The new TerraMaster F5-422 is the first 10GbE solution we have looked at from the company. Like the F4-421 4-Bay NAS we reviewed previously, the F5-422 features a quad-core Intel Celeron J3455 processor and 4GB RAM. With the F5-422 we get an additional drive bay bringing the total to five, and a 10GbE network port. Designed for SMB and advanced users and offers automatic scheduled backups, snapshots, multi-RAID array security. The F5-422 also includes a built-in HDMI port for direct monitor attachment for media uses. Users can also use SSD caching to optimize read/write operations. That feature, however, uses a drive bay lowering available capacity.
TerraMaster F5-422 5-Bay 10GbE NAS Overview
Keeping it in the family, the TerraMaster F5-422 5-Bay NAS looks similar to the F4-421 4-bay NAS we reviewed. Some key exceptions are the additional drive bay and 10GbE network. We see the same TOS operating system and accessory loadout as our previous reviews showed.
After removing the F5-422 from its packing material, we can now take a look at the NAS.
The enclosure of the F5-422 looks identical to other TerraMaster NAS’s, including the F4-421 that we have reviewed before, except for the 5-Bays. Looking at the front, we find a silver power button on the left side with status LED’s above.
The back of the NAS has 2x USB 3.0 ports, both 2x RJ-45 1GbE and 1x RJ-45 10GbE LAN ports, a HDMI port, and the power connector.
Two large 80mm cooling fan takes up the bulk of the space which provides the primary cooling for the NAS.
Accessories included with the F5-422 include:
- Quick Installation Guide
- AC Power Adapter
- AC Power Cord
- 2x RJ-45 LAN CAT6 Cables
- 2x package of assorted hard drive mounting screws
- One small screwdriver
Let us move on to see how to install hard drives into our unit.
Each drive bay can accommodate either a 3.5 in or 2.5 in hard drive or solid-state drive with capacities up to 16TB in size for a total of up to 80TB raw capacity.
The drive trays are not tool-less and will require mounting screws to secure the HDD to the drive tray. After mounting, they slide into the NAS and lock in place.
Let us take a look at the TOS NAS management software before moving on to testing the F5-422.
Hope this trend continues. I think a lot of readers view this as a sweet spot with HD count and 10gb. Of course I wish the prices was half of what they are but hey this is low volume prosumer gear. I would like to add that just a case for 4 or 5 hard drives with nothing else costs north of $100 (new). I’m using a small dell tower for my personal nas and was looking for a convenient way to mount the drives… double sided tape and a case fan were more in my budget xd
What about power consumption at idle, 4K transcoding etc … ?
I’d be interested in seeing results from a raid 10 or 0 array, just to see the best possible numbers this box can dish out. (understanding the disadvantages of not having any protection in raid 0, and the loss of extra capacity at raid 10).
I think it would be good to precise what file system is used on the Test Setup for the different NAS storages compared.
Because from my understanding TerraMaster F5-422 is using Btrfs file system by default, which some are accusing of delivering lower throughput, especially in high I/O demanding processes and when using 10GBe connection (the bottleneck could be far less visible for 1GBe connection). This is why QNAP doesn’t want to support Btrfs for now.. And while Synology support Btrfs, I’m not sure it is set by default.
In addition F5-422 supports EXT4 also, so maybe the performance could be a little better with different file system?
> After turning on the NAS, connecting it to your network, type in “start.terra-master.com” in your browser to bring up the Quick Installation Guide.
I would not buy a NAS that requires internet and manufacturer’s website to be able to configure my local device. Would it be a brick if their website gone down?