The Network-Attached Storage (NAS) landscape has undergone a lot of changes since the beginning of the year. Unlike the bulky, HDD NAS devices that have prevailed for a long time, all-flash NAS devices like the Aiffro K100, TerraMaster F8 SSD Plus, and Ugreen NASync DXP480T Plus have started becoming mainstream. Heck, there’s even the UnifyDrive UT2, which is designed to be as portable as possible. And don’t even get me started on all the cool SBCs you can use to build a fully-functional NAS.

With innovations such as these floating around, one might wonder how a conventional 4-bay unit like the TerraMaster F4-424 Max would fare in the NAS market. But as it turns out, the F4-424 is an absolute masterpiece that combines the rock-solid features of the last-gen F4-424 Pro with top-of-the-line hardware and storage provisions.

About this review: TerraMaster sent me an F4-424 Max for the review, but the company had zero input into the contents of the article.

Pricing, availability, and specs

The TerraMaster F4-424 Max has a premium $900 price tag, which makes it more expensive than your average pre-built NAS enclosure. However, you do get what you pay for, as it rocks some impressive specs for a NAS. As of now, you can buy it from Amazon or TerraMaster’s own platform.

Design, drive support, and port selection

A plastic body, with plenty of connectivity options

While you’re not buying a NAS to decorate your computing space, the TerraMaster F4-424 Max does have a bland exterior. Weighing 4.85 pounds and measuring 179mm in width, it has the same dimensions as your average, full-sized 4-bay NAS, though its plastic chassis looks rather cheap for a device of its caliber, and I wish it had an aluminum finish to better complement its specs. But aside from the appearance, everything else about the TerraMaster F4-424 Max is top-notch.

The front portion of the NAS includes four drive bays, where you can attach 3.5-inch HDDs and 2.5-inch drives (hard drives and SSDs). The larger HDDs easily slide into the drive frame, though you’ll have to fix the smaller 2.5-inch hard drives and SSDs using screws. The drive bays support up to 22TB for each disk, bringing the NAS' total storage capacity to a whopping 88TB.

On the back, you’ll find the power button, a 120mm fan, and a fleet of ports. The two USB 3.2 Type-A (and their Type-C counterpart) are capped at 10Gbps, and you even get an HDMI port that’s helpful when you wish to access the command-line interface on the NAS. Unlike your average pre-built NAS, the TerraMaster F4-424 Max features two Ethernet ports that support 10 Gigabit networking, and you can even set up link aggregation to get a bandwidth of 20Gb/s!

The TerraMaster F4-424 Max features two Ethernet ports that support 10 Gigabit networking, and you can even set up link aggregation to get a bandwidth of 20Gb/s!

For those wondering how a four-bay NAS could warrant dual 10 Gigabit ports, the answer lies inside the side compartment of the F4-424 Max’s chassis. Removing two screws on the rear of the NAS lets you unmount the side panel and access two M.2 slots capped at PCIe Gen 4 (4x) speeds, making the TerraMaster F4-424 Max more of a hybrid NAS than an HDD-only or all-SSD storage device.

Hardware

Quite capable despite its power-efficient nature

One of my biggest complaints about pre-built NAS enclosures is their lack of firepower. But rather than an underpowered processor, the TerraMaster's premium offering is armed with a 10-core, 12-thread Intel Core i5-1235U CPU. As such, the F4-424 can double as a really competent home lab and self-hosting machine. That said, it comes with a single 8GB DDR5 memory stick, which is a major downer in my opinion.

The F4-424 can double as a really competent home lab and self-hosting machine.

On a run-of-the-mill budget NAS, I probably would’ve overlooked this drawback. But for something that costs as much as a decent gaming PC, merely 8GB of memory is a bit too low, especially considering the fast processor powering the NAS. Plus, the lack of support for ECC memory is a disappointment, especially considering its price. However, you’re not limited on the upgradability front, as the NAS can handle up to 64GB DDR5 memory.

Software and transfer speeds

TOS 6 works well (for the most part)

The operating system can make or break a pre-built NAS. Thankfully, TerraMaster’s proprietary OS is quite capable… so long as you install it on an SSD. When I initially set out to test TOS 6, I tried setting it up on a 7200RPM 4TB HDD. Unfortunately, the installation crawled at a snail’s pace, and the progress bar barely moved past the 40% mark even after waiting for well over an hour.

Thankfully, switching to an NVMe SSD solved the issue, and I was able to arrive at the TOS 6 Dashboard in a few minutes. With how fast NVMe SSDs are these days, there’s no surprise that it managed to choke the 10 Gigabit connection, and that’s where the link aggregation facility comes in handy.

Of course, since you’re supposed to use HDDs with the TerraMaster F4-424 Max, I conducted a second round of tests by hot-swapping (or perhaps I should say, hot-installing) the 4TB HDD alongside another hard drive from earlier into the NAS and creating a second volume in TRAID mode. And the results were in line with how you’d expect hard drives to perform.

It's built for virtualization and containerization workloads

As for TOS 6, the operating system is fairly intuitive and is simple enough that you’d get the hang of things after messing around with the web UI. The Apps selection on TOS 6 is pretty decent as well, as you get the option to set up everything from Backup tools and media-browsing apps to Docker Engine and phpVirtualBox.

The Apps selection on TOS 6 is pretty decent as well, as you get the option to set up everything from Backup tools and media-browsing apps to Docker Engine and phpVirtualBox.

Speaking of, the i5-1235U works incredibly well with phpVirtualBox – a third-party version of the hypervisor – though you’ll need to use the Remote Desktop Protocol to access the Console. For my tests, I deployed a Debian and a NixOS virtual machine. To my surprise, the NAS provided a surprisingly responsive experience. Given how well the VMs ran on the F4-424 Max, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I was able to deploy 15+ self-hosted apps running inside Docker containers. And the best part? During all my experiments, the 120mm radiator managed to keep the NAS cool while making minimal noise, to the point where I wouldn't have believed it was running had I not checked it myself.

Should you buy the TerraMaster F4-424 Max?

The F4-424 Max is perfect for you if:

• You’re in the market for a hybrid storage server that can accommodate both SSDs and HDDs.
• You want a powerful NAS with solid self-hosting provisions.
• You’re looking for an ultra-fast NAS that can utilize the extra bandwidth of your 10GbE connection.

You should stay away from the F4-424 Max in case:

• You prefer small and attractive-looking NAS enclosures.
• You don’t wish to spend $900 on a mere storage server.

With its fast-yet-power efficient i5-1235U processor, dual 10 Gigabit RJ45 ports, and support for PCIe 4.0 (4x lane) SSDs, the F4-424 Max is a behemoth of a NAS. Although the base model is lacking in the memory aspect, you do get the option to upgrade the RAM all the way up to 64GB. Combine that with its amazing self-hosting prowess and 88TB storage capacity, and it’s easily one of the best NAS devices on the market right now.

I’ll be honest – as a NAS and home lab enthusiast, it’s my dream storage server. Unfortunately, its price is just as premium as its specifications, and it might be a good idea to stick to the more budget-friendly options if you want an inexpensive NAS that’s only good for backing up data and syncing light files on your 1GbE network. But for hardcore users, you’ll get your money’s worth with the powerhouse that’s the TerraMaster F4-424 Max.