I set up a NAS system at home to keep my data safe – here's my buying advice now

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Over the years, I’ve stored files and folders in various ways. I’ve used Samba, NFS, third-party cloud services, internal cloud tools, and everything in between. Another option I’ve taken advantage of is Network Attached Storage (NAS).

Not sure what a NAS is? Essentially, it’s a device on your network (whether at home or in a business) that is primarily used for storing files. Yes, some NAS devices offer more than just that, but the focus is on keeping your files and folders off your desktops, laptops, tablets, or phones and housing them in a centralized location.

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You can create your own NAS, using the Linux operating system (which is cheap and easy), or you can purchase a dedicated device, deploy it on your LAN, and be done with it.

One such NAS is the Terramaster F4-425 4-Bay NAS. This device allows you to add up to 4 drives for a total of 120 TB of storage. Of course, the F4-425 isn’t only about file storage. With this device, you can create an almost Google Workspace-like ecosystem that can serve as a storage device, a multimedia hub, real-time local/remote synchronization, two-way synchronization between cloud and NAS storage, and much more.

Let’s dive in and see how well this NAS by Terramaster fared.

My experience

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that I have a fairly solid set of tech skills. Thanks to that, I can pretty much set up, configure, deploy, and work with anything. With those skills, working with the Terramaster F4-425 4-Bay NAS was a piece of cake. However, I do have one complaint (which I’ll get to in a moment).

To set up the NAS, all you do is insert your drives (which are not included), connect the device to your LAN (using the supplied Ethernet cable), plug in the power, and turn it on. While the device boots, install the Terramaster app on your phone (Android/iOS), open the app, let it find the device, and follow the user-friendly setup routine.

Once you’ve taken care of this, the NAS is ready to use.

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From the app, you can find the IP address/port number in the Device Settings section of the My Tab space. Point your web browser to that IP address/port number and log in with the user account you created during the setup process.

Open the file manager from the web UI, and you can upload files (by clicking the upward-pointing arrow above the file listing pane) or download files (by right-clicking a file and selecting Download).

You can also visit the app store and install as many apps as you want. You can install apps for backup, snapshots, containers, photo management, file sync, and much more. You can also download desktop apps for Linux, MacOS, and Windows (more on that in a bit).

Immediately, I decided to push the TNAS device to its limits by uploading a large number of video files I’d filmed over the past year. To my surprise, the Terramaster handled the uploads without even blinking. The multi-GB files uploaded quickly, and I felt confident that they would be safe from accidental deletion from the original location and that I would always have a copy.

I installed a few apps and found most of them to be quite helpful.

However, this is where your skills will come into play.

A home NAS is only as good as its simplicity of use. After all, the average home user looking for an easy way to store/sync/share files from within their LAN isn’t going to want to have to connect their desktops/laptops to the device via Samba and then create scripts or actions to ensure their files/folders are automatically in sync with the device.

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The Terramaster TNAS device does have a solution for that, but it’s a bit convoluted. Here’s what you have to do:

1. Make sure you have the IP address of your TNAS device.
2. Install the Sync client on the Terramaster device.
3. Install the Terramaster desktop app on your Linux, MacOS, and/or Windows devices.
4. Open the desktop app.
5. Configure the connection with IP address, port (use the default), username, and password. 
6. Confirm the connection.

Once the connection is established, you can then select your local and remote folders to keep in sync.

With the connection established, the local and remote folders will always remain in sync, eliminating the need for manual file uploads or downloads.

This method works very well (I had no problems with it). My only complaint is that any user without a certain level of knowledge might struggle with this. I would suggest to the developers of the TNAS software to:

• Include the sync client on the TNAS divide by default.
• Add auto-discover to the desktop client.

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Those two additions would make it exponentially easier for those without the required skills to establish a connection, so they can get up and running without much hassle. 

Prior to setting up the two-way sync between my Linux desktop and the TNAS device, I connected it via Samba, which is fine for manually moving files back and forth (without having to use the Web UI), but I’m fairly confident that most users either won’t want to do that or know how to do that. For me, the nice thing about connecting via Samba is that I was able to access either the Public folder or the folders on my TNAS user account home directory. 

Personally, I prefer using both the TNAS sync tool and Samba, as it gives me more options. Either way, once you have the sync option up and running, the TNAS is pretty much a set-it-and-forget-it affair. 

ZDNET’s buying advice

Selling for $379 on Amazon, the Terramaster F4-425 4-bay NAS device is a great value for anyone who needs a lot of LAN-based storage with minimal hassle. The F4-425 makes it fairly easy to set up a reliable Network Attached Storage system that anyone can use. 

This device can serve as your backup, added storage, file sync, and much more. It’s fast, small, easy to use, and can serve multiple purposes.

The specs

• Intel x86 quad-core CPU
• 4GB RAM
• Handles 4K transcoding.
• 2.5 GB Ethernet port
• Compatible with Plex, Emby, and Jellyfin for multimedia.
• Automatic photo and video backups from your mobile devices.
• Up to 120TB of storage (drives not included) via 4 SATA drive bays and three M.2 SSD slots.
• Supports 50+ user accounts.
• Compatible with Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox.
• Multiple USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports
• File system BTRFS, EXT4
• Max data transfer speeds up to 1010 MB/s