TERRAMASTER F4-424 NAS Storage 4Bay - N95 Quad-Core CPU, 8GB DDR5 RAM, 2.5GbE Port x 2, Network Attached Storage with High Performance (Diskless)

I was not sure what to think as I did a lot of research on different NAS options before buying this one. I had HDD so I only needed the case and MB. The case and bay storage has great build quality and really easy to use. Their is no noise from the unite unless the HDD are spinning and your noise level will fluctuate based on the drives you install. The functionality of all of the hardware is great and really straight forward. The Software is not the most intuitive but there are plenty of good resources online.

Great little device that is both powerful and relatively quiet. Very easy to get access to everything internally that you might want to, and was a relative breeze to load it with the OS/Software I wanted to run on it.

I got the F4-424 intending to use it with Unraid. It works well, but there were some quirks I hit so I wanted to share what I found.I wanted to upgrade it to 32 GB of RAM. Reports conflicted online if it actually supports 32 GB or if it tops out at 16 GB. I ordered a stick of Crucial RAM 32GB DDR5 4800MHz CL40 -- CT32G48C40S5, and installed it... and the system was immediately unstable. I tried Memtest 86+ and it almost immediately failed. I exchanged the Crucial RAM, and the replacement also failed Memtest. (The stock 8 GB of RAM passed just fine so I knew it wasn't the system itself.) I then tried a 32 GB stick of Patriot PSD532G48002S and it passed! I doubt I got two bad sticks of Crucial RAM so something might be inherently incompatible here, but the Patriot RAM is cheaper anyway so it’s fine.Another quirk is around fan speeds. In the bios I initially set the fan manually to 100 thinking it was 100%, but Unraid quickly complained about drive temps hitting around 50 to 55c. I popped back into the bios and tried changing the fan speed to something higher and it turns out the scale is 0-255, not 0-100. I set it to 255 and it’s no longer silent, but it’s not terribly loud either. Drive temps are now under 30c all the time. It also seems like from the front it has poor air intake, but interestingly the Terramaster logo on each side is made up of many holes and serves as an air intake as well, so keep the area to the left and right of the NAS clear.Another reviewer mentioned it but the internal USB drive is tight, the Sandisk Ultrafit they recommended worked well though. You do have to take the motherboard out to swap this but it’s not terribly difficult. Everything else is really easy to do including installing M.2 SSDs.I do wish the F4-424 had more than one USB-A external port. I have 3 devices total to connect which doesn’t seem excessive but still had to get a USB hub.

Did WAY more homework than i should when choosing the F4-424. Got it in and set it up. Took a full 20 hours for the 8tbx2 Hdd's to sync. All is good! Moved and added 3tb of data.Now for Port bonding - Couldn't figure out how to enable port bonding as it said it could. Theres no manual included which is find cause evrything is online now right? Umm NOPE! had to contact support via chat to find the answer. After an hour, they had ZERO idea how to navigate there own product! A day later and hours of scrolling, found a forum post that explained it. OK that's done.M.2 for Cache - 500gb x 2 - Yea good luck with that! All these YT'ers videos show how easy it is to install, but yet not one shows that you have to go into the "TOS" program to set them up... Just try to search online how this is done... After more days of scrolling you'll find ONE POST from Terra Master that says "its not possible at this time for TOS 5.1.x" Only TOS 6.x supports this.. but there is no TOS 6!TOS 5.1? - The GUI is TOS 5.1.x but every single support doc says 6.x?? ok so there is a new update.. Umm, No, no there is not. All this talk about 6.x but yet no information on 6.xPower Off - Needed to power off for a moment. Turned it back on and NOT DETECTED. You can NOT power it off and keep Port Bonding... Have to unplug one port, find IP then connect, and THEN plug 2nd port back in..Adding HDD's - Its now time to add 2 more 8tbx2 for a vol 2 and set them up for use on the network. O.M.G... The short, still not happening.. will NOT provide an IP - The switch and or router showes ZERO proof its connected to anything. Go to search how to fix and find that all the "Help" is in Chinese websites with no "Translate to English" to be found. $1200 NAS and I'm using a translator app via my cell phone camera to search web pages...The BEEPS - Yes, theres an error somewhere, but with no manual (just a quick set up guide), no English support web sites just social media forums, (Most in Chinese) that take days to scroll through to find a post that is kinda close to your issue...There is no reason spending $500 plus $700 of HDD's and need to do this much foot work. Why I cant do a quick search for a FAQ, get support or connect a $1200 brick to a network...Do yourself a favor, just try search what issues a typical NAS might have, (like what do the beeps mean?) then attempt to search Terra Masters pages to find an answer.... You will quickly see why choosing another brand is a better option...Im so upset that im writing this, I really wanted to LOVE this brand. But just feel the amount of work that ive done for what should be a SIMPLE insert HDD's plug it in and go had been 7 days of finding answers to small problems that should be super easy to find.

Using this as a backup for my primary server. Easy to setup and use.

There was an issue with downloads not validating, so couldn’t use them. Their website was the only one with download issues.. Tech support chat asked me what did I want them to do? Literally no help from them at all. The software is bare bones at best. No options at setup for 2tb ssd I was going to use for cache. It was made part of the drive array. I’m returning the unit and buying another brand where I was able to chat with support pre-purchase and download the docs and software for the unit. Que sera. Caveat Emptor.