TerraMaster F4-423 review: still an excellent 4-bay home NAS

TerraMaster is a major NAS manufacturer that mainly focuses on the budget segment, but in recent years the brand has moved into manufacturing mid- and high-end servers. The F4-423 is an interesting 4-bay NAS powered by the proven Intel Celeron platform, and it continues to be a solid choice two years after its debut.

What’s interesting is that the F4-423 has two 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet ports. More and more brands now offer multi-Gigabit connectivity as standard, giving you much more flexibility when it comes to data transfer. The rest of the hardware is decent too: you get 4GB of RAM, two M.2 slots, and the NAS can hold a total of 80TB of data.

The biggest limitation of previous TerraMaster NAS servers was the software, but the manufacturer released a new version earlier this year, dubbed TOS 6, with a cleaner user interface and improved features. The F4-423 debuted at $459, but it’s been around for a while, and you can get it for $389 on Amazonmaking it great value for money if you need a powerful 4-bay server.

TerraMaster doesn’t change the design of its NAS servers, and the F4-423 looks similar to the F2-221 and F5-422 10GbE that I tested previously. The NAS has a metal casing and is dressed in white, and the color scheme tends to stand out a bit from the black-clad models sold by most other vendors. That said, the design is sleek and there are absolutely no issues with the build quality.

The front has the drive bays and you can install 3.5-inch hard drives without using any tools. It’s also possible to use 2.5-inch HDDs or SSDs, and you also get two M.2 2280 slots. The F4-423 contains a single 4GB DRAM module, but there are two SO- DIMM and you can easily add an additional memory module if you need – the NAS can accommodate up to 32 GB across both slots (16 GB each). Installing a new memory module or M.2 slot requires disassembly of the NAS, and TerraMaster should really start offering an easier way to do that.

There are individual status LEDs for each hard drive, and you get one for LAN connectivity and power. The two USB 3.1 ports are located on the back, and like most other TerraMaster servers, you get an HDMI port, making it very convenient to connect the F4-423 to a TV.

The main talking point here is the dual 2.5GbE Ethernet ports; even if you don’t currently have a multi-Gigabit network, you can still enjoy the connectivity if you make the switch down the line. Along the same lines, the Intel Celeron N5095 continues to be a standout choice in this category, and it has hardware transcoding, so if you’re looking for a Plex media server that can handle transcoding, the F4-423 is a great choice.

The F4-423 isn’t noisy in everyday use, and even under load, the noise from the two 80mm fans on the back isn’t particularly loud. I installed 6TB IronWolf drives in the NAS, and after over a year of use, I haven’t noticed any issues in day-to-day performance; the F4-423 has proven to be very reliable in this regard.

If the hardware is among the best in this segment, the only drawback of the NAS is the software. TerraMaster is making strides in this area with TOS, and to the brand’s credit, TOS 5 fixes many of the issues from previous years. TOS 6 is turning out to be a huge upgrade, and it overhauls many privacy and security features and introduces a cleaner, modern user interface.

It’s still in public beta as of this writing, and I wouldn’t recommend installing it on your NAS, but what I’ve seen of it so far is exciting. And if you don’t like the look of TOS, you can always install your own, like TrueNAS Scale. It’s relatively easy to do, and the expandability makes the F4-423 a decent option if you want to tinker with the software.

Two years after its launch, the F4-423 is still a terrific NAS, and while the F4-424 Pro is now available and has better hardware, it also costs $699If you need a 4-bay home NAS server with the best hardware in this segment and are looking to maximize value, the F4-423 has a lot to offer.