[Help] Looking to buy F4-424 Pro NAS (i3-N305, 32GB RAM)

[frozze]

Hello all, newbie here.

I'm looking at deploying a NAS at home and have been looking at the F4-424 Pro (32GB). The main purpose of the NAS to store excess content like video footage and photos from my PC and automatically sync/backup photos from my phone.

For a bit of context, we run on Windows (MS 365, OneDrive etc) and Android (Samsung Galaxy phones and tablet) ecosystem at home between my wife and I. I have done a bit of research but I'm still not 100% sure if this is the right device for me.

Here are my questions:
1. Is TOS6 available and fully functional for the F4-424 Pro?
2. Will I be able to seemlessly sync and backup photos from our phones (Samsung Galaxy S24) to the F4-F2F Pro like OneDrive (which is what we're using at the moment but slowly running out of space)? Is it a clunky process between TNAS Mobile and Terra Photos? OneDrive works extremely well for this.
3. I would like to install M.2 NVME drives to take advantage of speed. Can I just install 1 x M.2 NVME for the OS and caching or do I need two drives? I've seen a couple of videos with conflicting information.
4. I am looking at putting in 2 x [clean server pulls] WD Ultrastar 16TB HC550 (WUH721816ALE6L4) as a start and eventually add more drives later. Any issues with these drives being server pulls?

Appreciate any help I can get. Apologies if these questions have been asked multiple time in the past.

[TMzethar]

The usage scenarios you mentioned are all supported.
The setup process for backups is not complicated. Browsing and managing backed up images via Terra Photos is a good use case.
The SSD Hyper Cache feature requires the use of an entire SSD Disk, so an SSD Disk cannot be used as an SSD Hyper Cache while acting as system and storage.
You can start with your existing HDDs and add more disks in the future.
I don't understand what you mean by “pulls”. Could you please explain?

[frozze]

The setup process for backups is not complicated. Browsing and managing backed up images via Terra Photos is a good use case.

Okay that's good to note. What about the actual syncing on the phone feature? Does it work well and seemlessly?
Confirming that I'll need to install Terra Photos on the F4-424 and TNAS Mobile on my phone, is that correct?

The SSD Hyper Cache feature requires the use of an entire SSD Disk, so an SSD Disk cannot be used as an SSD Hyper Cache while acting as system and storage.

So that means I'll need 2 x M.2 NVME.. 1 for OS install and the other for Hyper Cache.. is that correct? What is the optimal capacity for the OS disk and Hyper Cache disk? Where should I be installing apps on? The OS disk or Hyper Cache disk?

I don't understand what you mean by “pulls”. Could you please explain?

I think they're used HDD pulled from a server
https://east-digital.myshopify.com/prod ... hard-drive

[TMzethar]

Are you trying to understand the speed performance? I did not pay attention to the specific data as I hardly encountered any bottlenecks in this area. The speed limitations are generally on the network, where backups are fastest on the LAN; when you back up remotely, it depends on the network connection.
Yes, TNAS mobile is the app installed on your phone while Terra Photos is the app on the TOS system of the NAS.

Yes, to use the SSD for both system and cache, you need two SSDs. the app will be installed on the data partition of the disk, which may or may not be the OS disk. the Hyper Cache disk is not available as an installation directory, it is “invisible”.
For more information about SSD capacity utilization, please refer to:
viewtopic.php?t=7675

NAS is generally compatible with the use of high-quality enterprise-grade disks, albeit noisy.
However, for the HC550, be aware that early FW versions of it generally had compatibility issues. At least the FW680 and above FW versions are available, according to existing records.

[frozze]

Are you trying to understand the speed performance? I did not pay attention to the specific data as I hardly encountered any bottlenecks in this area. The speed limitations are generally on the network, where backups are fastest on the LAN; when you back up remotely, it depends on the network connection.

Sorry, I meant performance of the machine rather than transfer speed itself. I'm guessing using SSD for the OS and cache will help the machine runs smoother. Is that assumption correct?

NAS is generally compatible with the use of high-quality enterprise-grade disks, albeit noisy.
However, for the HC550, be aware that early FW versions of it generally had compatibility issues. At least the FW680 and above FW versions are available, according to existing records.

Understood. Is it possible to mix and match different drive brands but same capacity? For example, 1 x Western Digital 16TB HC550 (with the right firmware) and 1 x Seagate 16TB Ironwolf Pro (ST16000NE000)

[CursaYang]

Your idea is correct; installing the system on an SSD and setting up a cache with an SSD will make the NAS run more smoothly. Hard drives of different brands and capacities can be mixed, depending on the type of array you want to use. Different capacities will result in some redundancy.