Netac ZX20L Portable SSD Review

Introduction to the features of the Netac ZX20L Portable SSD

He Netac ZX20L What we are going to show you today is a small hard drive with capacity for up to 2 TB of high-speed SSD storage, compatible with a multitude of USB standards and capable of offering external speeds that until recently we could only dream of having installed inside the PC itself. .

This unit has USB 3.2 2×2 20Gbps interfacehigh-speed PCI Express storage compatible with the NVME 1.4 UASP standard, capable of developing high linear and random transfer speeds over a USB type A or C cable, without the need for any external power.

With increasingly compact formats, and many of them without the possibility of internal expansion, such as phones, tablets, portable consoles, laptops, televisions and other formats that surely come to mind, this type of device becomes everything a lifesaver and a cheap alternative to normally expensive or impossible extensions.

I’ll give you a couple of examples: consoles like the Xbox Series, which have quality storage but whose expansion is proprietary. These types of units can allow us to add cheap and fast storage via USB. Another example that I find even more interesting: the new Mac Mini M4 in its most economical version. In my opinion, a fantastic computer that with 16 GB of RAM already offers a lot of work capacity, but is weak in its 256 GB of storage.

With units like Netac ZX20L We can save a lot of money with really fast transfer speeds with the Thunderbolt ports on the Mac Mini. We can even install macOS directly on this drive, boot from it (we can also do this on Windows or Linux PCs) and have an experience as good as with Apple’s proprietary internal storage.

And I am sure of this because I have had the opportunity to test the largest capacity unit in this series, with 2 TB capacity, which offers surprising features that we are now going to discover for you.

Technical characteristics of the Netac ZX20L Portable SSD 2TB

• Interface: USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type-C
  
• Available capacities: 256GB/512GB/1TB/2TB
  
• Transmission speed: Up to 2000 MB/s
  
• Storage temperature: -40°C ~ 85°C
  
• Operating temperature: 0°C ~ 70°C
  
• Color: Black + Silver + Red
  
• Material: aluminum alloy
  
• Weight: About 50g
  
• Dimensions (L x W x H): 102 x 30 x 9.2mm
  
• Service and support: 5-year limited warranty

Description:

• Portable SSD with USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type-C interface
  
• 256GB: NT01ZX20L-256G-32BK
  
• 512GB: NT01ZX20L-512G-32BK
  
• 1TB: NT01ZX20L-001T-32BK
  
• 2TB: NT01ZX20L-002T-32BK

Netac ZX20L Portable SSD Specifications

He Netac ZX20L It has a closed format, very attractive and made entirely of aluminum. Two LEDs near its USB-C interface indicate power on and activity. The colors used (black, aluminum and red, all anodized in the aluminum of the casing) match the red of the activity LEDs.

The unit comes with a leatherette carrying case and two cables: USB-A to USB-C and USB-C to USB-C. It is very light, around 50 grams in weight, and compact, with a length of 102 mm, 30 mm wide and only 9 mm thick. Very transportable and with very adequate working temperatures, even inside its case; Then you will see them in detail in our performance analysis.

It is compatible with countless operating systems and environments: Windows, macOS, iOS (devices with USB-C), iPadOS, Android, PS4, PS4 Pro, PS5 and even Xbox Series X/S. From the factory it is configured with an exFAT partition that occupies its entire size, which in this 2 TB version is 1810 GB of free capacity.

Its compatibility includes all USB interfaces since 3.2 Gen2x2, where it develops its full potential, like any slower one, whether 10 Gbps, 5 Gbps or even USB 2.0. This will always have an impact, of course, on the performance of the unit. It is also upwards compatible. Can be used in USB 4.0 or Thunderboltbut always with a maximum of 20 Gbps transfer speed.

Netac only gives us maximum speed data in sequential transfer, 2000 MBps read and writewhich supports the interface it incorporates. Therefore, we can understand that the PCI Express unit inside is more than capable of supporting these maximum speeds.

Performance and profits

The best thing about these types of drives is that they are versatile: we can format them and use them in any environment because they use a completely standardized interface and also do not require anything more than a cable connected to the host device.

From there we just have to enjoy their speed and that, being solid format units, they are much more resistant to transport, since they do not have any moving parts. Also, due to its use of NAND Flash memorythey are much more secure and stable than any pendrive. They are much safer alternatives and also, normally, faster and with more capacity per euro invested.

We have tested this model both on 10 Gbps interfaces (USB 3.2 Gen2x1) as in USB 4.0 and USB 3.2 Gen2x2 20 Gbps connectors, which is its natural environment. The results are excellent, and I can also add that using it as a portable operating system, with Windows 11 To Go, is practically like having the operating system installed on an internal drive.

The performance is perfect, the latencies are very low and, as you can see, its working temperatures are also very good. Loading games is also agile and fast. I have not tested it with modern consoles, but I have tried it with my reference MiniPC, and the loading of games is fast, agile and not only the initial one, but also the levels, maps, etc.

Testing machine: ECS LIVA Z7 PLUS with Intel Core 5 1215H

CrystalMark with USB 3.2 Gen2x1 (10Gbps) mode

CrystalMark with USB 3.2 20Gbps mode (20Gbps)

Resting temperature

Charging temperature

Linear Speed ​​Reading

Linear Speed ​​Writing

PC game loading speed, less is better

Xbox One X game loading speed, less is better

Analysis and conclusion

With these transfer speeds, its compact format and very suitable working temperatures, this external storage unit can become our best ally for massive data copies, backup copies with high transfer speeds, working with large files, etc.

For me it is also a very interesting tool to expand storage capacities of devices where accessing large capacities usually involves a very high price premium. Setting up even a complete operating system is a good alternative to always have work availability wherever we are. It gives us extra security to be able to continue working.

With a compact, beautiful, well-equipped format and with an attractive price of 145 euros for this 2 TB model (and prices from 40 euros for 256 GB), for me this is one of the best external SSD technology units that we can buy.

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