INTRODUCTION

   When the very first portable SSDs made their appearance in the market roughly a decade ago, they impressed everyone with their compact size and impressive performance numbers. Since then, portable SSDs may not have gotten a lot smaller but they've certainly improved in two very important areas, capacity and performance. Up until a few years back ultra-high performance portable SSDs with numbers surpassing 10Gbps (1000MB/s) required thunderbolt connectivity but the somewhat recent arrival of USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 changed all that allowing portable SSDs to hit speeds of up to 20Gbps (2000MB/s). The latest ZX20 Portable SSD by Netac is one such drive and that's what I’ll be testing today.

   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.

   Just like with the Blaze SL660 model by Lexar which i reviewed a while back the ZX20 by Netac (available in 512GB/1TB capacities) is also based on the quad-channel (32 CEs) SM2320G NAND flash controller by Silicon Motion (once again this controller fully supports their latest NANDXtend ECC end-to-end data path protection together with real time AES 256-bit encryption for full compliance with the Trusted Computing Group - TCG Opal 2.0 specification) which this time is paired with 128-layer 3D TLC NAND flash (rebranded). In order to create a more compact and light weight portable SSD Netac has used plastic for the enclosure which however is not rugged. So, time to see just what one can expect from the latest ZX20 2TB Portable SSD by Netac.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The ZX20 arrived inside a small black box the front of which has a product picture, advertised performance and the company logo.

At the rear we find the specifications of the ZX20 along with a sticker with its serial number and barcode.

Alongside the ZX20 inside the box you'll also find a leatherrete cover/sleeve, USB-A to USB-C cable, USB-C cable and the user manual.

THE ZX20 1TB

Measuring just 71.5mm in length (7.15cm), 43.5mm in width (4.35cm) and 8mm in thickness the ZX20 is among the smallest portable SSDs out there.

A lanyard opening is located on the top right of the enclosure (and yes, due to the size of the ZX20 it's quite convenient).

The USB-C port is located at the front of the enclosure as seen above.

The rear of the drive just has the company logo, drive capacity and several certifications.

The leatherette sleeve is a bit tight but it should open in time.

Opening up the enclosure was easy since it's held in place with clips.

Here we see the SM2320G NAND flash controller by Silicon Motion and four 128-layer 3D TLC NAND flash modules (the other side seems to be glued on the exterior so i couldn't take a look - still it doesn't seem to have anything on that side).

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 the X299 test rig.
** For USB 3.2 Gen2x2 portable SSDs I’ll be using the Z590 DARK based test rig.

TEST RESULTS - AIDA64 / ATTO

TEST RESULTS - HD TACH RW / HD TUNE PRO

TEST RESULTS - SISOFTWARE SANDRA TITANIUM / CRYSTAL DISK MARK

CONCLUSION

   The Netac ZX20 1TB proved to be one of the fastest and most compact portable SSDs to arrive in the lab to date so from the get go things are looking good. Yes, in order to use the drive at its full potential you need an USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (or USB 4) motherboard but unlike 2 years ago there’s actually a large number of such models in the market. Unfortunately, not all was perfect during my testing period since the ZX20 1TB didn’t seem to like Sandra Titanium so no matter how many times I tried regardless of system (used my EVGA DARK Z590/Z790 systems with the same results) that test wouldn’t finish. Of course, this should be of little to no concern for people reading these lines but some might have liked to see what Sandra Titanium said about this drive’s performance.

   Currently the ZX20 1TB USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Portable SSD by Netac retails for USD137.99 inside the USA (Newegg.com) and for 110.45Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) and so it’s actually priced very well (always based on its size and performance). The sole downside (aside motherboard compatibility for some) of course is the lack of higher capacity models and let’s face it, 1TB may not be nearly enough for some people. Overall, however the ZX20 is a very compact and fast portable SSD and for that it deserves the Golden Award.

PROS

- Compact Size
- Near Excellent Performance (USB 3.2 Gen 2x2)
- 3 Year Limited Warranty
- Bundle (Carrying Pouch)
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- Motherboard Compatibility (USB 3.2 Gen 2x2)
- Available Capacities