INTRODUCTION

   People who wish to expand on the storage space of their systems (regardless if that system is a PC, MAC, NAS or even a console) can either use an internal or an external drive. Obviously when it comes to PC's the preferred choice is to use one or more internal drives but for people who may want to be able to take their data with them external ones are clearly the way to go. Over the last 2 decades I've used and tested countless external drives and if there's one thing, I've learned it's that factory ready solutions are not the best. They may do well in terms of read & write performance but aside build quality (most are made out of plastic after all) they lack features like RAID modes and active cooling. The D2-310 Hard Disk RAID System (or DAS - Direct Attached Storage) by Terra Master made its way to the lab almost a month ago and it's what I have on the test bench today.

    TerraMaster is a professional brand that focuses on providing innovative storage products, including network attached storage and direct attached storage that has become increasingly popular in over 40 countries and regions. The brand has been developing storage technology for 10 years, addressing the needs of customers such as home users, small/medium businesses, and enterprises.

   The first D2-310 hard disk raid system was released by Terra Master back in 2017 (never had the chance to check it out, did check out the D4-310 however) so it goes without saying that today I'll be testing the new and updated version (probably new hardware inside) released back in March this year. So, the new Terra Master D2-310 is a dual-bay USB 3.1/2 Gen 1 (5Gbps) model with 2 removable trays that support both 2.5" and 3.5" SATA 600/III drives (via a JMicron SATA to USB bridge chip - don't know the exact model used however) in single, JBOD (large), RAID 0 and RAID 1 modes. Just like all their past models the new D2-310 also features an hight quality aluminum enclosure (for both looks and improved heat dissipation) which is also cooled actively thanks to a rear 80mm smart (temperature controlled) exhaust fan. Since i never did test the original I can't do a direct comparison but i can compare the new D2-310 with several other models so let's see what it can do.