After a long wait, TerraMaster finally offers budget versions of its next-gen NAS devices. The new F2-223 and F4-223 utilize a decent Intel Celeron N4505 CPU, and notably, they support TerraMaster’s TRAID format.
While not as powerful as its 423-series devices, these new TerraMaster NAS products should deliver speedy and power-efficient file backups. And their Intel Celeron N4505 processor is powerful enough for Plex streaming, though it may struggle with multiple instances of hardware transcoding.
Spec-wise, the F2-223 and F4-223 are practically identical. They both run TOS 5 and use the same processor. Plus, they sport a pair of 2.5G Ethernet ports (for up to 5 Gbps with Link Aggregation). The only difference is drive selection—the F2-223 has two drive bays, while the F4-223 has four bays.
You can also upgrade these NAS devices with up to 32GB of dual-channel RAM (they come with 4GB by default), or plug in an NVMe SSD to improve storage efficiency and improve caching.
TerraMaster also included TRAID support in these new NAS devices. The TRAID format is similar to Synology’s Hybrid RAID system, which uses flexible disk array management to offer improved redundancy protection and disk space utilization.
Pricing is obviously the big draw here. The TerraMaster F2-223 costs just $300, while the four-bay F4-223 sells for $440. My only concern is that the 423-series devices, which use a faster processor, only cost about $40 more than these new products.
