TerraMaster Forum

I'm just setting up my NAS, with 5 x 14 TB drives in a RAID 5 configuration, and using EXT4. As part of the process, I get a message that the drive is 'synchronizing', and based on the first few percent, it's going to take somewhere around 50 hours to complete.

Synchronizing what, exactly? I haven't tried to copy any files to the drive, this is a new setup with five brand new drives. I've done nothing more than follow the setup procedure from the website.

Actually you can google for some very basic knowledge. We recommended everyone to do so. the following article may help you a bit.
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/synch ... es-servers

I searched the manual, your site, and the forums. I admit it didn't occur to me to search on ibm.com! But OK, I understand what is going on now. It's terminology - to me, synchronization means making target a copy of source. If actually setting up the array is also called "synchronization", then fair enough. At two days a time, I don't think I will be following IBM's frequency guidelines!