One-minute overview
The Netac Z11 is an exterior USB SSD made to draw those that like the concept of encrypted storage however don’t care about remembering passwords.
It’s small at simply 90 x 47 x 8.5mm. Comes with a 35cm lengthy USB cable, a carry pouch and a USB-A to USB-C adapter. Accessible in capacities of 250GB, 500GB or 1TB.
Pre-installed is an utility to organize the drive for encrypted use. Utilizing this instrument, you may register passwords and fingerprints that unlock the contents, and assist is supplied for Admin entry plus an extra ten customers.
What it doesn’t declare is any safety requirements, equivalent to FIPS 197 certification, and we assume it used the AES {hardware} encryption of the SSD module contained in the aluminium case.
That’s one weak point, and there are others.
Accessing the machine requires the app put in on the host methods, however you may’t obtain this instrument from the Netac web site on the time of writing. You may solely entry it from the unused drive. As soon as the drive has been ready to be used, the partition that holds the software program is overwritten. Failure to safe it elsewhere might be a catastrophic downside for the proprietor.
Netac additionally promotes the Z11 as USB 3.2 Gen 2 suitable after which undermines that suggestion by saying that its prime pace is 550MB/s, that’s barely greater than Gen 1 pace.
That efficiency cap hints that the Z11 is a SATA SSD, not an NVMe, which underneath Gen 2 could be able to round 1,000MB/s switch speeds.
The ultimate difficulty right here is availability or, reasonably, the whole lack of it. Regardless of it being given a number of net pages on the Netac website, we failed to seek out it on the market wherever.
Netac Z11: Pricing and availability
- How a lot does it price? $89 for 1TB mannequin
- When is it out? Unknown
- The place are you able to get it? Unknown
We’d like to inform you what this drive prices and the place to get it, however we are able to’t discover it or any costs. The one trace we discovered was a single provider who quoted the 500GB mannequin for round 110 Euros, though they’d no inventory, and people costs could be inaccurate.
Netac tells us that the official value for the 1TB mannequin is $89. A value that appears very cheap, for those who might truly purchase one for that.
Hopefully, Netac will convey this product to market in a much less digital style in some unspecified time in the future.
Netac Z11: Specs
| Mannequin Examined | NT01Z11-001T-32SL |
| Capacities | 250GB/500GB/1TB |
| Capability examined | 1TB |
| Examined sequential efficiency (Learn/Write) | 558/489 MB/s |
| Connection | USB 3.2 Gen 2 utilizing Sort-C |
| Encryption | {Hardware} |
| Dimensions | 90mm x 47mm x 8.5mm (WxHxD) |
| Weight | 54g |
| Guarantee | 5 years restricted |
Netac Z11: Design
- Steel case
- Pouch
- USB-A and USB-C
As exterior SSD drives go, the Netax Z11 is properly made. The case seems to have been milled from a block of aluminium, enabling it to radiate the warmth of use simply.
On the right-hand finish is a USB-C port that connects to the supplied cable, and subsequent to that’s an omnidirectional fingerprint reader and an exercise LED.
Included within the field is a pretend leather-based carry pouch and a Netac branded USB-C adapter. As good as these equipment are, the one that designed the pouch wasn’t knowledgeable in regards to the cable or adapter. Sadly, neither suits with the drive in that pouch.
As an idea, the Z11 seems attention-grabbing, because it means that biometric manufacturing might be added to the drive, which it may well. Whereas the out there sizes of 256GB, 512GB and 1TB aren’t stretching the boundaries of cell storage, that’s nonetheless sufficient to be helpful for many who wish to carry delicate paperwork round.
Nevertheless, the Achilles heel of the Z11 is how the safety is applied and a spectacular lack of ahead planning by those that made it.
However not less than it helps each USB-A and USB-C out of the field.
Netac Z11: Software program
- Easy software program
- Foolish set up flaw
Insert the Z11 for the primary time, and an unencrypted quantity will seem with a software program utility on it that can be utilized to configure and put together the drive.
No matter you do, don’t set up this utility with out making a replica of it to an area drive.
Why? As a result of while you run it, and it configures the drive for encrypted use, it obliterates the utility, and you will want to put in that on any machine you want to entry the machine.
We, stupidly, looking back, ran it from the drive, and when it had completed, we didn’t actually have a copy on the machine we ran it from, extremely.
For those who assume that received’t be an issue as a result of you may obtain it once more from Netac, then suppose once more. We couldn’t discover it there.
We contacted Netac assist and requested for a hyperlink to the software program, no response but.
The one ray of sunshine solid by Netac on the Z11 was that its SSD utility recognised the drive and knowledgeable us that we had been utilizing the newest firmware.
Total, the software program facet of this equation isn’t good for finish customers in its present state, and we are able to solely hope Netac addresses this transferring ahead.
Netac Z11: Efficiency
- SATA efficiency
- {Hardware} encryption
|
Bench |
Learn MB/s |
Write MB/s |
|---|---|---|
|
AJA system |
525 |
470 |
|
ACT |
532 |
468 |
|
AS SSD |
527 |
462 |
|
CrystalDiskM. |
542 |
476 |
The efficiency of this drive is suitable if you’re pleased with 550MB/s and don’t have entry to Gen 2 or Thunderbolt-connected exterior storage.
We examined it throughout a spread of benchmarks, and so they all got here up with comparable numbers. These are the degrees of efficiency we’d anticipate from a SATA-connected SSD, and if the drive is genuinely USB 3.2 Gen 2, then many of the bandwidth is wasted.
The one redemption right here is that utilizing encryption doesn’t have a noticeable impression on pace, because the drive controller is required to do extra work.
If it’s good to carry encrypted storage and have a aircraft to catch, we’d advocate both the Essential X10 or the Kingston XS2000 as a substitute.
Verdict
I’m not positive tips on how to finest summarise this product, because it fairly clearly doesn’t seem prepared for the retail market. Whereas the idea appears believable, the truth is that the Z11 isn’t a product that is able to compete with the likes of iStorage and even Samsung.
When the software program is extra mature and doesn’t get erased after you’ve used it, then this could be an reasonably priced selection for many who wish to journey with encrypted storage.
Nevertheless, that’s not the place we’re presently.
Ought to I purchase the Netac Z11
| Worth | Not extensively out there | 2 / 5 |
| Design | A well-made machine, however the carry pouch doesn’t maintain the cable or adapter | 3 / 5 |
| Software program | This software program will self-destruct | 1 / 5 |
| Efficiency | SATA drive efficiency ranges | 3 / 5 |
| Total | A product with a mile but to go on its journey | 3 / 5 |
Purchase it if…
Do not buy it if…
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