4Bay Core i3-N305 8-Core 8-Thread CPU, 32GB DDR5 RAM, 2.5GbE Port x 2
Applying the $205 coupon brings this down to the cheapest i've seen the Pro Model purchased one for myself.
Coupons available for:
TERRAMASTER F4-423 $558.99 (Save $201) and TerraMaster D5-300 USB3.1 $351.99 (Save $88)
CamelCamelCamel.
dang where from
Ah, I found the receipt. $169 from Harris Technology in 2013.
post also the specs please
@CyberMurning: Linkstation LS-QVL
CPU 1.6 GHz ARMv5 (Marvell 88F6282)
Memory 256MB DDR3
Bays 4
Network 1x 10/100/1000 Mbps
@Jack D Price: $200?
https://www.mln.com.au/product/?itemID=3848
have you have any problems with it?
@congo: That appears to be sold out. Apparently the RAID is iffy, but I don't use RAID. As a plex server, its more than adequate.
@congo: Buffalo is a well known brand. Just not in Oz because the market here is so small that some brands don't bother to enter it. They're decently common in the US and UK.
Had one of their routers in the early 2000s, a NAS around 2010.
I mean, this is a beast of a nas.
Yeah that's effectively a mini pc with added storage capability.
Overkill for the vast majority
Haha, so true. Got an old QNAP 1GB RAM but it won't die. Does the trick. Using PC for Plex transcoding. Cannot justify getting another one. And if so, "had" to get 4 new hdd's
Dont get me started on the HP Microservers back in the day (Megabuy?)
man only just retired mine
Mines still running strong, using Unraid, 24/7, love the form factor of the device.
TOS 6 okay? saw on forum still many issues
Differenr model but TOS6 looks to have many improvements.
Officia launch is next week so surely to have some bugs on initial launch
urgh still cant decide should i get this or build from scratch
It's a tough call! I've done both and prefer building from scratch but gotta admit it takes a bunch more time and stress. Not sure which way I'll go for my next one.
I thought building the hardwre doesnt take much time? You mean take time and stress with the o/s? So setting up truenas scale is difficult? The terra o/s also not so good people buy terra just for the hardware and slap truenas.
Or should i go with synology again…
Putting together the hardware was just as hard as any custom PC (so sometimes challenging but not too bad).
But yeah, the OS/app setup took me a fair chunk of time. Maybe because it was my first DIY NAS, or maybe I dived into complex configurations I didn't yet understand.
I went with Unraid rather than truenas. I've been extremely happy with it since I set it up, and it doesn't generally require my attention anymore, it just works. But I think it definitely look longer at the start than a plug and play NAS would have.
@Tinqer: Unraid is user friendly too bad not free anymore if me i have to go with truenas scale.
If just setting up those arrs dockers and plex do you consider them as complex?
@CyberMurning: Unraid has never been free, the licensing has just changed though.
Unraid has easier docker setup with the app store, but you will still want to familiarise yourself with how to configure it.
With Truenas and ZFS, you'll want to add ensure the same sized drives unlike unraid where you can have multiple drive sizes. Just one thing to consider.
I was in the same boat, but saw the discount and decided it wasn't worth the extra effort. There are some pretty cool JONSBO NAS cases you can buy.
Yes i have been watching jonsbo n2 thats what i will do if i decide go that way.. just 4,5 bays. So will you slap other os or will try terr os?
Plan is to try TOS, hoping for an easy out of the box experience. But depending on how much time i get over the next month ill give Unraid a go. Wanted something for high bitrate plex hevc transcoding and the ability to run some VMs. Upgrading from an old 1 bay QNAP.
I have one of these. Plex trascoding is great. Though I have been having problems with the stability of plex. Have posted on the terra-master forum. Tried a couple of trouble shooting ideas. no fix yet. It has been more stable the last week.
It is a little noisier than my old NAS, but that doesn't bother me as it's nowhere near a bedroom.
Is the Plex app your using a TOS application or using containers/vms ?
Using the TOS version
Can't believe my N40L is still humming along 24/7 for all these years!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RY5VR8T0vuU&list=LL&index=3&…
Folks still discovering the N40L after all these years….
I've got fancier NAS now but the N40L was still one of the best I've had.
They were a great machine. Power supplies in them are getting a bit long in the tooth though by now, but I believe aftermarket Chinese can be bought on Ali.
My HP N40L is still humming along too.
Thought about upgrading it to something else more modern here and there, but it just sits there, works and does what I need.
Buy a 10Gbe MB from Aliexpress with an N4 case and build your own NAS.
My 8 bay (6 + 2 2.5") cost a total of ~$600 (not including storage).
Edit:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007131573430.html ~$270
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006818910046.html ~$227
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004043742788.html ~$33
Total: $530
AdvantagesL
10Gbit x1
2.5Gbit x2
Extra drive bays
Premium case
Upgradability (RAM + NVMe slots accessible)
Disadvantages:
Slower CPU?
those Jonsbo cases look nice, wouldn't mind the down size from my fractal but that would mean a new motherboard. Looks great if starting from scratch though.
From memory the N4 fits mATX, unless you currently have full ATX?
If you do, the MB upgrade upgrades you to 10Gbit and includes the CPU. It's SODIMM RAM so you may need new RAM.
Storage is obviously able to be moved across.
yeah, no need to upgrade at the moment.
It's a full ATX with 10700K build
@impoze: Yeah the N100 CPU would be a massive down grade lol
Less power consumption though and it's still enough for Plex etc
and use the aliexpress coupons & cashback for even cheaper price
no pci slot is okay?
Haven't needed it
You need to add a PSU to that too.
Yeah that's true, I happened to have one so forgot to mention that part.
They cost around ~$100 for 300w (due to form factor) so still close to the ~$600 mentioned
Plus gst i guess but anyway great setup. That cpu.. can handle dockers just fine? And plex transcoding?
@CyberMurning: Plex video transcoding on huge 4K files it struggles (ie 40Mbps files), but with video transcoding disabled (ie audio only) I've not had any issues at all.
Docker works without any issues, I'm running 8 docker containers on mine with under 10% CPU at idle.
The CPU is actually quite powerful, it benchmarks similarly to an i5-4570 for example.
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5-4570+…
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+N100&id=5157
For a comparison to an AMD Epyc VPS I'll post GeekBench 6 results in a second
Edit:
A 4 core AMD Epyc VPS about doubles its score, but that's not bad - that's comparing it to a compute optimised VPS. ~2000 compared to ~4000 multi core score.
Comparing it to my storage VPS with 6 cores, it beats the 6 cores with a single core lol
@CyberMurning: I got it all on sales and actually paid VAT, total was ~$600 including VAT for me, so it should be less with GST.
The MB goes on sales often, RAM is always available cheap and the N4 you can get cheaper if you look around a little.
The PSU is around ~$70 if you just staticice for a 300w one of the correct form factor
Have you got any links for walkthroughs? I would love to do this
Which part? Building the PC is quite straight forward, plenty of YouTube guides. Everything just slots into place / screws in / etc.
The case has a manual which goes through how to install the drives but it's quite straight forward too.
OS wise I used Unraid, they have plenty of guides available. I stupidly opted for the lifetime license, but you only need the US$49 for <6 drives, or $99 for unlimited drives. The 'lifetime' license only adds on lifetime updates, but they rarely release any neat features and I've not really noticed any bugs that need fixing or anything.
Legend! Thanks mate
@Iost: Once Unraid is setup it's quite straight forward, it's all point and click to add the drives to the 'array' and the NVMe drive(s) to the cache pool (if you opt for any).
Adding apps (like plex) is essentially point and click too through the 'apps' tab, the only configuration required is adding an extra 'path' variable for where your media is stored so plex can see the media files. Everything else the defaults are fine (ie port 32400, default appdata directory, etc).
I went a little bit more advanced and added Nginx Proxy Manager to use web addresses instead of different ports for each app, but this is in no way required.
Edit: P.s. you get updates for docker containers still without lifetime, so any apps you install still receive updates with any Unraid license.
@Dyl: Ah thanks always wondering what will happen if i dont need to buy thrle lifetime license unraid
@CyberMurning: https://unraid.net/blog/releases This is all you miss… The last few years have only been security updates and minor bug fixes
The security updates mainly look like Linux ones so in theory you can DIY those
I'm quite happy with the similar setup but with a bigger fractal 304 case and ATX PSU.
How have you managed to install 6+2 SATA drives? Is it with m2-sata adapter?
I'm using 6 SATA + 2 NVME.
I currently have 4 SATA (10TB) + 2 NVMe (500GB brtfs caching)
You would need to replace an NVMe drive with an M.2 to SATA to use all 8 bays I assume in the case I assume.
Can this connect directly to PC using USB so that it can work as an external drive as well? Not too many NAS' out there that can do this. I believe some QNAP have this quickconnect functionality
Thr name will not be nas but das
Why did you post this? Now I have to explain to my partner what that $900 charge is :’(
Haha, I might take away the notifications on this post as might also be in trouble as tempting.
Delivers tomorrow. Got my partner some tickets to the movies so they can have a nice relaxing day to themselves >:)
Thanks bro, I picked up one with 4 x 18TB drives and 2 x 2TB NVme drives.
Any good deals on the 18TB drives?
anyone tried putting their own OS on these? My NAS is getting on in years (self built) but I need to run VM's on it and various other apps so need to put TrueNas or Windows Storage Server on it.
Haven't heard of this brand before but I've heard of many other models where people have managed to flash them with Unraid or TrueNas
It's an Intel CPU so no reason it couldn't run it, unless they intentionally lock it down.
thanks
I have a TerraMaster F5-221 running Unraid. Needed a driver from its App store to see fan speed, but other than that, it runs great.
Thanks Guys
I have the f4-424 and I think the OS is okay, I have multiple docker containers running and Plex works fine. I considered replacing the os with one of the open source variations but TOS does what I need it to do and I like the traid (similar to SHR).
TOS has its quirks, but it gets the job done. And it has been stable for me.
I would comfortably recommend Terra master for these functions that I use.
I hear the real issues with tos is the more advanced features such as photos apps, and files apps and support for mobile phones, I don't use these so can't comment on how good or bad they are.
You are using Tos 5 or 6?
My usage also will be arrs dockers, download torrents, plex, and auto backup photos from mobile to NAS, also auto backup to google drive.
Do you know if i can do all those?
Thanks.
@CyberMurning
im using TOS 5.1
re arrs dockers, download torrents, plex, - i do this and it works great!
auto backup to google drive - i just setup a folder to be sent to overdrive via the cloud sync app, i dont normally use this as i use my PC for this but i will now look at moving this to the NAS. thanks for the reminder :)
and auto backup photos from mobile to NAS - i dont use this function yet
just tested the uploading photos from mobile to NAS and it worked, you cant select a specific folder you want them to go in which was strange, they just go in the users home directory.
@pazloft: Thanks!
With synology they have app for android phone i can set so when phone connected to wifi only, it will upload selected folders from my phone to nas.
Same lkke that?
@CyberMurning: yep, i selected an album and when i connected to wifi the pics in that album uploaded to TNAS
@CyberMurning: Synology is the “Apple” of the NAS world. Set and forget. But less customisable.
QNAP is like a Pixel or Samsung, great but not as “polished” as the Apple experience, but can do a bit more tinkering.
Terra is alike an import from Ali express lol, all the specs are there, software isn’t that polished, but so simple to load any ROM you want.
As for custom builds, I keep building them but then go back to a prebuilt. It’s hard to compete with the form factor and power usage of the pre-made ones.
@internet-stranger: i have synology for 12 years now but looking at their price, as ozb member i think terra is more bang of for the bucks.
with custom initially i thought its good to be able to upgrade all but lots of youtube recommend this aliexpress mobo with intel cpu soldered so there cpu is fixed just ram and pci slot are upgradeable which any prebuilt can anyway (the ram).
@CyberMurning: Yea I built a NAS based on the N100 boards with 2.5gbe posted last month.
After mobo, ram, case, PSU it ended up same price as this Terra post, but bigger and using more power.
This terra idles on 21w, the above build sat at 57w, both running same OS and drives.
Edit: For me 1w is equal to about $2.70 a year. So that’s around $100 a year in power cost difference.
@internet-stranger: Oh wow ok then terra it is. Just need to wait and watch for good price. Umart sell F4-424 non pro for $679
@CyberMurning: For me the N305 cpu was a must.
Running HomeAssistant, JellyFin and a bunch of ADSB trackers.
@internet-stranger: the f4-424 pro is a much more powerful cpu than the n100 also (almost 2x https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/5213vs5157/Intel-i3-N30…)
if i had my chance i would definitely buy this over the f4-424 non pro way better bang for buck way more future proof! i think this is a steal of a price also i picked up my f4-424 for $639 from umart
I wanted the N95/N100 for the hardware av1 decode! no other brand had this gen CPU in the market at the time.
I will come back and follow up on this, for some reason since i have installed these additional application i have noticed the system to be much less stable… plex just doesn't respond, docker containers just arent responding either, happened twice since these posts
what additional applications ?
looks like the deal has expired
Can you use the coupons on the Max model?
Try and let us know
It came back in stock I picked up the pro
Now to go with unraid or tos
I’m too cheap to pay for unraid.
Waiting for TOS6 before I make up my mind.
@internet-stranger: Decided unraid is a tad expensive I’m going to try load tos6 when the device gets delivered. I see it’s available from terramaster website
@Eddysan: yes i also thought unraid is expensive but someone told me we can just buy the cheapest plan, there are not so many updates.
and the one year updates is kind of misleading, we get all updates until next major release.
see here:
What happens if I don’t extend my license?
When you purchase a Starter or Unleashed License, you automatically get a free year of Unraid OS updates.
If you choose to not extend your license, you still own a copy of the software at the current version that was available at the time of the lapse, but your update eligibility changes.
If your license extension has lapsed, you can download patch releases within the same minor OS version that was available to you at the time of the lapse.
For example: Your system is eligible for Unraid 7.1.0 when your extension lapses. You qualify for the remaining patch releases of the Unraid 7.1.x series. Once Unraid 7.2.0 is released, the 7.1.x patch releases will only include security patches. Once Unraid 7.3 is released, version 7.1.0 will be EOL, and there will be no more 7.1.x updates.
Our naming convention for releases is: <major>.<minor>.<patch>.
@Eddysan: please let us know what you think of TOS6 later thanks
@internet-stranger already available. they said will be out from Beta in October.
@CyberMurning: Hi CyberMurning,
Thank you for such a detailed reply and this has started to sway my mind. The reason is I wanted to build my own NAS in the future and the license can be mirgated.
Also getting an extra year of updates is good news meaning 2 years is good for the price. I am looking at Immich for photos and that looks easy on unraid with Plex.
I think I’ll look at TOS 6 but I have purchased the usb ready to swap to unraid if required thanks for the info.
@Eddysan: Why you are not interested in truenas? I just dont like it because we need to use the same size hdds.
I heard the closest to synology is unraid.
@Eddysan: I can’t find a download for the F4-424 Pro yet. Is it somewhere other than the support page?
Oh wow, what is with the price of NAS these days. I pray every night my two 4 bay Buffalo NAS's never die on me. I think I bought them for $160 each years ago