Best Bootable/MultiBoot Repair Disc

ZenTree said:
Anyone know a good source for Zalmans?
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There are still one or two floating around in Amazon warehouses – have a look on some of their European sites (.fr, .de, .it, ...). Beware of profiteering in the Marketplace, with some at 240 €+.

I see evidence of a new Zalman VE350, but no prices or shipping dates. Does this mean that Zalman has come out of the other side of their financial/legal difficulties of last year?

You might want to give Scan a call: they're listing a Zalman VE350 at £35.82 inc., currently with no ETA.
 
LABFE said:
Any storage capacity suggestions?
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Add up the size of the .isos and floppy images that you want on there and add a bit for contingency. You'll probably find 64 GB to be plenty. I have a recycled 60 GB SSD in my VE300 and am using about 40 GB of that.

Windows .isos are about 3~4 GB each; Linux .isos about 1~1.2 GB; most utility images are less than 500 kB. If you intend to use the same device for backing up client files (e.g., Fab's autobackup), you'll need to allow for that.

There's a noticeable improvement in performance with an SSD compared to a spinning disk – more-so in writing – but the biggest advantage of an SSD is its physical robustness, especially if the Zalman is to be used as field equipment.
 
Thanks. I'm leaning towards backing up any client files to separate external HDD. Can you think of any instances where I'd have an issue using the two separate devices? I already have two large external hard drives and this would allow me to purchase a lesser expensive SSD for the Zalman.

Also, can someone please confirm for me that the VE300 works with Windows 8/8.1? Newegg shows support through Windows 7 only and the VE300 is no longer on Zalman's website (only VE200, VE350, VE400).
 
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LABFE said:
Thanks. I'm leaning towards backing up any client files to separate external HDD. Can you think of any instances where I'd have an issue using the two separate devices? I already have two large external hard drives and this would allow me to purchase a lesser expensive SSD for the Zalman.

Also, can someone please confirm for me that the VE300 works with Windows 8/8.1? Newegg shows support through Windows 7 only and the VE300 is no longer on Zalman's website (only VE200, VE350, VE400).
Click to expand...

I think the compatibility issue is more BIOS related rather than OS related. The purpose of the Zalman is to be able to boot into multiple ISO's as well as other bootable images. This all occurs prior to the OS loading.
 
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markverhyden said:
I think the compatibility issue is more BIOS related rather than OS related. The purpose of the Zalman is to be able to boot into multiple ISO's as well as other bootable images. This all occurs prior to the OS loading.
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Good point, but I'm thinking that some of the tools I'll have on the Zalman will be ran in an "online" environment. I'm assuming that's why Zalman/NewEgg bothers to list supported OS's in the specifications. So still trying to find out if the VE300 is compatible with Windows 8/8.1 and Windows 10. And the fact that the VE300 is no longer on the Zalman website I'm figuring no more firmware updates for it. Obsolete yet? Maybe it's worth buying it still if I could at least use it with up to Windows 8/8.1 (still trying to find out), but I'm figuring that the majority of people eligible for free Windows 10 upgrades will be taking advantage of it so I'm just guessing that 80% of PC's in use (in a non-enterprise environment at least) will be running Windows 10 before the end of the year. Especially if the word spreads that Windows 10 is an improvement over previous versions.
 
Haven't had a windows 10 pc in the shop yet that was factory installed, but I've had the same amount of success using the VE300 on 8 and 8.1 machines as I have had on any other. Any updated windows 10 system has worked fine too. In fact, I've used the VE300 to uprgade people to windows 10 from 8.1. Again, it has practically nothing to do with the OS. I think it probably lists the OSes in the specs because you can use it as a virtual drive after its booted as well, plus you need an OS of some sort to set up the thing.

The disk itself must be UEFI bootable of course, otherwise you need to enable legacy booting and revert back when you're done.

As for using two external devices, well almost every day I'm booting into Parted Magic off the Zalman, and doing a copy of user data to another dedicated backup drive.
 
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LABFE said:
So still trying to find out if the VE300 is compatible with Windows 8/8.1 and Windows 10.
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The Zalman presents itself to the computer as a USB HDD and/or optical drive (Bluray, actually). Some BIOSs have a problem with it, so are unable to boot from it directly, but there should never be a problem with any version of Windows (or Linux, OS X, whatever) being able to read software on it, subject to filesystem support for non-Windows.

The BIOS limitations are not the fault of Zalman. Machines that can't boot from the Zalman won't boot from any USB HDD or optical drive. In my experience, Toshibas are impossible and some Dells require that the internal optical drive is temporarily removed (easy enough and worthwhile for me).
 
NJW said:
The Zalman presents itself to the computer as a USB HDD and/or optical drive (Bluray, actually). Some BIOSs have a problem with it, so are unable to boot from it directly, but there should never be a problem with any version of Windows (or Linux, OS X, whatever) being able to read software on it, subject to filesystem support for non-Windows.

The BIOS limitations are not the fault of Zalman. Machines that can't boot from the Zalman won't boot from any USB HDD or optical drive. In my experience, Toshibas are impossible and some Dells require that the internal optical drive is temporarily removed (easy enough and worthwhile for me).
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I like the temp. removing internal optical drive. Didn't remember that one and will have to try it on the next Dell I have that won't boot. Already tried the Y cable, but now I have something else to try.

Thank you.
 
I like the Wondershare LiveBoot 2012. Works on DVD and usb stick. Unfortunately, it only works up to Win 7 and have seen no updates in years. It boots to a complete WinPE desktop and has many good tools for older systems.
 
This Easy2Boot program does look neat, will have to make time to test it out with some Linux and Windows Installs!
 
Active@ Boot Disk is a nice tool to have. It's hard drive diagnostic utility is really dumbed down and it gives you an overall health percentage number. Great as a tool to convince clients to replace an obviously failing drive. When they see their drive has 11% health left, they absolutely panic. It's not 100% accurate, but it's good if you're running diagnostics with the client nearby. It boots in UEFI mode or legacy just fine and is super fast. Based on Win PE.

I tried Gandolf's Windows 8 PE version and it seemed rather limited to me.

Same with PartedMagic.

Don't get me wrong. PartedMagic and Gandolf's tools are great. But they're not an all-in-one solution either.

I use a combination of Active@ Boot Disk, Parted Magic, and Memtest.

Back when it was actually updated regularly, Hiren's boot CD was BY FAR the best. Unfortunately all the software is extremely outdated now and I wouldn't advise using it. Same with UltimateBootCD, FalconFour, etc. Old, outdated diagnostic software doesn't do anyone any good.
 
Another vote for Zalman and UBCD4Win although somewhat out of date now. Have also been playing with AOEMI PE Builder to see if I can make my own.
 
Any one tried GEGEEK? It has Gegeek tech toolkit, a massive package of utilities, Windows based, 5.6 GB after a keratin update.
 
NJW said:
There are still one or two floating around in Amazon warehouses – have a look on some of their European sites (.fr, .de, .it, ...). Beware of profiteering in the Marketplace, with some at 240 €+.

I see evidence of a new Zalman VE350, but no prices or shipping dates. Does this mean that Zalman has come out of the other side of their financial/legal difficulties of last year?

You might want to give Scan a call: they're listing a Zalman VE350 at £35.82 inc., currently with no ETA.
Click to expand...

Has anyone found a supplier who has the VE300 in stock in Australia? or a supplier who will ship to Australia? (Amazon won't ship this far)
 
Also parted magic a boot package which can be purchased for 7 or 9 dollars: Linux based: extensive data rescue and transfer utilities.
 
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