INTRODUCTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Network attached storage devices have gained many followers in the past years up to a point where right now i only know just a couple of people who don't own at least one either at home or at the office. This of course didn't come as a surprise since due to their small size, low power consumption, easy deployment, very good price/performance ratio (in most cases) and plethora of potential applications (web server, file sharing server, download server, media sharing server, email server, backup server, network video recorder are just some of the available ones) it was only just a matter of time before even regular consumers set their sights on them. Now not everyone is of course willing to pay much for a NAS and although a while ago that would pretty much mean buying something not so good today there's a large number of affordable models for people to choose from including the latest F2-220 Small Business/Home Cloud Storage NAS Server by TerraMaster.

   TerraMaster is a professional brand which focuses on storage products, including network attached storage and direct attached storage, which is sold in more than 40 countries and regions. Products of TerraMaster are mainly designed for customers such as small and medium businesses and home users. With its core competitiveness in excellent hardware design and strong software developing ability, TerraMaster aims to provide customers with excellent products that offer reliability and value. TerraMaster has focused on the development of storage technology for 16 years. TerraMaster continues to explore storage technology and applications, such as how to create more functionality and value to storage products and make storage application easier, more convenient, safer and faster to provide customers with a complete, reliable and trusted data storage solution.

   The F2-220 NAS server by TerraMaster is based on the Intel Celeron J1800 Dual-Core CPU (1MB L2 Cache/10W TDP/22nm) clocked at 2.41GHz and paired with 2GB of DDR3L RAM running at 1600MHz (expandable to 4 via an extra SODIMM slott - although the J1800 model supports up to 8GB) and 8GB of flash memory (in the form of a tiny USB flash drive). The F2-220 also features two USB ports (USB 3.0/USB 2.0), RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet port and two 3.5/2.5" SATA II/III bays which can be configured in single, JBOD, RAID 0 and RAID 1 modes. The aluminum exterior housing is responsible for cooling the interior with the help of a rear 80mm exhaust fan and a large heatsink placed over the Celeron J1800 CPU. So does the F2-220 Small Business/Home Cloud Storage NAS Server by TerraMaster have what it takes to compete in the growing NAS market, let's find out.

 

 

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TerraMaster has once again used their typical blue box to ship this device on which we see their logo at the front and a small sticker with the serial number and barcode of the product on the left side.

 

 

The NAS is placed between two thick foam spacers while the rest of the bundle sits inside a second cardboard box.

 

 

The F2-220 gets shipped with its power adapter, two power cords (EU/UK), Ethernet cable, screwdriver, two packs of screws and the installation instructions.

 

 

THE F2-220

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 1.46Kg heavy housing of the F2-220 is primarily made out of aluminum and measures 227mm in length, 119mm in width and 133mm in height.

 

 

To have a better idea about the size of the F2-220 we placed it right next to the Seagate Personal Cloud Pro 4TB.

 

 

At the front of the NAS we find the on/off power button and LED, LAN and HDD activity LEDs and two drive trays.

 

 

These trays are made out of plastic and can accommodate both 3.5" and 2.5" drives.

 

 

The company logo is printed on both sides of the enclosure.

 

 

At the rear we see the 80mm exhaust fan, USB 2.0 port, USB 3.0 port, RJ45 LAN port (there's room for a 2nd one here possibly for higher end models) and the DC in.

 

 

The enclosure sits on 4 rubber feet and its base is largely perforated.

 

 

With two Seagate Constellation ES.3 4TB SATA III hard disk drives the F2-220 is ready for "battle".

 

 

SETUP

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To initiate the setup procedure you should download the latest TNAS version from the official TerraMaster support page as seen above.

 

 

This program is similar to Qfinder so the moment it starts it will try to locate the NAS on your local network (just double click on it when it does).

 

 

The welcome screen notifies you that the NAS needs to be connected to the internet to complete the setup procedure.

 

 

After that the setup wizard detects the installed drives and performs a quick diagnostic.

 

 

You can either choose auto download of the latest TOS (OS) version or download it yourself and install it manually.

 

 

It takes roughly 10 minutes to download and install the latest TOS version.

 

 

You will also need to name the NAS and choose your time zone.

 

 

As mentioned earlier you can configure the drives in single, JBOD, RAID 0 and RAID 1 but as you can see the TOS also supports RAID 5/6/10 which you can't use with 2 drives (probably the same TOS for their 4 bay model as well).

 

 

TOS 3.0.27 PART 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was actually somewhat surprised by the login screen of the TOS since i admit that i didn't expect something so nice looking and clean by a company like TerraMaster.

 

 

Things only got better once we entered the main screen since it looks a lot like Windows and some Linux versions.

 

 

From the upper right corner you can logout, change users, change the TOS theme, enter full screen and change the wallpaper while from the lower right corner you can check the current system status.

 

 

The top icon is the file manager which also resembles a lot the ones we find in Windows and Linux (even has thumbnail support).

 

 

TerraMaster currently has a limited number of compatible apps with the F2-220 and although not even close to what QNAP and ASUSTOR offer they can cover a wide range of uses.

 

 

From the privileges tab of the control panel you can add/remove users, create user groups and setup shared folders.

 

 

Moving to the network services tab you can check the current LAN status, enable file sharing, start the web server and virtual host and you can also enable UPNP discovery (only for devices that support UPNP).

 

 

Via the storage manager tab you can check the status of the installed drives, create/delete modes, configure ISCSI (connect the device with remote storage devices), enable/disable the virtual disk feature and check external connected drives.

 

 

TOS 3.0.27 PART 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the general settings tab you can adjust the regional settings, choose a fan speed or leave it to auto, enable/disable the HDD standby function (reduced power consumption), restart/shutdown the device, enable/disable the auto power on feature (handy when the device turns off in case of a blackout), setup notifications, download SSL certificates, perform firmware updates, backup/restore settings and restore the system to its factory defaults.

 

 

The system information tab is quite forthcoming so from here you can check the status of the system whether that has to do with its hardware end or with its software one.

 

 

By clicking on the backup icon on the main screen you can access the backup options which include Rsync, Time Machine and direct backup to an external drive.

 

 

You can also configure the remote login feature via TerraMaster’s TNAS.online service.

 

 

You can also use the F2-220 as a Torrent download server via the transmission software as seen above.

 

 

It may not have a dedicated media player like KODI but you can playback media files directly from the file manager as seen above.

 

 

TESTING METHODOLOGY – PERFORMANCE RESULTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Originally we had decided that since some of the NAS servers/devices we've tested in the past are no longer in our possession (naturally) we would keep performing the exact same testing methodology we did in the past for as long as possible in order to provide accurate comparison results. However since our real-life tests are not enough for some people we also decided to throw in ATTO and Crystal Disk Mark to cover the more demanding users. However as always we will be using up to six Seagate Constellation ES.3 4TB SATA III hard disk drive(s) with 3.5” compatible units and up to two (for now) Enterprise Capacity 2.5 HDD V3 2TB SATA III HDDs with 2.5” compatible units to perform several upload/download tests with 10.9GB (Single) and 40,8GB (RAID) files. Tests are repeated a total of 4 times after which we record the average numbers (from the 4 peak ones) into our charts. The network device used for 1GbE tests is the same Netgear D7800 Gigabit VDSL Modem/Router we’ve been using lately when performing tests on NAS servers. Since the 25th of June 2015 for 10GbE tests we’ll be using a Netgear ProSafe XS712T 10G Smart Switch and an Intel XT540-AT2 10GbE PCIe card (10GbE compatible NAS cards will be provided from each company and stated in each review).

SINGLE DISK TESTS

RAID TESTS

 

 

TEST RESULTS – TEMPERATURES / CONSUMPTION / NOISE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEMPERATURES

POWER CONSUMPTION

NOISE LEVELS

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   The F2-220 may not get any awards for its hardware specifications but considering that its target audience is people on a tight budget looking for a somewhat versatile NAS i don't think that was TerraMaster's goal to begin with. The good news is (as clearly indicated in our charts) that the combination TerraMaster has used (Intel Celeron J1800 dual-core 2.41GHz CPU with 2GB of DDR3L RAM and 8GB of flash memory) proved to be very efficient and so the F2-220 does a very good job keeping up with more expensive models. Things however are equally good in terms of power consumption (19W at load with a single HDD) and although noise levels did reach quite high during our tests we've seen worse over the years. The TOS operating system was a nice surprise since after QNAP’s QTS and ASUSTOR’s ADM we think it’s the nicest looking one out there so kudos to TerraMaster for that. Unfortunately although you can use the F2-220 to download files from the internet, file sharing, receive and send emails, DLNA/UPNP multimedia sharing, backup your system and host a website it lacks the number of applications we see with more expensive models like for example from QNAP, ASUSTOR, Synology and Thecus but again that’s something that has to do with price and of course with the fact that TerraMaster is not yet a veteran in that industry.

   We’ve mentioned several times that the F2-220 is an affordable NAS server but just how affordable is it? Well right now it retails for just USD189.95 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for just 188Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk) so we all agree that TerraMaster is on the right path here. Price is also what saves the F2-220 since leaving out its performance it still has a long way to go before it can compete with the models offered by all the other major players in the market today (in terms of applications / uses). Still for its asking price the F2-220 Small Business/Home Cloud Storage NAS Server by TerraMaster is a solid solution and well worth our Golden Award.

PROS

- Overall Performance
- Compact Size
- TOS Operating System (Easy To Use And Nice Looking)
- Low Power Consumption
- USB 2.0 / USB 3.0 Ports
- Single / JBOD / RAID 0 / RAID 1 Modes
- RAM Expandable To 4GB
- Price (For Some)

 

CONS

- Noise Levels
- Number Of Available Applications