TerraMaster Forum

Good morning to everyone, I had so far a lot of trouble with my F4-421 using it as a media server. Lost data, adding new disks is a pain in the neck and so far, 2x 4TB I replaced with 10TB disks, just was only able with heavy support online 1-2 hours in order to get the disks working and one was even a Ironwolf, which is upposed to work very good with the NAS. I just lost a recertified Hitachi HGST HE10, which showed all the time as good, but suddenly stopped working (might be the risk of getting a recertified disk, not sure), but I have 4 Ultrastar HGST 4TB, which work like a charme.

So I am waiting for a new 10TB Toshiba N300 and hope installing it and repairing the RAID will help.

I am giving this my last try, because I am tired of loossing constantly connection to the NAS and a restart of the same, will leave me without any contact for hours (well at least 1). Not sure what it is and I hope I get the confirmation of being able to upgrade to TOS6, having the expectation things get better.

Just in case this does not work, I will get away from using my F4-421 as a NAS ! now here is my question, can I use my NAS as a simple enclosure for HDD and is there a trick to have a hardware RAID instead of a sowtware RAID ? In case the is not, can I use it just as a hardware enclosure for 4 disks ?
I still could check for software, which unifies the 4 into 1 large disk.
Let me have your thoughts.
Thanks a lot

scheppi2003 wrote: ↑19 Apr 2025, 23:32 … Just in case this does not work, I will get away from using my F4-421 as a NAS ! now here is my question, can I use my NAS as a simple enclosure for HDD and is there a trick to have a hardware RAID instead of a software RAID ? In case the is not, can I use it just as a hardware enclosure for 4 disks ?

No.

The ASMedia solution used in the 421 series doesn't offer hardware RAID.

To achieve software RAID, you'll need an underlying OS that's not TOS if you believe it's that, that's adding to these stability issues.

Thanks crisiacting, Yes reading me in, it is some kind of Linux, which Terramaster runs, but I strongly belief the the RAID mode, or maybe just the TRIAD is not working for me. Ok I do have better storage than on regular RAID, at least that is the marketing, but I run 2x 4TB and 2x 10TB. As per TRIAD calculator, I should have aroung 16 TB, however, If I would have chosen just RIAD 1, I would have only 2TB less and maybe lesser problems.
But I lost overall, during my time trying to get my DVDs on a server, twice my work. I really hope TOS 6, will make a difference and be what it claims to be, better and more secure, having more control/info and finally cut cords !

Maybe someone can give me their advise. Can I use the F4-421 as a simple HDD enclosure ? Having Raid 1 over each pair and adding both Raid 1 under Raid 10 ? I would only loose little TB but have a constant mirroring. Would I be able to do this through TOS or better through Windows 11 in a Mini PC, which I also would use as a Plex Media Server. Thanks for yourr help

There is no option to combine two RAID 1 arrays into a RAID 10 configuration. If you require RAID 10, please back up your data and recreate the RAID.
For instructions on setting up F4-421 as a Plex media server, please refer to:viewtopic.php?t=7261

TMzethar, I read, that WIndows can perform this trick, as it is able to create a software RAID.