INTRODUCTION

   USB flash drives may still hold the lead in terms of consumer sales (mainly due to their very compact size) but portable SSDs (solid state drives) have been closing in for a while now. Yes, they may not be quite as compact as USB flash drives but they do offer superior read & write performance numbers along with larger capacities and that makes them ideal for use especially by professionals who require both. There are two types of portable SSDs currently in the market, SATA 6Gbs/s based ones with maximum speeds of just over 500MB/s (5G+) and M.2 NVMe based ones which can go all the way up to over 900MB/s (10G). Due to both their compatibility with older motherboards and their very good price/capacity ratio SATA based models are far more popular right now and so today with me I’ve got yet another one, the Z7S 960GB (1TB) USB 3.2 Gen 2 by Netac.

   Started in May 1999, Netac Technology (Stock Code at Shenzhen Exchange: 300042) is a leading flash memory manufacturer based in Shenzhen. Through more than ten years' growth, Netac was successfully listed in Growth Enterprise Market in January 2010, becoming the first listed removable storage supplier in China. Netac is the trademark used for our USB flash memory products. As the inventor of flash memory and a leading new-generation storage product manufacturer, Netac possesses the first generation of USB-based flash memory technology in the world. We focus on manufacturing of flash memory products, such as USB flash storage, portable hard drive and solid state disk, especially on security and encryption of USB flash storage and portable hard drive. We have a wholly-owned production base for processing of all flash storage products. At present, Netac Technology (Hong Kong) Limited and Leapro Technology Co., Ltd. are two fully subsidiary companies of Netac Technology Co., Ltd. Leapro Technology Co., Ltd is the holder of the SD-3C license.

   Netac may not be a very popular manufacturer but they've won several awards for their innovations over the years and just by taking a look at their available lineup it's clear that they are not kidding around. The Z7S portable SSD (currently available in 128/256/500/960/1920GB capacities) may not be their fastest model to date but it can still hit read & write speeds of over 550-480MB/s respectively thanks to the dual-core MAS0902A DRAM-less NAND flash controller by Maxiotek which they've paired with 64-layer 3D TLC NAND flash modules (either by Intel or Micron). Now the MAS0902A controller by Maxiotek may not be used as much as some other models but it still offers state of the art features like Maxiotek's AgileECC 2 (LDPC ECC with best-in-class flexible flash protection and hardware-based Virtual Parity Recovery RAID engine), WriteBooster 2 (enhanced transmission speeds and sustained performance), AES-256 hardware encryption and SED (Self-Encrypted Drive) and of course support for TCG-OPAL 2.0. This is my first encounter with a portable SSD that uses this specific NAND controller so let's see just how well (or not) it does.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The Z7S is shipped inside a small box the front of which has a product picture right beneath the company name and above a sticker with the capacity of the drive.

Printed at the rear of the box are the drive size (note that the specs page and the box both have different numbers), system compatibility, serial and part numbers, barcodes and contact information for Netac.

Inside the box you will find the Z7S portable SSD, USB-A to USB-C cable, USB-C to USB-A adapter and the user manual.

THE Z7S 960GB

Measuring 87mm in length, 60mm in width and 10.5mm in height the 54g heavy plastic body of the Z7S is quite compact.

Once again to give all of you a better idea about size i placed the Z7S right next to the iStorage diskAshur2 SSD, Silicon Power Bolt B75 Pro, Samsung T3 and T1, Silicon Power PC60 and the Lexar SL200.

Only a Z is printed on the lower left of the enclosure (the blue activity LED is located at the center).

The USB-C port can be found at the rear of the drive as seen above.

Netac has printed their logo along with the model name and its capacity at the base of the enclosure.

Just like with past models the enclosure of the Z7S is held in place with plastic clips so it’s easy to open.

At the top of the PCB we find the MAS0902A controller by Maxiotek along with two NAND flash modules (each should be 480GB in size).

On the other side of the PCB we see room for two more NAND flash modules (for the 1920GB version).

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

Solid state drives are basically the same as USB flash drives and so we’re using almost the same testing methodology to successfully record achieved read & write performance numbers in our charts*. The benchmark suites used are HD Tach RW (Read Speeds / Long Bench 32mb Zone Testing), HD Tune Pro (Read / Write speeds), Sisoftware Sandra Titanium 2020 (Read / Write speeds), AIDA64 Engineer Edition (Average Linear / Random Read & Write speeds), Crystal Disk Mark 6.0.2 (2GB Read / Write speeds) and finally ATTO 4.00.0F2 (Max Read / Max Write speeds). Every test is repeated a total of 6 times after which the average performance numbers are recorded into our charts (0 = we were unable to complete that test).

All tests are performed with our main rig running Microsoft Windows 10 Pro installation on a CORSAIR MP510 960GB NVME SSD* with all updates installed up to the day we started tests.

* Since August 2019 for portable SSD tests I started using our primary test rig.

TEST RESULTS - AIDA64 / ATTO

TEST RESULTS - HD TACH RW / HD TUNE PRO

TEST RESULTS - SISOFTWARE SANDRA TITANIUM / CRYSTAL DISK MARK

CONCLUSION

   Just a quick look at the charts and it’s clear that the Netac Z7S 960GB Portable SSD does a very good job and trades blows even with the SL200 model by Lexar. Once again it can’t go up against its M.2 NVMe cousins but for a SATA 6Gb/s model it leaves nothing to be desired, at least in terms of performance. Unfortunately, just like with the SL200 the Z7S uses a plastic enclosure which means not much protection for the SSD inside it. Yes, since SSDs have no mechanical parts they are shockproof but other than that the enclosure offers no “special” protection. Finally, the fact that Netac also makes the Z7S available in capacities from 128GB and all the way up to 1920GB (2TB) is certainly a plus since many people are looking for lower capacity models from what we see in the market most of the time (while others consider 1TB as simply not enough to cover their needs).

    The Z7S portable SSD is among the latest batch of products launched by Netac and that along with the entire situation caused by COVID-19 means that availability is exceptionally low right now. This also means that I can’t post links from where you can get it right now since I was unable to locate it anywhere in the USA or the EU. Still if Netac can offer the Z7S 960GB model for around USD140/130Euros I don’t see any reason for people not to choose it. Price aside the Z7S 960GB portable SSD does deliver in both performance and size and for that it gets our Golden Award.

PROS

- Compact Size & Weight
- Very Good Performance
- AES 256 Hardware Encryption
- Available In 128/256/500/960/1920GB Capacities
- Just 10.5mm Thick
- Shock Proof

CONS

- Current Availability
- Enclosure Durability (Plastic)