TerraMaster F4-423 M.2 Setup Advice?

Yuri Lowell on 23/12/2023 - 10:14
Last edited 23/12/2023 - 10:16

Recently purchased the TerraMaster F4-423 from Amazon. Won't arrive till the New Year so I have time to collect the necessary upgrades but I'm a bit conflicted on the best way to go.

I'm considering the TimeTec 2x16GB 2666 dual rank non-ECC non-XMP SODIMMs. I opted for 2666 because the CPU seems to only support 2933 and didn't want to risk a 3200 kit that doesn't have a 2933 mode. Not sure if dual rank matters. TerraMaster's recommended options are extremely out of date but I'm pretty sure it uses Micron memory so I'm hoping these will work.

As for the two M.2 slots, both are PCI-e Gen3 x1 so max out at around 1000mb/s. I'm really stumped here and came up with these configurations:

Note: 32GB of RAM lets you use up to 3.2TB for cache.

Option 1: Cheap 1TB drive for OS install, mid-range 2TB drive for cache - Installing OS entirely on the 1TB and using the 2TB for cache (most cost efficient).

Option 2: 2x mid-range 2TB for install/cache - installing OS and cache on one 2TB and using the second 2TB entirely for cache (would give the full 3.2TB for cache - but not sure if possible and combines OS with cache).

Option 3: Cheap 1TB drive for OS install, mid-range 4TB drive for cache - Installing OS entirely on the 1TB and using the 4TB for cache but 800GB goes to waste (expensive and wasteful).

What do you guys think? I'm leaning towards option 1 and 2 because they are cheaper (do you really need 3.2TB of cache, although it'd be nice to set and forget), however, I'm not sure if Option 2 is even possible sharing the OS and cache on one drive and the potential performance penalty that could bring. Option 3 really simplifies things while maximising everything but is fairly expensive compared to the other two.

Thanks for any advice.

Computing

Comments

  • freefall101 on 23/12/2023 - 12:41

    What are you using the NAS for? Is there a specific need that requires maxing out cache?

    There's a 512GB drive on amazon right now for $37, I'd use that for the OS - https://www.amazon.com.au/Silicon-Power-512GB-Gen3x4-SP512GB…

    • Yuri Lowell on 23/12/2023 - 18:37

      My main aim at the moment is just to centralise all my storage into one location and plan to use the 2.5GBps ports with a high-end router. Other than that, mostly just experimenting, maybe an FTP server or PLEX. It's more a hobby outside of centralising the storage. I want it to be set and forget, as in, I never have to bother upgrading it again other than taking out the HDDs. I'm definitely leaning towards saving money on the OS and going all in on the secondary drive for cache (maybe 2TB or even 4TB). Would 2TB vs 3.2TB cache make much difference? Is it only dependent on how much storage you have in your raid array and how much you access at one time?

      • freefall101 on 23/12/2023 - 19:40
        +1

        2TB cache would be massive overkill for anything I can think of. The use case there is when you have maybe a few dozen people reading and writing something like large database files on a local network, or doing a lot of backups at once, you keep the connection saturated while they all write, but writing more than 2TB at once seems quite a lot. At worse, once you hit that 2TB, it slows down to whatever your RAID speed is. Reading from your storage the cache doesn't make a difference. It'll be read from the disk at the disk speed - it'll be cached so anyone grabbing the same files will get it faster but when you're talking Plex that's pretty unlikely.

        Also remember it's 2.5Gigabits, somewhere closer to 250-300MB/s per connection coming in (and there's two connections). Plus if people are accessing remotely they're going to be getting at best about 10MB/s considering the horrid state of upload speeds on the NBN and you can send out at 100MB/s which isn't much faster than your RAID setup will be (or possibly slower) on a gigabit connection.

        Basically, if you're ever going to have half a dozen people writing hundreds of gigabytes each to your storage at the same time (and they're on the local network) then sure, more cache won't hurt. I can't see that ever happening.

        • Yuri Lowell on 24/12/2023 - 10:47

          Thanks mate. Makes a lot more sense when you put it into perspective like that. Very unlikely I'll have more than 2-3 people connecting to the NAS at one time and probably not doing sustained read/writes either. I may just go for 2x1TB setup as it won't break the bank too much (currently there is a Silicon Power 1TB for $60).

  • garetz on 23/12/2023 - 19:55

    Yeah my advice is dont get a TerraMaster

    they are nothing but problems, if i had to choose between a TerraMaster and building my own nas, i would build my own.
    not only would it be cheaper but it would also be more powerful.

    • Yuri Lowell on 24/12/2023 - 10:44

      Too late, already bought it… I'm new to NAS to willing to experiment/learn and maybe in the future I'll DIY or get a Synology.

  • aleph1 on 25/12/2023 - 07:24

    How confident are you that your chosen RAM will work in the F423?
    I'm also gearing up for an F423.

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