Question 1

Does it have a browser interface so you can set it up through any device (including a PC)?

Accepted Answer

Yes, Once plugged in use the TOC (Windows) software to install the appropriate OS per model. Then all configuration of the unit is managed through a web browser. Browser has many options including auto power off and on which I like. There is also a corresponding mobile app and cloud based access. The aluminum enclosure does amplify the hard drive noise, so make sure you look for a quieter hard drive.  So far I'm impressed with this unit, but I've only had it for a couple weeks. I did have an issue where it wrote constantly to a hard drive every couple seconds. Driving me crazy because its in an office environment. I e-mailed support not expecting a quick answer. The support team e-amiled back within a few hours tell me the system has some processes to run upon initial install., and this will continue for a day or two depending on the drive size. I put 2-3TB drives in it and this did occur for about a day and a half. I have also set the drives to sleep after 1 hour. Like I said, I do like this unit so far. I've had Buffalo and Synology units and I feel I'm not loosing anything by purchasing this unit. Highly recommend.

Question 2

can the hard drives i put in this be used the same way as a network hard drive like if i had them in a pc and setup as network drives  or do i need to have software to access them via my pc?

Accepted Answer

It Can be used several ways.  We used it as an Isci device which acts as a local hard drive on your PD or server.

Question 3

I live in a rural area. I do not have wired internet.  I have Viasat satellite only internet.  Will this internet work with this device?

Accepted Answer

I assume you need the TeraMaster so that all devices in your house can share data stored in it. Just plug an Ethernet cable to TaraMaster and satellite modem (or your router).  As mentioned in the other answer, you would need the outside internet for initial setup, afterward the TerraMaster will communicate with other internal devices via ethernet cable or WiFi (through modem/router).

Question 4

Can I configure RAID 1 ?

Accepted Answer

Yes, it supports Raid 0 and Raid 1.

Question 5

Can this unit accommodate 2 WD6001FFWX  6.0TB WD Red Pro Drives?

Accepted Answer

I do not have personal experience with this drive, but it should work perfectly.  Most any SATA hard disk drive up to 16 TB (for a maximum of 32 TB) should work in the F2-210.   For reliability, a  drive designed for NAS applications, such as the mentioned WD Red drive, should be used.   Maximum throughput can be expected with a SATA 3 (6 Gbps) drive.

Question 6

Are the drives formatted with NTFS or some other windows readable format so I can transplant them into my PC if the enclosure fails?

Accepted Answer

No. If you want to pull a drive and access it with a PC, you will need to use Linux, AFAIK. In my experience, this is common across all major brands of NAS, and even FreeNAS. There is a USB3 connector on the NAS box for backing up the NAS to an external drive, which can be NTFS.

Question 7

What is the SATA technology used inside the drive? Is it SATA 1, 2 or 3?

Accepted Answer

Probably SATA III, but unless you are doing a lot of tiny reads/writes (i.e., off the HDD's buffer) the rotational speed of the drive will be the limiting factor, not the SATA interface. They claim "more than 114 MB/s" with RAID 0 on 5400 RPM drives. But using RAID 0 on an NAS would be crazy in most cases. You almost always would want redundancy of data (RAID 1).

Question 8

can I use SSD? if so, what kind is recommended? Thanks!

Accepted Answer

Yes, you can use an SSD, however, it's not something I would do for an actual backup drive. Even though the tech in SSDs is getting better, they generally don't have the longevity that a good HDD that is designed to be used in NAS will.

Question 9

Running as RAID 1, will this unit continue to run if one bay fails or is taken offsite?  *OR* running as JBOD, can one bay be used as a backup for the other and will the unit still run if one bay fails or is not present?

Accepted Answer

As RAID 1, yes, no so sure about as JBOD, I would say it would depend on how you were using one to backup the other. I would guess as JBOD if the primary drive failed it would not function the same as before.

Question 10

Can I get extra drive bays so that I can swap out the drives quickly if there is a failure (or I simply want to change drives)?

Accepted Answer

I don't the answer to your questions. However, the drives can be switched out quite quickly as it is. However, once switched out, you get the long wait while the drives are resynched. Having extra carriers won't save you much time overall.

Questions & Answers