Few may know that a Chinese company called Netac was behind the invention of the USB flash drive, one of the milestones in the computer era. Lately, Netac has been diversifying its production into a large variety of products with outstanding performances in SSDs, memory cards, and ever-improving flash drives. It has focused on high capacity and speed for mobile storage, leading to the emergence of affordable mobile SSDs. However, they are larger, less portable, generate heat, and require data cables. Recently, this company has launched a solid-state USB flash drive called Netac US9, small in size, large in capacity, and high in speed to meet the demand for mobile and high-performance storage.
The US9 gives three capacity options — 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB — which satisfy various demands of users. It features the USB 3.2 Gen2 high-speed interface and reaches read and write speeds of 1000MB/s and 920MB/s for the fastest data transfer.
It has both interfaces of USB Type-C and Type-A, hence compatible with desktop PCs, TVs, mobile phones, and notebooks. This product supports various scenarios including design editing, outdoor travel, photography, and gaming.
We have obtained a 1TB Netac US9 solid-state USB drive, and we will carry out tests to evaluate its performance.
Appearance
The Netac US9 solid-state USB flash drive features a zinc alloy supercar-inspired design, offering a premium texture and dual interfaces for diverse needs. Touting its transmission rates and supported specifications and interfaces, it covers packing.
This is further realized with a front and rear made of zinc alloy, and designed with a design language reminiscent of supercars to convey an overall fast and high-quality product. Dimensionally, it’s 82×23×10mm, and weighs around 48.5g for the 1TB version, giving it a full, premium feel.
The design for this drive is of a dual-port type: one USB Type-A and the other a USB Type-C, both supporting USB 3.2 Gen2. The USB-A port has been put into a sports car hood-shaped cover that magnetically opens and closes to help solve problems like dust accumulation and scratching for improved usability.
The bundle also includes a leather case clip, which holds the drive in place to avoid misplacement.
Speed Test: Sequential Read 1064MB/s, Write 980MB/s
By CrystalDiskInfo, Netac US9 solid-state USB flash drive supports the UASP protocol, which is the transmission protocol designed by the USB-IF organization aimed at connecting the serial devices via a USB interface. This is one kind of protocol designed to improve the transmission speed of large-capacity storage devices by 20% and lower CPU utilization, data latency, and waiting time.
The SMART Netac US9 also supports NCQ, TRIM, and GPL functions. Like all other models from this brand, this provides an allocatable space of 931GB where the default file system format is exFAT.
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CrystalDiskMark
The read and the write data transfer rates from CrystalDiskMark tests were about 1064MB/s and 980MB/s for sequential options in both 1GB and 64GB tests, which give very minimal variance for this Netac US9 solid-state USB flash drive.
For 1GB, the random read was 33.42MB/s, and the random write was 78.18MB/s.
In the 64GB test, a bit of an anomaly, the 4K random read and write speeds actually beat expectations, so there could be an incompatibility with the testing software.
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ATTO Disk Benchmark
At a queue depth of 4, write and read speeds for small 0.5KB files were recorded at 13MB/s and 11.6MB/s respectively in the ATTO Disk Benchmark test. Speeds leveled off at 920MB/s write and 1000MB/s read from the 512KB file size onward.
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HD Tune File Benchmark
The file benchmark function of HD Tune Pro is used to test the SLC Cache performance of the Netac US9.
During the test, it held up to a maximum speed of 920MB/s for writing up to data between 250GB before dipping to about 50MB/s thus pointing out that the SLC Cache is around 250GB.
At all times, the reading speed ran stable at 1000MB/s.
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3DMark Storage Benchmark
The 3DMark Storage benchmark is a test of gaming workloads representing real-world activities, such as loading games, saving progress, installing game files, and capturing video streams of gameplay.
On this benchmark, the Netac US9 scored 1055, a read with an average bandwidth of 168.99MB/s and an average access time of 159μs.
While not matching NVMe SSD performance, it outpaces conventional USB flash drives, ideal for gaming storage.
Full Disk, OTG Test, Thermal: Cache Keeps 710MB/s
Full Disk Testing
The Netac US9 has a 931GB capacity, with a theoretical maximum SLC cache of one-third the disk size.
Write 880GB of data into it, and the result can be shown in the following table:
- Up to 250GB: Write speed stayed about 700MB/s, which shows very minor fluctuation.
- Over 250GB: Write speed dropped significantly to around 50MB/s when the capacity exceeded 250GB, which represented leaving the buffer zone.
Mobile Phone OTG
We conducted an OTG test on the Xiaomi 14 Pro, supporting USB 3.2 Gen2 with speeds up to 10Gbps. This time, the test file size was 6.4GB.
- Reading Speed: This was 1.1GB/s at the beginning of its startup period but showed a gradual decline. It initially drops to 35MB/s, stabilizing later at 350MB/s, completing in about 20 seconds. This pattern repeated in multiple tests, indicating a bottleneck in the mobile device.
- Writing Speed: This had stayed pretty much the same from 350-500MB/s throughout and finished in under 20 seconds.
Temperature
- No-Load Temperature: 36°C
- Maximum Temperature in High-Load Read/Write: 53°C
- Maximum Surface Temperature: 43.1°C
The temperature increase in high-speed read/write is apparent, which should be the common side effect of this kind of activity.
Conclusion: A Small Body, High-Speed Portable Database
With a supercar-inspired design, the Netac US9 SSD offers impressive performance and delivers thrilling speed.
Performance:
Tests indicate the Netac US9 hits USB 3.2 Gen2 limits, with over 1000MB/s read and near 1000MB/s write speeds. This is nearly double the speed of a SATA SSD and ten times faster than a USB 3.0 flash drive.
Capacity and Portability:
Netac US9 offers up to 1TB of storage, ideal for large game libraries, videos, and extensive data. It serves as a movable database to assist in killing Petro for limitations in storage.
Compatibility:
It has a dual-interface design with USB Type-C and USB Type-A, ensuring compatibility with various devices. This includes connecting to a mobile phone for external storage, data backup, and reading. Additionally, it supports Win To Go, enabling users to install and run their entire system from the USB flash drive. This allows users to access a familiar environment from anywhere.
Considerations:
Despite its strengths, the Netac US9 slows down when writing over 250GB at once due to typical SSD limitations. This is a consideration to keep in mind.
Verdict:
Netac does it with the US9 solid-state USB flash drive, promising compact high-speed storage with great compatibility. That’s both speed and capacity that make this such a versatile tool for anyone constantly on the go.