBR volumes only.. means 2 TB is the (limit) to the supported drive size in this device, anything larger will be be unreachable outside of the first 2 TB of drive space. This drive model is not encrypted, data is breachable if lost. A different model supports on the fly drive encryption.

Write Protect! Boot from any ISO on the disk by a menu like I put in a physical CD! Mount the CD-ROM or/and the hard drive at the same time!I used to (and sometimes still do) make computer house calls for building/repair/etc in the past 18 years. and stumbled on something like this several years ago, then after about a year or two later, the mini USB broke and no one made these drives like that anymore for years. I lost count of how many times my USB thumb drives got infected and overwritten (even formatted and one with the USB killer code) and eventually give up and format the machine and lose most (or all) of the client's data. This is NOT repairing, this is called destroying and rebuilding, and I hate to delete years of data on someone's computer.Boot CDs? I had to carry 20-30, you never knew what version or what format would work with some computers. Oh, and they get damaged easily, nothing like driving 20+ minutes to help someone without internet due to a virus and find out that the one utility you need out of all the CDs you have is scratched up. Time for a 40+ minute round trip (if you can find a fresh CD, find a copy of the utility, burn it without problems, and then test it) and then you wind up forgetting it in the CD drive.Write-protect forensic USB bridges? Got about a grand to burn? The good physical write blockers are not cheap, and even then I don't think you have any ability to boot from or mount an ISO image.I found this item and noticed it was an updated version of what I used all the time (but without the slow and outdated mini USB connection). So I ordered it quickly and a laptop SSD drive. I threw some utilities on it, packed it with ISOs, and tossed it into my backpack. I've done computer repair with it, I took it into the mountains with rain, cold, dust, and used it as a backup drive for video footage while hiking and hunting. Cheap, versatile, strong, I love it! And truly have no idea why these are so rare, or why no techie I've talked to even knows about USB drive enclosures with write-block and amazing cd emulation.