F4-423: 4-bay Celeron QuadCore 2.0GHz 4GB RAM

Have used a Zyxel NAS-540 for the last 7 years, my main purpose for it is iTunes library containment and sharing and backup of my PCs. Had a couple HDD failures and decided 7 years was too long for any computer component - and found the Terramaster F4-423 on Amazon through searching for NAS products. The all-aluminum case attracted me to this product as well as the dual fans. Came quickly and well packaged - I also ordered 4x Samsung 1TB SSDs from Amazon via Terramaster’s helpful compatibility list (time to join the 21st century and retire the old HDD spindles!). Very glad I made this purchase - really everything was quite easy for an “advanced novice” to handle. Only challenge on installation was fitting the 2.5” SSDs to the included carriers (the included screws work fine, just a little kludgey at first). The downloadable PC desktop app works like a charm and found my new Terramaster immediately which enabled me to initialize everything with just a few clicks. I put my 4x SSDs in old school RAID-5, but Terramaster includes some nifty advanced data protection algorithms which would be really helpful for having disks of different sizes for sure. Overall it didn’t take too much effort to move data over and start to use the new NAS - I was able to listen to tunes via Sonos within 2 hours of unboxing. There are many many features on the desktop app, most of which I likely won’t use but could see it being helpful for business users like remote access and iSCSI target just for instance. The NIC teaming feature worked amazingly well for a non-CCNA - I told the app what I wanted to do and it offered some options and away it went. Just a well thought out and put together OS, app, and overall design. Nice they included cushioned “feet” for the desk surface as well - small touches that really complete the job.Only wishes: slicker drive carriers that maybe don’t require a screwdriver (again, file under “wouldn’t that be nice!”) and a data migration tool from existing storage would be amazing for those with more rudimentary Windows/networking skills. It may very well have one I just don’t know it’s called - there again are a lot of features.Would highly recommend this to anyone in the market for a well priced, well engineered, and nice looking small NAS!

I've been building PCs for decades, but this is my first NAS. I use it to back up the Windows PCs on our home network by creating boot disk images on a regular basis. I did a decent amount of research on the available options and decided on the Terramaster F4-423. This unit is no longer Terramaster's current model in this line which has resulted in great pricing, and the feature set on this unit will more than meet my needs.I first installed four very old hard drives that I had lying around just to get the unit up and running. However, these drives were not on Terramaster's approved hardware listing and the TOS operating system would not load. Being the impatient person that I am, I downloaded a trial version of Unraid and installed it on the old hard drives. Unraid installed perfectly and I tried a couple of backups. Everything worked fine but the backup time was very slow on Unraid. I later learned that while Unraid offers a lot of benefits, fast write performance is not one of them. Regardless, Unraid worked perfectly on this unit with the old drives.I then installed two 4TB drives that were on Terramaster's approved hardware list, and an M.2 SSD for the hypercache feature. The TOS 5 install worked perfectly on the approved drives. I then upgraded to TOS 6 which is now available on Terramaster's website and the upgrade also worked perfectly. I installed Terramaster's TRAID configuration to ensure I had redundancy. The TRAID drive synchronization took about 8 hours.I was delighted with the backup time using TOS 6. For the 170 GBs that were on my desktop boot drive, the backup time was 2 hours and 28 minutes using Acronis True Image with Terramaster TOS 6. When I had Unraid installed on this unit, the backup time was a staggering 10 hours and 12 minutes using Acronis with Unraid.My only minor gripe is that I have not found a heatsink that will fit on the SSD that I installed in the unit. The clearance between the mounted SSD and the cover is very tight. I have ordered two heatsinks from Amazon and they both prevent the cover from being reinstalled. The thinnest heatsink is only 1/8 inch thick but it still doesn't fit. This is a bit frustrating especially since Terramaster recommends a heatsink for installed SSDs in their installation documentation on their website. For now, I'm just running the SSD without a heatsink.The only other caution that I'll throw out is to be sure that you use the right size Phillips screwdriver for the 6 screws that need to be removed for installation of SSDs or additional memory. They are very tight and if the screwdriver slips you could strip the Philips head which would prevent removal of the cover.Overall, I'm very satisfied with the unit. As I mentioned, I've installed TOS 5, TOS 6, and Unraid and they all work well. Under TOS 5/6, you'll need to use newer hardware and/or hardware on Terramaster's recommended hardware list but this is a good thing, not a negative. The feature set, performance, and price on the F4-423 can't be beat. Highly recommend the unit.