Hi, I have a bunch of USB thumb drives and each of them are formatted with different version of OS'es such as Win7 32bit, Win7 64bit, Win10, Ubuntu, etc. Just wondering if it make sense to use a cheapy SSD (120GB SSD is around $70 or so) and use something like Easy2Boot to consolidate all these thumb drives to just 1 physical device…easier to carry around, faster speed when installing and less likely to misplace the thumb drives? Anyone tried this?
Use a Cheap SSD to Replace Thumb Drives for Installing Os'es?
jeeg on 21/05/2016 - 19:51
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Thanks mate. Did you encounter any installation issues? What OSes do you put on the drive?
No issues as it's just like any other USB drive.
Many operating systems. WinXP to current. Win2K8 to current. Linux distros etc.
Thanks buddy.
If you can find one these they are awesome: http://www.zalman.com/global/product/Product_Read.php?Idx=75…
Load it up with your ISOs and it emulates a CD ROM drive that the computer just sees as a USB CD/DVD.
Also has hardware encryption and a host of other handy things like write protect for forensic recovery.
Wow. That's cool. I did not know about this.
Cool, found another thing to covet today. Seems mwave sells them.
I wonder if they are still in production? mwave and newegg both stock them but both sites say out of stock =(
Seems the 500 is the sucessor. Couldn't find any 400s on eBay so maybe obsoleted.
@greenpossum: Just had a look on eBay ($120+) and I don't think it's worth it. Easy2Boot is good enough :)
I think the 400s were stopped a while back but there's a newer version out. Well worth trying to find though. I've found Easy2Boot a bit iffy at times, especially with older machines. This unit will let anything that boots off a USB CD ROM work with no issues.
That being said, i've found some newer laptops get a bit funny when trying to install Windows 7 off a USB 3.0 port. Which becomes a real PIA when all there is are USB 3.0 ports, so I keep a thumb drive handy with an array of generic USB 3.0 drivers. Specifically for that task.
That is cool. Wonder if it runs some proprietary software to do what does?
They're rebranded from another company (same device) which specialises in encrypted enclosures. I have one and they're very nice to use. The interface is a tad on the clunky side but i'm pretty sure that's because I have not taken the protective film off mine. But man it is a lifesaver, all my ISOs on one device with no mucking around.
It was great when it worked. I wouldn't get the ve400's.. touch numbers stops responding after a while and the usb interface is so easy to break.
I lent my ZM V305B to a mate and haven't got it back. Thanks for the reminder OZB.
What size SSD do you guys run the Zalman off? was wondering if I should buy a 64GB SSD or 120GB SSD and what brand.
I used an old Intel 320 series 120GB SSD, works well.
Ok. I don't have an old SSD lying around.. so I think I may have to buy one…
You can use a standard 2.5" laptop HDD too.
Thanks. All the 2.5" spare drives that I have are tad slow drives :) Will need a speedy (but cheap) SSD :)
Here's the problem with that. A cheap SSD in a case is like $80? Say $10 for usb case and $70 for ssd.
I can pretty much limit myself to 3 usb sticks 4gb size each which is like $6?
I use Win7 Pro and Ultimate, Win10 Pro and maybe Mint. Putting a few usb sticks on a keyring solves this.
I dont support 32bit and if I need to bang server then I'm prepared for it.
Well…I am looking at an SSD $55. Add $10 for the case and it is around $65'ish. I have more than 3 OS'es that I need to manage so USB sticks won't be very productive. I already have around 10 of these USB sticks around in a container. Some USB drives are freebies that was gifted to me during the year.
I guess a 64GB SSD will get me started.
Yep I'm already doing it with a portable SSD. I've got a Sandisk in one of these with Easy2Boot and it's very fast.