6.5.2019

I bought this NAS drive for my wife so that she could keep all of her data separate from mine and give her the freedom to manage it herself and structure her data to her preference.It was also intended for her to use it to stream media files to the TV - more on this later.I previously bought a 4 bay TerraMaster NAS drive which we currently use to store all data and stream media files. This has been working very well and we are more than happy with it. Hence the decision to buy another TerraMaster.So back to the review of the F2-210, I bought two secondhand 2Tb WD green drives. These were installed and drive device was connected up and switched on. When I tried to find the device using my PC and the installed TerraMaster software,it was not found - I could only see my existing NAS drive.It turned out that when installing, you need to have only one drive on the network, so I had to power down my 4-bay TerraMaster and then power the F2-210 on again.This time it found it and I was able to get the TOS installed and get the drives set up with RAID-0 giving me about 4Tb.I then used the web interface to select my preferences on the System settings and I installed the TerraMaster Multimedia Server app. I then proceeded to start copying files. I decided to copy the video files to the folder "Video" and the pictures to the folder "Photo".As the NAS drive is connected by a gigabit ethernet, I was not expecting transfer rates more than 110 MB/s and when reading files to an SSD drive on my PC, this is the read rate I got. Writing to the drives was a little slower though averaging between 70-100 MB/s - maybe installing the Multimedia Server first affected the write time as it was probably trying to update its library on the fly.Once all the files had been copied over, I tried to find the device on my Samsung Smart TV. I found the DLNA device but only a handful of video files were showing - where were they?So I wiped the drive and instead used the folder "Public" for multimedia and re-copied the files - this then workedI then turned my old TerraMaster back on again and the new HAS drive was no longer visible from the TV.I realised that I needed to use separate ports for each NAS drive, so I changed the port on the F2-210 and rebooted it.I could now see both DLNA devices. So I tried playing some video files. It all worked EXCEPT when it came to fast-forward. So I contacted the previously very helpful tech support and they told me that the F2-210 is different to my 4-bay NAS and fast-forwarding will not work at the moment.This was the only disappointment I have had with the system - hence 4 stars instead of 5.Lastly I wanted to see how the quad core processor would cope. So I got the system doing lots of things at once. streaming video files, playing music, viewing holiday pics on my PC and installing another app.There was a definite slowing down, but in general it seemed to cope very well.All in all, I like this system as a NAS storage device. There are so many apps available that I will never use, but hopefully someone will.

19.4.2019

Hardware:The case is a single piece of aluminum with caps made of plastic at the ends.The plastic however matches nicely with the aluminum and the overall look is good and sleek reminiscent of another company products which rock astronomical prices and overcharges.Hard drives are easy to fit and snap securely in place with reassuring feel to the mechanism. On the back you will find 2 USB3 ports quite handy for transfer of data using usb external drives. The Lan port is a gigabit which is great and using a good quality lan cable gives you light fast speeds. The fan is quiet enough not to be noticed and chances are you will hear the hard drives before you hear the fan.It came with screws and

29.8.2019

So this is the second Terra-Master NAS I purchased. The first one (F2-220) has been with me for over a year and the only hiccups have been with the software, but an email to the UK customer support helped solve them right away. This new device ships with TOS 4 (their latest operating system) which is a huge step forward from previous versions. Hardware installation is very simple, you'll need a screw driver to attach your SATA HDDs to the trays but beyond that it's all hot swappable without issues. Software installation is straightforward as well once you follow the instructions on their website. The "app store" has around 30 apps at the moment including the most common functions of a NAS like file server (SAMBA,

18.6.2019

I have been a QNAP user over the years and rely mainly on a Ts-251+ but still have a rather old TS-109 and TS-110. They are slow and the F2-210 promised a much welcomed jump in performance. The installation and setup procedure is very clear. Just that for me it did not work as I could not login to the NAS. Turns out I was expecting this to happen in the desktop app TNAS PC. The login procedure simply opens a browser window. Then when you log in the system recognises it has not been setup and starts the initialization process. This creates a default share called "public" and you can map that to a drive in Windows. I initially only installed one HDD. So next I added a 2nd HDD.

13.11.2019

I was very frustrated during the initial setup, the desktop software that you are instructed to install didn't work and I had to trawl through their website to get an older version of the software which eventually installed. Having done that and installed the software, it then failed to launch so my initial impression was not great!After some research, i discovered that the primary reason to install the software initially is to scan the network for the IP address of the device and so, after a quick network scan, I simply browsed to the web interface of the device to access it. The desktop software does have additional functionality apparently but it never worked for me and you don't need it anyway.After that it was plain sailing with an efficient setup process,

21.2.2020

I actually sent this back, but it is still worth a positive review.If you want the cheapest 2-bay NAS possible, this is the one I would go for. It has the same hardware specification as the Synology DS218play while being over £40 cheaper.It has plenty of features too, Plex works, there is Docker allowing to install a range of superb web apps. As far as a backup solution, there is nothing wrong with it at all.However, Synology has a wider range of apps, as well as extensive mobile and desktop apps, so I ended upgrading to that.Depending on your requirements, I wouldn’t really recommend a 2-bay solution, they are limited and you will lose half the storage to parity.

19.6.2020

I own both a F2-210 and a F5-422 and can confirm these are both fantastic devices in a compact form factor. Whilst the likes of QNAP and Synology offer a lot more apps, most of which you will never use but the under pinning hardware is functionaly identical with a slick OS on top. I use the F2-210 as a local RAID1 onsite back up for the F5-422 that is deployed as a Plex and bittorrent server. both tick all the boxes and the F5 even comes with built in 10gbe! Something you will need to spend further on up the product stack of other makes. I have also owned a Synology DS418play and can honestly say there is no functional difference.Support has been great for both times I have used them,

4.6.2020

I bought this primarily as a backup for work files, but also as a Plex media server and am happy to say it does both of these jobs very well. Setup is simple enough - it's always going to require a little fiddling based on individual systems - but the software that comes with the NAS is easy to use and there's a decent help file. I had no major issues getting Plex up and running as it comes with an app specifically for that. When I did have a few problems otherwise (mostly due to my own lack of knowledge) TerraMaster's email tech support was always quick and friendly in their responses and solved whatever problems I had.My NAS contains a mix of hard drive sizes and models and all are playing well together so far.

14.5.2020

I purchased this NAS as the pricing was really competitive against other brands. This is my first NAS so didn't want to spend too much!The main case is metal and robust. The Front rear panels are plastic as are the drive trays. UI is pretty intuitive too. Drives were installed (screws and screwdriver included) within minutes and unit is fully operational. I must say that I can hardly hear the fan even with the unit installed behind my TV.One of the selling points for me was the fact that I can use this with Plex to view my photos/videos etc.Other reviews online that I had seen about TerraMaster NAS products were positive and helped me make my decision.

2.5.2020

After a bit of a rocky start these guys have made good and I can do exactly what I need to do. Create iscsi targets, aggregate links and run Plex comfortably.The App Store is plentiful and device can support docker which allows you to run apps without needing full stack os environments for what you need to do.Comparable hardware and noticeably cheaper than other brands.If any nitpicking is to be done I’d say it’s the firmware, but, if you know what you are doing you can get round those issues. It is a little plastic-y but mine is in a (well ventilated!) cupboard and keeps quite enough. Even with 5 disks spinning at full toot.

24.6.2019

Very good value for money ! Things to know : it’s very good for full HD films , music and pictures !But if you want watch 4K films I recommend F2-220 as this one struggling a little with transcoding.Although I must say it’s a great peace of gear and I’m very pleased withe performance, aluminium case make it durable plus it’s very quiet!Terra master support is simply astonishing and I have never seen such a quick email responseTruly recommend for HD films and other multimedia content, working great on Plex and Emby , could have more apps available but I assume it will come with time !Thanks !

24.4.2019

This is my first nas and I picked a perfect one to start off with. Super easy to install hard drives and fortunately comes with a screw driver, so you don't have to find one.Once hard drives are installed you just need to follow the online instructions and your set up in no time. Just a word of warning that any hard drives you install will need formatting first.

21.5.2020

This wasn't the simplest to set up for my Mac and I had a few problems (mainly my fault, it has to be said). There is a setting within the web-app which sets the unit to be used by Time Machine. I also had problems with my own multiple wi-fi networks. I have to say that the tech support were excellent and very responsive and fixed my problems quickly.

25.7.2019

It is a very versatile backup machine takes some getting used to and I found playing with the settings before backing up a good idea to get what I wanted out of it very good machine

Terra Master F4-210 - Reviews

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