IODDST400 2.5 inch Enclosure/USB-C/Bootable Virtual ODD&HDD / AES256 Encryption Max up to 76 Digits/Write Protect / 2541(ST400/USB-C Type/Next Gen Model) Made in Korea

Almost any pro IT guy - and most vaguely geeky hobbyists - who's had a chance to play with one of my IODD drives, ends up buying one :DThey're all good - the older 2.5" ones became a staple of my toolkit, previously resold in EU under Zalman branding, and they've just got better since - going from USB 2 to USB 3, adding a full keypad and screen for better UI, more compact options (the IODD mini) and then this, bringing the newer interface to 2.5", along with - praise be! - a USB C port!The build quality is pretty nice too, a step up from before - I really like the clicky button feel on the keypad and it feels nice and solid in general. This is now my primary workshop IODD with an IODD mini in the go-bag :)Yes, you can use Ventoy. But this is like ventoy in hardware :) It works - nearly everywhere, nearly every time. It identifies as the emulated device down to the BIOS level, works with fussy servers, and makes it pretty much impossible to pick the wrong drive or accidentally overwrite your USB key during an install.I use a range of USB thumb drive images for various purposes - some copied from actual keys I had floating around or loaned. And USB HDD images to keep a Windows2Go install handy at all times (and a Debian install as well!). And of course, a full library of ISOs, from proliant service packs to windows 10/11/server to truenas to proxmox to pfsense to firmware update discs for SSDs and diagnostic toolkit discs.Get one :) And this particular one is a good choice, if you don't need it to be tiny - check the IODD mini for that! Give it a nice big SSD and load it all up!

So useful for mounting ISO files, secure and encrypted.Works well in items where even Ventoy does not work.

Fitting my 1TB 2.5" SSD was easy, the button grid made it much easier to use, It's probably faster, and has a much neater USB-C connector, which also allows use with a USB-C to USB-C lead, e.g. useful for direct use with a mobile, to transfer stuff when a booted PC is not handy.My contained 1TB SSD was formatted as NTFS, NOT ExFAT(!), contains many isos, Linux and Windows installers, docs, an ODS partition planning spreadsheet, and most of the PortableApps apps.This is far superior to Ventoy on a USB stick, because unlike Ventoy, you have optional direct HD partition access, and 2.5" SSDs are far faster and more reliable the USB sticks, e.g. an 256GB intenso one I have seemed to be fine, but flaky sometime, but more iffy than I had thought, because it over-heated/throttled a lot during several minute mass-transfer, even hanging Linux, and stalling boot after hard-reset, and ExFAT corruption can't be reliably spotted/fixed on Linux!On Linux, never use ntfsfix for NTFS, it's worse than useless, instead use Windows chkdsk, or find and try the Paragon NTFS utilities.

Really nice unit.. Only issue is that you can't put larger drives in it (12mm plus) so you're limited to ssd's or 2tb hard drives.

I have owned all the Zalman\Iodd drives except the mini. this is definitely the best one for functions but also the cheapest build quality, has annoyingly loud click when you use the buttons but overall I am happy with it.