With the F2-422 model the growth of the Terra-Master brand continues in the NAS sector, both at the software level and in the hardware equipment, here with a 10 Gbit card. An interesting solution for those who want a solid product without many frills, with a careful eye on the budget (and on offer for Cyberlayman readers with a special discount at this address).
Terra-Master F2-422, the review
Austere but with style
Aesthetically, the new Terra-Master F2-422 does not differ from the other products of the Asian house line: a satin metal case accompanies the two drives on the front that can accommodate both 3.5 “mechanical disks and 2.5” drives. , since in the box there are two bags for the dedicated screws. The drives are made of plastic and are released by means of a front spring.
Satin metal case and plastic sleds, the appearance is not very original but it works
The product is designed more for the office than for the living room, even if the total design has an austerity that can be interesting. Also on the front are the LEDs that indicate activity and the power button: the traditional USB connector is missing, which is sometimes really useful, even for maintenance operations.
In the back, however, there is profound richness: two USB-A connectors accompany two other 1 Gigabit Ethernet on RJ45, a 10 Gbit Ethernet connector, the power connector (with external power supply) and an HDMI connector. We tried to connect the NAS to a display: but the output, we were told, is only for diagnostics and cannot be used for other purposes.
The contents of the package: in addition to the NAS, the power supply, a network cable, screws and screwdriver
Disks and attentions
We used two drives for the installation, a 12TB Seagate IronWolf mechanical and a 512GB wrk SSD from Angelbird. Having only two slots in the test drive (but there is also a 4-drive version) the possibilities to play with RAID are limited, and we first opted for a RAID 1, then changed to a two single drive.
A rather bizarre feature of all the Terra-Master units tested is that the disks do not have to contain any operating system inside to be seen correctly during the initialization phase: we therefore proceeded to reset the two units using an Inateck Docking Station and in fact after the process was completely smooth.
Note that the type of formatting chosen is irrelevant, because Terra-Master F2-422 will then initialize the disks again and that it is valid only for the first drive, for the second it is not necessary.
Simplicity reigns
Once you have inserted the discs, connected everything and turned on the unit, just download TNAS PC from the Mac App Store to find it on the network, and then follow the browser instructions to complete the process.
It is interesting to note how now TOS, Terra-Master's operating system, also implements Btrfs, a more modern and secure filesystem than Ext4, more commonly adopted at the level of NAS on the market.
As for the use of TOS, the system is growing a lot, in terms of graphic interface via the web as well as in the Apps available in the Store, which despite being in a limited number, leans towards all the most important ones, from Plex to AWS, from Dropobox to OneDrive, from Ruby to Docker via iTunes Server, Mail server, Git and various backup systems.
The strong point of the TOS system is simplicity: perhaps Terra-Master F2-422 can be accused of being too elementary in some functionalities, but it is certainly a simple product, in which just a few clicks are enough for the most important operations and which is not lost. in complex configurations.
If you want a reliable archive, an easy-to-configure back-up, a cloud synchronization module or a tank for some services like Plex, for which in the end the interface is made by the third company and TOS only hosts the service , then this NAS will make you happy. For the rest, the graphic growth is there, even if some details are still too elementary compared to the competitors on the market.
The TNAS Mobile App, here on an iPhone
How it works
Operation was flawless in the test period – we used Terra-Master F2-422 as a backup unit and played around with some services. We do not deny that the most important aspect was certainly the test carried out with the 10 Gbit card, in relation to a Mac mini 2018 with a 10 Gbit network card (an option that can now also be inserted in iMacs, while it is series on iMac Pro and Mac Pro).
From this point of view Terra-Master F2-422 was really impressive, with values (on a 10 GbE network with SSDs) really important. Among other things, we noticed that the Mac mini communicates on the network faster using the SMB protocol instead of AFP, consolidating what Apple says that for a couple of versions it has set SMB as default on macOS.
Obviously part of the result goes to the processor, an Intel Apollo J3455 Quad-core 1.5 GHz with 4 GB of RAM (expandable to 8), which makes every operation faster, and the Terra-Master F2-422 on paper one of the most capable models. in the market in its sector.
The results of the speed test performed by a Mac mini with 10 GbE card on a shared volume in AFP and SMB
Considerations
The shape is, as we have said, austere and the product does not differ aesthetically at all from the brothers F2-210 or F4 220, however we are faced with a very interesting product from the hardware point of view, and with solid software and in growth.
The Terra-Master F2-422 is an essential NAS, which keeps its promises on network speed, a very important factor in an office perspective, and which is designed to store documents directly or as a backup but which also has in its App Store different services that from an SMB perspective can become useful.
Finally, the price is, as is the Terra-Master tradition, very interesting and absolutely competitive, both for the profuse power and for the 10 GbE connection.
The back, where the Ethernet ports and the HDMI connector appear, unfortunately this is only for maintenance
Pros:
• Powerful, fast, silent • Simple and affordable for everyone • The 10 GbE connection is very good • Excellent price / performance ratio
Cons:
• Unoriginal case • A front USB socket is missing
Price:
• 359.99 Euros (Terra-Master F2-422 two-bay diskless) • 499.99 Euros (Terra-Master F4-422 four-bay diskless) • 312.71 Euros (Seagate IronWolf 12 TB) • 264 .90 Euro (Angelbird 512 GB wrk SSD)
Terra-Master F2-422 is available starting from the parent company's website page, or even from the Amazon.it pages (at this link also with a special exclusive discount for Cyberlayman) in the nude version. We used a 12TB Seagate IronWolf drive and 500GB SSD from Angelbird Technologies for the review.
