Netac ZX20L portable SSD review
Netac ZX20L: 30-second review
Specification
interface: USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type-C
capacity: 256GB/512GB/1TB/2TB
Transmission speed: Up to 2000 MB/sec
Storage temperature: -40℃~85℃
Working temperature: 0℃~70℃
color: black+silver+red
Material: Aluminum alloy
weight: about 50 grams
Dimensions (length x width x height): 102×30×9.2mm
Service and Support: 5 year limited warranty
Netac ZX 20L2 is a compact, portable and fast SSD designed for those in the creative and gaming industries. The ZX20L’s design breaks away from the usual little black box we’re familiar with, opting instead for an all-metal design, which gives it an aesthetic advantage over its more mainstream rivals.
One of the really attractive key features of the ZX 20L Portable SSD is that it uses the latest USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 connector. This means it can deliver ultra-fast transfer speeds of up to 2000 MB/s, making it ideal for anyone looking for a portable SSD for video editing.
During testing, the application of choice to check speed was DaVinci Resolve, and setting up the project using the SSD as the primary storage medium worked very well, with file access speeds fast enough to keep up with editing HD and 4K video.
It’s worth noting that the interface is USB 3.2 Gen 2×2, and to take full advantage of the speeds offered by this connector, you’ll need a machine with a Gen 2×2 port. While you may have Thunderbolt 3, Thunderbolt 4, or USB4 ports, these ports can only deliver USB 3.2 Gen 2 speeds of 1000 MB per second, resulting in reduced performance on this portable SSD.
But if you do have the right ports on your computer, like we did on our test device, the speeds this SSD can deliver are outstanding. The aluminum casing combined with its slim design and weight of only 50 grams makes it easy to transport and extremely strong. When the Canon EOS R5C was put under load while editing 4K video, it was able to handle half a day of editing, easily handling the load and demands placed on it.
While the styling may not appeal to everyone, it does offer good aesthetic benefits. The aluminum casing offers more than just good looks; it also ensures durability and efficient heat dissipation under load. Considering that we have tested many Best Portable SSD There are many Gen 2×2 options on the market, and the Netac ZX20L is a good choice with its slim design and stylish appearance.
Netac ZX20L: Price and Availability
The Netac ZX20L is versatile, with storage capacities ranging from 256GB to the 2TB version we saw in this review. The 2TB version is $148/£145 on Amazon, while the 256GB version is just $45/£42.
Netac ZX20L: Design and Manufacturing
The ZX20L’s design immediately stands out with its all-aluminum construction. It weighs only around 50 grams and measures 102 x 30 x 9.2 mm, making it easy to slip into a trouser pocket or almost any gear bag. This makes it a great accessory for photographers and videographers looking for a high-capacity, high-speed SSD, whether for storing media or recording directly from the camera.
The slim design and flat back make it easy to attach to devices with Velcro, allowing you to easily attach it to devices such as a Blackmagic 6K camera or the back of your laptop. In terms of connectivity, it has a USB Type-C port that is fully bus-powered. The port uses the USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 protocol, which, while not the most common, offers impressive transfer speeds of up to 2000 MB/s. The port is fully backwards and forwards compatible, so as long as your computer has a USB Type-C port, it should work. However, to achieve maximum speeds, you’ll need a machine with a USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 port.
In terms of capacity, this drive comes in a variety of options. The 2 TB version reviewed here is great for video editing, but the high transfer speeds also make it a great choice for high-end gaming. However, lower capacities may be sufficient for other uses.
Thanks to its small size, light weight and USB Type-C port, the drive can also connect to the latest iPhones, allowing you to record ProRes video. This makes it a versatile choice for a variety of storage needs where capacity and speed are critical.
Netac ZX20L: Features
The ZX20L is designed to be a plug-and-play, easy-to-use SSD, so its functionality is minimalist. The drive is available in a variety of capacities, from 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB, to the 2 TB version we’re talking about in this review. Frankly speaking, the huge capacity of portable SSDs makes them ideal for demanding uses such as video editing, photo editing, and gaming. To meet these demanding tasks, it relies on ultra-fast connection technology with USB 3.2 Gen 2×2, which delivers transfer speeds of 20 Gb/s.
These high transfer speeds are ideal for video editors, allowing them to quickly connect drives to process large video files from cameras like the Canon R5C in DaVinci Resolve. Due to their speed, SSDs are also ideal for large-scale games, providing fast access to files and data on a variety of machine types, including gaming consoles.
The most obvious feature is the ultra-portable and lightweight design, which allows you to easily slip it into your jacket pocket without adding too much weight or bulk. As you’d expect from a drive of this type, it’s bus-powered, meaning there’s no need for a separate power adapter, although it does draw a small amount of power from the host computer. In addition to the SSD itself, a USB Type-C cable is included.
Unlike many other drives of this type, Netco has opted for a touch of design flair when it comes to the casing. The aluminum frame of the aluminum case has graphics engraved on it, adding to its beauty. Depending on your preference, these graphics look great but also help dissipate heat by increasing surface area.
In addition to impressive portability and performance, the ZX 20L makes it easy. It doesn’t require any setup, just plug it in and start using it.
Netac ZX20L: Performance
Benchmark
Crystal plate reading: 1897.90MB/sec Write: 1971.43MB/sec
ATTO disk benchmark reading: 1730.97MB/sec Write: 1858.65MB/sec
AS SSD read: 1760MB/sec Write: 1870MB/sec
AJA system disk test reading: 1790MB/sec Test write: 1904MB/sec
Starting with the ZX 20L is easy. The drive comes pre-formatted in exFAT, making it ideal for cross-platform use, but you can reformat it to suit your specific system requirements. For macOS systems, it is recommended to reformat to APFS; for Windows, NTFS is a perfect choice. If cross-compatibility between Windows, Mac, and Linux is critical, exFAT is still a good choice.
For this test, since we were switching between Windows and Mac systems, we initially left the drive in exFAT format and then retested after reformatting to APFS and NTFS to ensure consistent performance across platforms.
On MacOS, the drive was tested using a MacBook Pro M1 Max equipped with 4 Thunderbolt ports. Speeds do have a slight hiccup due to backwards compatibility limitations, with USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 transfer rates downgraded to Gen 2, offering 10 Gb/s speeds instead of 20 Gb/s. Still, the drive was instantly recognizable, and its performance in DaVinci Resolve was impressive. When working with HD and 4K video, the transfer rates are sufficient to process footage files through the 4K video editing process with relative ease. While the drive does heat up during use, it’s still warm to the touch rather than hot.
The aluminum casing with this design effectively acts as a heat sink, helping to keep the drive cool under the loads generated by video editing without the need for a fan.
When you switch the drive to a PC equipped with a Gen 2×2 port, you can see the full transfer speeds the drive is capable of. While improvements from Mac systems to PCs can be seen in benchmarks, the difference in real-world applications is less noticeable when editing 4K and HD video in DaVinci Resolve.
The 2 TB capacity was fully utilized throughout the editing process, with 500 GB taken up by raw footage and the remainder by project files. For professional video editors, large projects may require more than 2 TB, but for small offices or business use, it is more than enough.
Throughout real-world testing, the drive performed extremely well when used with DaVinci Resolve and the iPhone 15 Pro’s direct storage media. The SSD meets all the demands placed on it, the case stays warm but not too hot to handle. During the editing process, use benchmarking software to check transfer rates to confirm performance and check for thermal throttling.
Switching to benchmarks creates scores that truly measure drive speed. In CrystalDiskMark, read speeds hit 1897 MB/s and write speeds were slightly higher at 1971 MB/s. ATTO testing showed read speeds of 1730 MB/s and write speeds of 1858 MB/s. This trend is consistent across other benchmarks, such as the AS SSD and AJA System Disk tests.
These results show that the drive is not only good at reading media files for applications like DaVinci Resolve, but also better at writing them. This makes the ZX20L an excellent choice for rendering video and managing target media for files before backing up to NAS or archive storage. The drive’s transfer speed, portability, durability, and cooling capabilities allow it to be used under load for extended periods of time, making it an excellent choice for professionals.
Should you buy Netac ZX20L?
The ZX 20L is a portable SSD with a flair for design, although whether you like it or not comes down to personal taste. Clearly aimed at the gaming community, this drive offers fast SSD transfer rates, making it ideal for storing game data and other related files. However, Netac is also aiming to advance the drive in the video production market, where its ultra-fast transfer speeds make it suitable for reading and writing large video and image files. This enables you to quickly transfer files to editing applications and output edited media back to the drive.
In testing, the ZX 20L was used to store a variety of media types, including videos, images, and even word processing documents. In all tests, it served the needs of applications that access files well. Not surprisingly, smaller files (such as Word documents) load immediately due to their small size. Large Excel files don’t pose a problem either, and the SSD always delivers fast performance. For larger media files like videos and high-resolution images, the SSD maintained its speed and transfer rates, with surprisingly faster writes than reads.
While there are many SSDs on the market that offer similar speeds, including numerous Gen 2×2 options, these SSDs can pose a challenge if your computer lacks the right ports, as you won’t be able to achieve maximum performance. However, the ZX 20L features a full-metal casing that offers enhanced durability and a compact design, with built-in cooling that not only protects the drive but also helps maintain performance over extended periods of use.
If you’re looking for an SSD that’s a little unusual in appearance but delivers great performance (especially in terms of write speeds), the ZX 20L is an excellent choice. However, if you prefer a more traditional design, there are many other options that offer similar transfer speeds.
| Row 0 – Cell 0 | Row 0 – Cell 1 | Row 0 – Cell 2 |
| value | Considering the transfer speed, this is great value | 5 |
| design | Slim design and aluminum casing make it both durable and highly portable | 4.5 |
| feature | The simplest portable SSD focused on overall performance rather than any in-depth features | 4.5 |
| Performance | Fast and basically does exactly what it was designed to do | 5 |
| all | Ultra-fast portable SSD that can withstand a knock or two and deliver the performance you need to edit videos | 4.5 |
Buy it if…
Don’t buy it if…
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