Choosing model (looking for a specific disk setup)

[dtaweb]

Let me start by describing my current configuration. I have 4 old D-Link DNS320L NAS units each with a 3TB drive. Each drive within the NAS is treated as a single volume (i.e. 2 drives, 2 separate mappable volumes). Two of the NAS units are in my office, two are off site. The two office units are synced to the offsite units. I really like having each drive within the NAS as a independent volume as I maximize the storage capacity of the unit and only have to replace the drives one at a time if they start to fail. I need to upgrade for a number of reasons: (1) security as firmware is no longer updated for the NAS units, (2) SMB1 only, (3) slow network speeds, (4) limited to 2 drives, and (5) newer high-capacity drives are not supported.

Is the single drive/single volume possible with any of the TerraMaster units? I see various RAID configurations and the ability to pool all disks into a single large volume (with the latter meaning I lose all my data if 1 drive fails). Personally, I like having the off-site mirroring and maximizing local storage (and not losing all local data if 1 of the drives fail)

[TMroy]

Yes, all TerraMaster TNAS support Single disk with one volume only.
For data backup, you have many options. You can choose one of followings:

1. Set a RAID 1 configuration that will offers a mirror for your data. your data will safe when one drive fails;
2. Install Duple Backup from TerraMaster application market, and backup your data from one TNAS device to another one;
3. Install USB Copy to schedule backup your data on TNAS to an USB external drive;
4. Install a cloud drive sync app, sync your data on TNAS to your cloud drive;

[dtaweb]

Thanks for the answer. I just want to clarify on your first statement "Yes, all TerraMaster TNAS support Single disk with one volume only." Does this mean the single disk one volume only works when you only utilize one disk? I was looking at getting the F5-221 NAS with 3x 6TB Seagate Ironwolf drives. To be clear, I can set it up as 3 separate mappable volumes (one per disk) for a total capacity of 18TB (3x 6TB). My understanding of RAID1 is that a single drive is mirrored on one (or more) other drives within the unit.

[TMroy]

You can set three drives as single and one volume for each drive. So you can totally have three volumes, each volume 6TB.
And by the way, for a NAS, volume is not mappable. You can only map a shared folder. A shared folder will locate at a volume, you will get storage space by folder, and you can define every shared folder at different loation(different volume).

[dtaweb]

That makes sense. Thanks for the quick response.

[TMroy]

You're welcome.

[dtaweb]

To follow up...
I ended up purchasing the F5-221 NAS unit and set it up with 3x 6TB Seagate Ironwolf drives (with total capacity of 18TB). Thank you so much for the guidance as I was researching. If anyone else is wanting to do the same, add/process the drives one at a time (setting up multiple at one will look to set up raid)

I'm really enjoying the unit. The OS is fairly intuitive although I did have to do some searching to determine how to add each new drive after the initial setup with one drive. The set of available apps is very impressive. The only one I'm using right now is Plex and that has been working perfectly.

Thanks again.

[TMroy]

Enjoy!