frontpage Posted by Eragorn | Staff • Mar 20, 2025
Mar 20, 2025 7:02 AM
Item 1 of 1
frontpage Posted by Eragorn | Staff • Mar 20, 2025
Mar 20, 2025 7:02 AM
TerraMaster NAS Sale: F2-223 2-Bay $195, F4-210(1G) 4-Bay
& More + Free Shipping$168
$210
20% offNewegg
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Terramaster is the price leader in consumer NAS. I've owned netgear, Synology, and now QNAP. I would say all have been more reliable, and better app support than Terramaster. So you get what you pay for.
You could also get one of the others for storage, and then a ~$125 Intel N100 mini PC to run Plex and any other services.
I put FreeNAS on mine (I think renamed TrueNAS now). It worked until it died about 2 years in and I bought my Synology five years ago, which has received regular and safe updates.
Terramaster customers (on TOS) have had repeated issues with ransomware/malware.
Nevertheless, their cost reflects their qualify.
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Synology >>> this brand all day long but paying more.
My take. Spend the money one time and don't have to worry about it long term.
And synology's actually maintains some residual value if ever want to sell used. I have sold 2 older units and upgraded each time Sticking with synology
I want to rely on open source rather than proprietary if I can help it.
I just need a big cloud storage to offload photos and videos from my iPhones and Macs, and workable speed when I need to transfer/access back and forth between devices and NAS. Would be nice to have a backup copy of the storage just in case.
Which of these should I go with?
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From their FAQ
"To stream remotely starting on April 29, 2025, you will need a Remote Watch Pass or Plex Pass subscription on your account or the admin of the Plex Media Server from which you stream will need a Plex Pass subscription on their account."
Anyway, the reason I want to chime in is I was able to get a free 4GB stick of ram from Terramaster for writing a review. I can't find a link to the official offer anymore but attached is a screenshot with the details from reddit. No idea if it's still valid.
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I started with TrueNAS core.. and then converted to TrueNAS Scale. It's been bulletproof.
I didn't like idea of running off a USB or losing usage if 1 of the m.2 slots, so I got a low profile right angle USB connector (the clearance in the F4-423 is really tight) and a small m.2 nvme external. Double-sided tape and it works great.
Look for YouTube videos in setting up the terramaster
I am running plex on mine, but for only single device streaming.
My primary NAS is still an old QNAP. I'm a long time QNAP user (and Drobo) and looking to eventually migrate everything to TrueNAS Scale for ease of managing replication and backups.
I want to rely on open source rather than proprietary if I can help it.
I just need a big cloud storage to offload photos and videos from my iPhones and Macs, and workable speed when I need to transfer/access back and forth between devices and NAS. Would be nice to have a backup copy of the storage just in case.
Which of these should I go with?
1) use a large capacity low-profile USB and hope it is durable enough to survive all the log writes
2) like me connect USB to an external nvme (they're smaller than SSD). Its not the speed, its the number of writes
3) live with the beeps and have a keyboard every time it reboots (if it's easily accessible, mine is tucked away and I never want to physically interact with it)
4) use one of the 2 internal m.2 slots for the boot Os. (I didn't go this route, but may be easier for your use case)
My primary NAS is an old QNAP since I'm new to TrueNAS Scale. I setup rsync over ssh between the two. (Wireguard tunnel since it's going to different locations).
My take. Spend the money one time and don't have to worry about it long term.
And synology's actually maintains some residual value if ever want to sell used. I have sold 2 older units and upgraded each time Sticking with synology
Synology has terrible hardware for its price, but excellent software. The hardware they announced for 2025 that isn't even out yet is roughly 5 years old and has already been sold on other products of theirs for years.
So, you are going to lose out somewhere. Synology has the absolute best software and worst hardware. Terramaster is always ranked toward the top in terms of hardware, and the bottom for software. Asustor and QNAP are both closer to the middle for hardware and software.
So, you are going to lose out somewhere. Synology has the absolute best software and worst hardware. Terramaster is always ranked toward the top in terms of hardware, and the bottom for software. Asustor and QNAP are both closer to the middle for hardware and software.
I guess that's why people came out with Xpenology? To try the Synology OS on other hardware? Wonder if any of these would be compatible.
So, you are going to lose out somewhere. Synology has the absolute best software and worst hardware. Terramaster is always ranked toward the top in terms of hardware, and the bottom for software. Asustor and QNAP are both closer to the middle for hardware and software.
So, you are going to lose out somewhere. Synology has the absolute best software and worst hardware. Terramaster is always ranked toward the top in terms of hardware, and the bottom for software. Asustor and QNAP are both closer to the middle for hardware and software.
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1) use a large capacity low-profile USB and hope it is durable enough to survive all the log writes
2) like me connect USB to an external nvme (they're smaller than SSD). Its not the speed, its the number of writes
3) live with the beeps and have a keyboard every time it reboots (if it's easily accessible, mine is tucked away and I never want to physically interact with it)
4) use one of the 2 internal m.2 slots for the boot Os. (I didn't go this route, but may be easier for your use case)
My primary NAS is an old QNAP since I'm new to TrueNAS Scale. I setup rsync over ssh between the two. (Wireguard tunnel since it's going to different locations).