ZIV 2
Today we would like to introduce to you two ZIV products that are manufactured by a Russian company called Inprice. Although Hard Disk drives and controller chips are obviously third party solutions, everything else is claimed to be made in Russia. Let’s take a closer look at these products, as they have some unique design features that are pretty competitive and worth pointing out.
This device doesn’t differ much from others of its class. The metallic case will protect the HDD against any possible hardships while the lack of polish on the surface means that the drive won’t get covered with scratches after a while. The drive doesn’t need additional power other than it gets from the USB port. A special cable is included with it that allows powering the HDD up from two USB ports at once. The user manual is very accurate and even describes the connection of the drive to a PC running Linux (this operation is simple, though, because all modern Linux cores easily work with devices that support USB Mass Storage mode).
The drive comes with the following software:
- Kaspersky Anti-Virus version 6
- ESMART CryptoDisk Demo to create a password-protected area on the drive
- Paragon Software kit including Partition Manager 7.0, Drive Backup 8.0 and Rescue Kit 8.0
This is quite a generous software bundle but it has a negative effect on the drive’s price which is somewhat higher than that of its competitors.
Let’s see what’s inside it:
The PCB carries a Jmicron JM20337 chip that can often be seen in such devices. A wire loop is soldered right to the PCB: it sticks out of the case for attaching a wear strap. A piece of rubber pipe ensures the position of the HDD in the case, but the case is tight-fitting anyway.
By the way, the ZIV 2 resembles the Agestar IUB201 model.
ZIV Pro
The ZIV Pro is somewhat thicker than the previous model. Its case has a more interesting shape that betrays a designer’s hand. Besides USB, the ZIV Pro offers a FireWire interface. The accessories are the same as you get with a ZIV 2: a cable for powering the drive from two USB ports and a disk with the software bundle.
A special feature of this model, the HDD is enveloped into a rubber pouch which should protect it against shocks. I didn’t throw the drive at walls or something to check this protection out, but it’s good to have it anyway.
A PL-3507 chip is the controller of the drive’s interfaces.