All-flash Network-Attached Storage enclosures have been the latest attraction in the NAS space. Small and lightweight, these compact devices can only fit SSDs and have tinier footprints compared to their HDD-only siblings. Although support for ultra-fast SSDs is a fantastic feature, most of the pre-built all-flash devices I’ve come across are crippled by some dumb, deal-breaking restrictions, be it 2.5G Ethernet that restricts the bandwidth available to SSDs or awful UIs that lack polish.

However, TerraMaster’s latest all-flash NAS is free from a majority of ailments afflicting its rivals. Capable of handling up to eight M.2 SSDs simultaneously, the TerraMaster F8 SSD Plus is the crème de la crème of SSD-only NAS enclosures. Don’t get me wrong, it has a few minor issues, like the presence of a single Ethernet port, but after thoroughly testing the F8 SSD Plus for weeks, I daresay it’s the best all-flash SSD device on the market.

About the review: TerraMaster sent me the F8 SSD Plus for this review. However, the company had no input into this review, nor did it get to see the article before publishing.

Pricing, availability, and specs

TerraMaster announced the F8 SSD Plus as part of its Fall 2024 NAS lineup earlier this year. As of writing, TerraMaster has released two devices as part of the F8 SSD series: a normal version that costs $600 and comes with a weaker CPU and less memory, and the $800 “Plus” variant, which is the model I received from the company. Both are available for sale on Amazon and TerraMaster’s official website starting September 19, and we expect other third-party retailers to start listing them soon.

Design and ports

A tad bigger than its rivals

Meant to be kept upright like an average PC cabinet, the TerraMaster F8 SSD Plus is a rather tall enclosure. The external cover is made of plastic, and while I do prefer its minimalist design, I’m not very fond of the fact that it’s easy to leave scratches on the chassis. Compared to the eye-pleasing aluminum body of the Aiffro K100 NAS I reviewed earlier this year, the F8 SSD Plus is quite heavier and ranks pretty low on the attractiveness scale.

However, the F8 SSD Plus makes up for this drawback with its vast selection of ports. On the right side of the device, you’ll find two USB Type-A ports and one Type-C connection, with all three offering the 10Gbps speed of the USB 3.2 version. It also features a full-sized HDMI port that you can use to access the CLI-based UI after you're done initializing the NAS. But the 10 Gigabit Ethernet port is what you’re really here for, and it’s by far the most essential component that every NAS manufacturer should include in all-flash NAS devices.

Under the ports, you’ll find a small thumbscrew, and removing it lets you slide the outer plastic body away from the NAS to expose the internals. Aside from the 10GbE connection, the SSD slots, CPU, and RAM are other aspects where TerraMaster’s premium SSD NAS pulls ahead of the competition.

Aside from the 10GbE connection, the SSD slots, CPU, and RAM are other aspects where TerraMaster’s premium SSD NAS pulls ahead of the competition.

Hardware

Multiple SSD slots, with a decent CPU and enough memory for virtualization tasks

As I mentioned earlier, the F8 SSD Plus possesses a whopping eight M.2 slots, with each one capped at PCIe Gen 3 x1 speeds. On paper, this may look rather unimpressive. However, since a single SSD can saturate the 10GbE connection, the limited PCIe lanes or lack of support for the newer PCI Express interfaces aren’t really a problem.

TerraMaster also provides eight heatsinks for the SSDs, and each M.2 slot can accommodate SSDs with 8TB worth of storage space. As such, a fully decked-out F8 SSD Plus can hold up to 64TB of data!

A fully decked-out F8 SSD Plus can hold up to 64TB of data!

On the rear side of the NAS, you’ll find a single SODIMM RAM slot. TerraMaster ships the F8 SSD Plus with a 16GB DDR5 memory stick, though you can upgrade it to 32GB if your workloads require more RAM. That said, the lack of support for ECC memory is a real downer, and since the NAS has a single RAM slot, you’ll need to buy a 32GB stick instead of slotting in another 16GB kit and calling it a day.

As for the processor, you’re looking at an 8-core, 8-thread Intel i3-N305, which can handle most NAS-oriented tasks without crumbling under pressure. Plus, its low TDP of 9W makes it quite power efficient, and the dual 50mm fans under the enclosure are more than enough to keep the CPU and SSDs cool under extreme workloads, provided you fix the heatsinks on your drives.

Software and performance

Surprisingly great, for a proprietary OS

Since I’ve been running TrueNAS Scale for a long time, I wasn’t sure if a first-party NAS operating system would be enough to satisfy my tinkering needs. But after running some tests and playing around with apps, I have to admit that TOS 6 combines rock-solid performance with an intuitive UI.

Setting up the NAS was quite straightforward, too. After plugging the power and Ethernet cables into the NAS, I installed the official TerraMaster PC companion app and used it to scan the IP address of the F8 SSD Plus. After using it to launch the web UI, I installed TOS 6 on a drive before adding the login credentials. And with that, I was free to test the NAS to my heart’s content.

TOS 6 combines rock-solid performance with an intuitive UI.

First, I created a new folder using the File Manager and shared it via the SMB protocol. Transferring large ISO files took mere seconds, so I ran CrystalDiskMark to get some concrete benchmarks for the read/write speeds. I also enabled SSH from the settings app and ran the fio command to conduct another set of disk I/O tests.

Of course, this review would be incomplete if I didn’t test the NAS’ performance in virtualization tasks. Deploying Docker containers was a painless experience, and I encountered zero issues while running five containers simultaneously.

Should you buy the TerraMaster F8 SSD Plus?

The TerraMaster F8 SSD Plus is worth your money if:

• You want high read and write speeds from your SSD-powered storage server.
• You’re in the market for a compact NAS that can sit comfortably on your desk.
• You need an all-flash NAS with 10GbE connectivity.

You should stay away from the TerraMaster F8 SSD Plus if:

• You don’t want to spend $800 on a NAS.
• Your ideal NAS setup involves storing data in HDDs.
• You can’t stand proprietary NAS operating systems.

Having spent a lot of time with the TerraMaster F8 SSD Plus, I have to say that it’s a lot more capable than it may appear at first glance. The eight M.2 slots are more than enough for even the most enthusiastic RAID-loving data hoarders. If that’s not enough, you can use the high-speed USB ports to attach DAS units from TerraMaster to further amplify the storage capacity of the NAS.

Meanwhile, the i3 N305 processor + 16GB DDR5 memory combo can handle most of your containerization tasks without consuming too much power. The only aspect that I don’t like about the NAS is its single Ethernet port, which makes it fairly limited if your workload requires link aggregation and/or port failover provisions. Otherwise, the TerraMaster F8 SSD Plus is a wonderful little NAS that’s unbeatable by anything else in the same price range.