The TerraMaster F8 SSD Plus ($799.99) is an eight-bay NAS (community hooked up storage) machine that makes use of M.2 NVMe SSD drives to ship quick, whisper-quiet networked storage. It would not take up lots of desktop area, and our in depth testing exhibits that it is easy to put in and configure, but it surely doesn’t come low-cost, nor does its excessive worth embody the costly SSD media you will have to populate it. In the event you can dwell with 5 or 6 bays as a substitute of eight, the $449 Asustor Flashstor FS6706T is a extra inexpensive SSD-based various that provides considerably extra apps than the F8 SSD Plus does, whereas the Editors’ Selection-winning Synology DiskStation DS1522+ is finest for individuals who do not want SSD pace however nonetheless have in depth community storage necessities. Design: The Smallest Eight-Bay NASAt 7.0 by 2.2 by 5.4 inches (HWD) the F8 SSD Plus is well probably the most compact eight-bay NAS we’ve come throughout. It’s almost an identical in measurement to the Ugreen NASync DXP480T Plus, a four-bay SSD NAS that measures 2.0 by 7.0 by 5.6 inches. The F8 SSD Plus makes use of a black enclosure that’s principally however not utterly tool-free; you possibly can take away the casing by unscrewing a thumb-turn screw, however you’ll have to make use of a small Philips screwdriver to safe the SSDs utilizing the included lock-down screws. TerraMaster features a screwdriver within the field, together with eight warmth sinks for the SSDs and adhesive pads. You will additionally discover rubber bands for attaching the warmth sinks to the drives, an influence brick, and a LAN cable.
(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)
In response to TerraMaster, this NAS helps a complete inner storage capability of 64TB utilizing eight 8TB M.2 SSDs, however the firm doesn’t really checklist any 8TB SSDs on the compatibility chart. The biggest-capacity suitable SSD is a 4TB Western Digital WD Crimson SN700, which prices round $400. In the event you use these drives, populating the F8 SD Plus with 32TB of storage will run you someplace within the $3,000 vary. Add within the worth of the NAS itself, and also you’ve received a really costly community storage resolution. By the use of comparability, the $699.99 DiskStation DS1522+, a five-bay NAS that makes use of conventional SATA exhausting drives, could be populated with 5 8TB drives (for a complete of 40TB) for round $900.
(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)
There aren’t any standing LEDs on the F8 SSD Plus, though the ability change on the highest of the enclosure does glow inexperienced when the machine is powered on. All the I/O ports are positioned round again, together with a 10GbE LAN port, a USB-C port, two USB 3.2 Kind-A ports, an HDMI port, and an influence jack.
(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)
The F8 SSD Plus makes use of an 8-core Intel Core i3 N305 CPU with a most increase pace of three.8GHz, and is populated with 16GB of DDR5 reminiscence (expandable to 32GB). It makes use of two 50mm followers to maintain issues cool, and helps 4K video decoding. Supported RAID configurations embody Single, JBOD, RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID5, RAID 6, and RAID 10, in addition to TerraMaster’s TRAID and TRAID + (extra on these configurations beneath).The F8 SSD Plus makes use of the brand new TOS 6 working system. It presents a redesigned person interface that does away with the desktop icons used to open applications and as a substitute locations them in a navigation bar on the prime of the display. Different enhancements embody animated results, enhanced safety, and the addition of TRAID +, an enhanced model of TerraMaster’s TRAID hybrid RAID configuration that gives failure redundancy for 2 drives moderately than one drive.
(Credit score: TerraMaster)
The TOS navigation bar incorporates icons for Begin, File Supervisor, All Purposes, Backup, Management Panel, App Heart, Docker Supervisor, and Assist and Assist. The Begin icon opens a display with just lately visited purposes, and the File Supervisor icon is used to create folders, copy and transfer recordsdata, assign permissions, and seek for file and folder names. The All Purposes icon takes you to a display the place you possibly can view all put in software icons, and the Backup icon opens a display with a menu containing a number of backup options, together with Enterprise Backup Suite, Time Machine, Full System Backup, and CloudSync. The Management Panel icon opens a menu display the place you possibly can set person privileges, create person teams, configure community settings and file providers, and entry different settings. The App Heart is the place you go to obtain apps, which may flip the F8 SSD Plus right into a media server, backup repository, surveillance heart, photograph supervisor, and extra. You get 49 apps in complete in contrast with the Asustor FS6706T’s roster of greater than 270 apps. The Docker Supervisor is used to create containers for purposes the place they’ll run in an remoted atmosphere, and the Assist and Assist icon helps you to report bugs, entry assist recordsdata, and search group boards.Testing the F8 SSD Plus: Aggressive Learn and Write SpeedsPreparing the F8 SSD Plus for first use is comparatively straightforward. I put in eight 250GB Western Digital WD Crimson SN700 NVMe drives (equipped by TerraMaster), secured them with the lock-down screws, and hooked up a warmth sink to every drive utilizing the equipped rubber bands. I related the NAS to the identical router that my desktop PC was related to and downloaded TerraMaster’s TNAS utility for Home windows.
(Credit score: TerraMaster)
I began the utility, and the machine was immediately recognized. I then waited about 10 minutes for the utility to put in the TOS working system, at which level the machine restarted. I created a superuser identify and password, gave the machine a reputation, and entered a safety e-mail deal with. I chosen Default as my initialization technique, which configured the NAS utilizing TRAID to yield a complete storage capability of 1.52TB. After 35 minutes, the drives have been synchronized, and the F8 SSD Plus was prepared for testing.To check NAS file switch efficiency, we document learn and write occasions by transferring a 4.9GB folder containing a mixture of music, video, photograph, and workplace doc recordsdata between the NAS and a desktop PC. For my first set of checks, I related the F8 SSD Plus to a 2.5GbE change and related my desktop PC to the identical change utilizing its 10GbE LAN port. Right here, the F8 SSD Plus turned in respectable scores of 288MBps on each checks. Nevertheless, each the DXP480T Plus and the FS6706T turned in scores of 306MBps on the write check and 288MBps on the learn check. For comparability, the TerraMaster F4-424, a four-bay NAS that makes use of conventional platter exhausting drives for storage, scored 178MBps (write) and 280MBps (learn) on the multi-gig checks.
For the subsequent set of checks, I related the NAS and the desktop PC to the 1GbE LAN ports of my router. The F8 SSD Plus scored 116MBps on each the write and the learn checks underneath these situations, as did the FS6706T and the DXP480T Plus. The TerraMaster F4-424 managed 83MBps on the write check and 116MBps on the learn check, in the meantime.Verdict: It’s going to Price You Method Extra Than $800The TerraMaster F8 SSD Plus is an efficient selection for residence energy customers or small companies that require the pace of an SSD NAS and don’t have a lot desktop actual property. It performs nicely and is simple to handle utilizing TerraMaster’s spiffy new TOS 6 working system. Then again, its $800 worth is prohibitive, and it will price much more than that if you happen to populate it at most capability. What’s extra, it doesn’t include many apps. If you may get by with a five- or six-bay NAS, the Asustor Flashstor FS6706T or the Synology DiskStation DS1522+ are higher selections.
Execs
Small kind issue
Straightforward to put in
Speedy efficiency
Quiet
View
Extra
Cons
Costly
Makes use of expensive SSDs for storage, which aren’t included
Restricted collection of apps
The Backside Line
The TerraMaster F8 SSD Plus is a compact eight-bay NAS machine that makes use of M.2 NVMe media for storage. It’s a powerful performer, however each it and the storage drives it requires are costly, and it presents solely a small collection of apps.
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About John R. Delaney
Contributing Editor
I’ve been working with computer systems for ages, beginning with a multi-year stint in buying for a serious IBM reseller in New York Metropolis earlier than ultimately touchdown at PCMag (again when it was nonetheless in print as PC Journal). I spent greater than 14 years on employees, most just lately because the director of operations for PC Labs, earlier than hitting the freelance circuit as a contributing editor.
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