Terramaster F4-423 review: it's the cheapest media class 4-bay NAS on the market

Terramaster is a brand we've seen here before at Neowin. I mostly praised the 2-bay F2-223 for being far cheaper than the competition, but at the same time, being a capable file backup and media server option. Now they are back with the slightly larger 4-bay F4-423 which we're taking a look at today.

I've had a little experience with these devices, having owned a QNAP TS-253Be, and now a Synology DS720+ but for me, I only acquired them to do local and cloud backup and run my home theater solution using a combination of Emby and Plex.

All of the aforementioned NAS devices I've owned are media-class, meaning they fully support having Emby or Plex installed on them and streaming over the network, aside from a few other things installed via Docker containers, or being able to follow a clear tutorial, that's about the extent of my expertise into the realm of network-attached storage devices goes; I'm still learning.

Here are the most important specifications:

As you can see, it is virtually the same as the F2-223, with the exception of a slightly better CPU, which is a media-class Intel Celeron N5095 quad core processor that came out in Q1 2021; that's up from the F2-223's dual core Intel Celeron N4505. The F4-423 also ships with just 4 GB of RAM but it supports up to 32 GB, and with memory being relatively cheap these days, it would have been nice to see it tricked out to at least half its maximum supported 32 GB. Even QNAP now ships their latest four-bay TS-464 with 8 GB of memory, and it costs less than $100 more.

First impressions

The packaging is nothing to write home about, and again, the 4-bay option did not come in a comically-oversized box. Minimal packing materials were used. Everything you need to get yourself started is included.

In the box

• F4-423 TNAS device
• Power adapter
• LAN cable (CAT 6)
• Quick guide
• Limited warranty notice
• Screws (for HDD bays)
• Stickers

Design

Although this is a budget device compared to the likes of Synology, you wouldn't think so from the design and build quality, the case is entirely metal and is cool to the touch even after the F4-423 has been powered up all day. It's also quiet. I had this sat next to my computer on my work desk and I did wonder if the noise I was accustomed to with NAS devices would annoy me, but all I could hear was a soft whirring.

On the front, you just have your four bays and power button along with LED indicators for the HDDs, LAN and Power. It would have been nice to have a USB port on the front, but alas, no such joy here.

Around the back, you have your two 2.5 GbE Ethernet ports, an HDMI port, and a connector for the barrel port power source. There's no Kensington Security Slot present which is a bit of a shame considering it's a data storage device.

On the bottom, there are plenty of holes to assist ventilation, however, as was the case with the F2-223, it's not immediately obvious how you can expand the memory or add NVMe storage.

After a bit of looking around, because there is no documentation on how to access the F4-423 to expand memory or NVMe storage, I discovered that I had to remove 10 screws. Six screws around the back fans, and 4 screws on the bottom to remove the bottom plate (which was probably not even needed). After unplugging the two fans, you can then slide out the internal frame to gain access to the empty memory, and two NVMe slots.

An extra memory module can easily be installed on the bottom of the main board, and if you're careful, it's possible to swap out the already included 4 GB module, although there is limited space to do this. Next to the memory module, there's relatively easy access to the CMOS battery too, which means further dismantling can be avoided.

If you need to access the already included 4GB SODIMM you can unscrew the four screws on the PCB (indicated by the four red arrows in the above top left image) and carefully lift off the PCB to disconnect it from the PCIe x4 slot. Now you have access to the 4GB SODIMM so that you can easily replace it for something else.

You may also notice that it is possible to add a couple of M2 SSDs for drive caching, this SSD caching is supported and accounted for in TOS 5.1, but had I not taken the F4-423 apart I would not have known it was possible to add an NVMe, since it is not included in any documentation (although the possibility is mentioned in the specifications).

It's good that some thought has gone into the expandability of the F4-423, but you'll have to remove ten screws to achieve it, so be prepared for some downtime.

Setup

Setup is exactly the same as the F2-223, so there will be no surprises here. Upon connecting to the LAN and booting up, the F4-423 can be reached by navigating to http://tnas.local or if that doesn't work, by the local address assigned via DHCP which you can find using the TNAS PC desktop application, which is essentially a F4-423 finder.

The setup process is exactly the same as the F2-223 so I've left that from the previous review in full below.

Gallery: F4-423 Setup

This time around I used four 1 TB disks to use in the testing since Terramaster said that they no longer supply HDDs with review units. They are three Seagate 7.200rpm desktop class and one WD Black which is decent enough for a quick round of tests. During setup I was suggested to use TRAID, which is the in-house RAID solution, and I went with it.

The Storage Pool took around three and a half hours to complete, which gave me 2.70 TB of storage space (from 4 TB total) and allowed me to do a few file copy tests.

A CrystalDiskMark test on a mapped network drive from within Windows 10 22H2 PC (image above) connected over a 2.5 GbE cross cable didn't show great speeds, but maybe that was down to the old 1 TB drives I was using. With modern NAS class drives, you'll be satisfied, if not really happy with the 2.5 GbE speeds if your network and switches support it.

TOS 5.1 comes with an App Center that has a bunch of handy programs you can install right off the bat such as Emby, Plex, Docker as well as in-house Backup and Surveillance solutions that aren't really in the scope of this review. I did set up Emby as I feel it's important to test the streaming capability of the F4-423. I loaded up some 4K HDR content and it played fine without any stuttering, which was to be expected considering it is the same hardware as the F2-223.

Conclusion

What it comes down to is the quality of the F4-423, and I can say for $499.99 (Amazon) it's a great device, but recommending it will depend on the individual's use case. If you're just looking for a small NAS device to back up your files and take care of your home theater streaming, then it is a great and inexpensive device to purchase. It provides great performance, takes up little space, and is on the whole, very quiet. Four bays even affords proper redundancy using TRAID or RAID 5 and that's good because Terramaster does not sell an expansion kit.

On the other hand, you're saving quite a bit of money in comparison to Synology's DS923+ which costs $599.99, or the $586.64 QNAP TS-464 you're also saving quite a bit of money

The only downside I can think of is that Terramaster is a relative newcomer to the space, and there isn't a lot in the way of community support at present. Coupled with poor documentation and no useful Quick Start leaflet in the box, you'll find yourself immediately searching online for how to set it up. They do have a community forum, but it is not brimming with activity yet, maybe that will change in the future, for me that costs them a point. Its saving grace is absolutely the affordability.

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Update July 26: So, a cool undocumented feature of TOS 5.1 is that Terramaster no longer blocks third party memory sticks. I was able to confirm this by swapping out the official Terramaster 4 GB SODIMM for G.SKILL Ripjaws F4-3200C22D-16GRS (2 x 8 GB kit).

The BIOS even shows that the memory is operating at the maximum supported speed (2933 MHz) for this Intel Celeron N5095 CPU. In addition the same page at Intel says that the maximum supported memory for this chip is 16 GB.

Left: BIOS shows memory | Right: Third party memory accepted in TOS 5.1.41

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As of writing, anyone who lives in a supported country and has bought the F4-423, can apply for a free gift, which is an additional 4 GB of RAM. This takes your total to 8 GB which is more than enough for a small media and file backup server for your home. Be sure to read the instructions on how to successfully apply for the gift, we were gifted ours for the review, so we couldn't participate.

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