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TerraMaster F4-424 Pro NAS (i3-N305, 32GB RAM) $879.99 Delivered @ TerraMaster via Amazon AU

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TerraMaster F4-424 Pro NAS (i3-N305, 32GB RAM) $879.99 Delivered @ TerraMaster via Amazon AUAffiliate
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Tater on 05/05/2025 - 13:31 amazon.com.au (1058 clicks)
Last edited 05/05/2025 - 13:45 by 1 other user
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Peak Performance 4-Bay NAS: Unleash the power of the F4-424 Pro NAS storage, featuring a Core i3-N305 8-core 8-thread CPU at 3.8GHz (turbo), integrated UHD GPU at 1.25GHz, 32GB DDR5 4800MHz memory (non-ECC, non-upgradable), dual 2.5G Ethernet ports, and dual M.2 NVMe slots for SSD caching. An ideal peak performance NAS storage solution for small and medium-sized business users.

Lowest price this particular variant has been according to the camel, regular price is $1099

Price History at C CamelCamelCamel.
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closed Comments

  • bargainhuntr on 05/05/2025 - 13:39

    I was actually looking for a nas, not sure if this is a good deal or not.
    I am also confused between diy nas and of the shelf.

    • Tater on 05/05/2025 - 13:42
      +6

      These are a pretty good compromise as you can install Linux on them in place of the TOS from Terramaster.

      By the time you get a n305 motherboard from Aliexpress, memory, a case and PSU, you are going pretty close to this kind of money.
      I can say this with confidence as I have done exactly this recently smh

      • Grok on 05/05/2025 - 13:57

        What about if you have an older PC which no longer qualifies for Windows 11?

        The only real downside is energy consumption which you could reduce by stripping down the PC.

        • yak on 05/05/2025 - 15:18

          You need to be able to store all of the hdd and power them and have sata ports for them.

          You also need ram, 32GB is an okay amount for ZFS. You should get ECC if cpu and mobo support it.

          If you want to expand in future then you’re going to want open PCIe sockets and lanes for expansion cards.

          You’ll also need a fair bit of tech knowledge to setup a NAS OS and its volumes.

          I’m migrating from a 4-bay Synology to a DIY using an old gaming PC right now. To make it truly expandable involves a lot more hardware and work than I anticipated.

          The further I go on building my DIY NAS the more I appreciate the simplicity and versatility of my 4-bay Syno box. Upgrading its ram and adding a cheap SSD (for torrent ingest) was the only hardware upgrade I made to it. I still learnt a lot about dockers and networking from configuring it for automated Plex and torrent services.

          It’s a shame that Syno seems to be abandoning it’s traditional home user base and focusing on corporate customers instead. But the writing has been on the wall for a while now.

          I don’t know anything about Terramaster but the 32GB and 2.5G networking looks good to me.

          • bamzero on 05/05/2025 - 16:02
            +1

            @yak: Yes to ECC. Just had to rebuild my ZFS pool. Of course, all happens just as we went away for a bit, I start getting emails about unexpected reboots from my NAS (TrueNAS running on a G3258 with 16GB non-ECC), then one of my drives is degraded. For some reason was unable to log in to shut it down, eventually another email that 2 drives are degraded and when I got home it was just in a boot loop, kernel panic when trying to import the pool.

            One RAM stick went bad to the point of pretty much instant errors in memtest. Luckily was able to import the pool readonly and dump the data (not really anything important that wasn't backed up, just the inconvenience) but despite managing to import and scrub on another system couldn't get it to work on TrueNAS again and had to rebuild it.

            So now I'm down to 8GB, haven't really noticed any difference tbh but I'd really like to get something with ECC for an early warning.

            • yak on 05/05/2025 - 17:17

              @bamzero: Ouch. I’m also building a non-ECC NAS because my cpu and mobo (proprietary Dell with very little documentation) don’t support it. I knew it wasn’t ideal, but I wasn’t expecting anything more than a rare corrupted file, which is no big deal to me.

              Hearing your story where you had to store the data elsewhere and rebuild the entire pool is horrifying. I don’t have that level of knowledge or the spare storage (yet). I’d probably lose everything.

              I am planning to eventually upgrade it to an ECC system, but probably not for a few years.

              • bamzero on 05/05/2025 - 18:03
                +1

                @yak: In this case I'm not even sure how much difference ECC would have made. This RAM stick was what I'd call a catastrophic failure, not just random errors that you need to run memtest for days to even come across but it does make me wonder when the stick started going bad and what data might have been corrupted before it got written which is where the ECC would have come in.

                In fairness, I've been using this CPU/MB/RAM combo for 10 years, and the RAM with a different MB for a couple of years before that so I've had a good run. Was looking at those used Xeons on Aliexpress but wont fit in my ITX case.

                It's my HDDs that really could do with replacement. Coming up on 7 years for desktop drives running 24/7 :/ 3 new drives is a large chunk of change compared to back then (need to keep my eye out for a good East Digital deal or something)

          • Wonderfool on 05/05/2025 - 16:27
            +1

            @yak: You don't "need" 32gb ECC ram. 8gb is more than enough for the intended usage of these machines. The write speed of these things are too slow to saturate the ram.

            Now, if you have alot of services to run, that's a different story. In which case though, the n305 will be the bigger bottle neck before the you reach 32gb ram

            • yak on 05/05/2025 - 17:31
              +1

              @Wonderfool: I didn’t mean to say that you “need” 32GB just that it’s a good amount to have. And better if it’s ECC. This Terramaster NAS is not ECC.

              My old Syno 918+’s 4-core CPU with 16GB is weaker than this n305 but it handles thousands of seeding torrents, and a dozen other related dockers. It could not handle docker Jellyfin or Plex server well enough though. Too slow. I put that on bare metal on another PC to get it working better.

          • Humble Johnson on 06/05/2025 - 08:43

            @yak:

            Upgrading its ram and adding a cheap SSD (for torrent ingest) was the only hardware upgrade I made to it

            Howdy - fellow 4 bay syno NAS owner and currently looking to migrate to a DIY NAS too! I'm curious, was this SSD for a read or read/write cache, or as another volume? I'd read mixed feedback on the value of a read/write cache, and I've had some issues with write speed - what was the issue you were solving with this SSD?

        • Wonderfool on 05/05/2025 - 15:19

          This is the only reason I'm not willing to fork $900 on an off the shelf solution.

          You can easily build an i3 PC for $600. It'll be far more scalable thanks to the pcie lanes.

          Sure, it'll idle a few watts more, but you'll save far more once you realise you could repurpose the i3 for something else later on. Need to run a few game servers? Just upgrade the CPU and ram. Want to host your own 8B Ollama AI model? Sure, just throw in a rx580 and whatever post Pascal NVIDIA card you can scavenge. Want to host your own gaming PC on the go? Throw in a GPU and start a VM.

      • Budju on 05/05/2025 - 14:12
        -2

        The new TOS6 is pretty good though, so I don't know why you'd bother with a third party OS.

      • BanannaMan on 05/05/2025 - 15:14

        Yeah except the DIY is faster and 8 bay, but again you have to do it yourself..

      • grumblerain on 05/05/2025 - 15:31
        +2

        You DEFINITELY want to install your own distro.

        Don't go with the Terramaster OS. Just don't. I bought a Terramaster NAS a couple years ago, and got everything set up with the default OS - i still regret it to this day. Docker is YEARS old with no updates, as is Portainer. I tried everything under the sun to try and get Tailscale up and running, and still haven't. HEAPS of issues. Just haven't found the time to set up everything again from scratch, and ended up just installing virtualbox and running a virtual machine running DietPi instead.

        Just investigate ways to install an alternative OS.
        OS's which you can install include: Unraid, OMV, TrueNAS Core, Proxmox (there's a github with scripts to set up everything you could ever want with a 1-line command in Proxmox - should be easy to find). Or check out CasaOS.

        There's sooooooooo many amazing alternatives - honest to goodness, I seriously wouldn't recommend using the default OS. Google up on TOS at the very least, and see how many issues people have with it.

        (My NAS doesn't get TOS6, so my experiences above are for TOS5 - but I would never in a million years opt for even TOS6 when I could choose any of the alternatives I've listed above - TOS5 was so bad, I wouldn't ever EVER even consider running any OS by Terramaster ever again)

        • hishaken on 05/05/2025 - 16:01

          Any instructions of how to do it from scratch?

        • McMaferMur on 05/05/2025 - 16:58

          @grumblerain ah about to ask if you have tos 6 and i read the last sentence. but many said tos6 is miles better than tos5. again depending how complex is your requirement, some probably okay with tos 6 limitation compare with syno.
          the problem with most O/S is the raid system, you need to use the same size hdd. this is the main issue for me.
          tos, syno and unraid are the exceptions. unraid is not free. syno is free but hardware is expensive unless you go the dark side

          • grumblerain on 05/05/2025 - 23:15
            +2

            @McMaferMur: imo doesn't matter how good tos6 is. terramaster doesn't seem to be a company that supports and updates their OS, or the applications in their app manager (after a few years), at least they didn't with TOS5. bad track record.

            Thus, for future proofing, I wouldn't go with TOS6, irrespective of how much better it may be than TOS5 currently. And regardless of how much better it is than TOS5, it's ridiculously unlikely to be better in any way shape or form than unraid/omv/truenas, and even more ridiculously unlikely to be as good as these 5 years down the road.

    • Budju on 05/05/2025 - 14:11
      +3

      I have this NAS, it is sick. I paid the same amount as this. I have not seen it cheaper. Note that this is the 32gb variant.

    • Larsson on 05/05/2025 - 14:39
      +3

      What that neglects is the expansion.

      I regret buying a 4 bay NAS.

      You can’t upgrade anything: storage, networking, SSD array, cpu/gpu later.

      If you know you’ll never need to upgrade it’s fine. But otherwise very limiting if you even remotely think you might continue tinkering with it

      • grumblerain on 05/05/2025 - 15:33

        Most people would be fine with 4x 16tb hdd, I reckon.

        • Tater on 06/05/2025 - 10:25

          Those Linux ISOs will eat up space quickly!

    • kungfuman on 05/05/2025 - 14:51

      this drives the Terra in me.

  • DarnyBoy1982 on 05/05/2025 - 13:57
    +7

    I recently built my first NAS using the Jonsbo N3 case and a chinese motherboard from aliexpress. The whole project cost me less than this. I also have double the drivebay capacity then this can accomodate. I would say if you have built a couple of gaming rigs you should probably just go down the diy route or just turn your old rig into a server. Ill post my rig spec below if you can be bothered building your own, its really compact too.

    Case:Jonsbo N3
    Mobo: MW-NAS-N5105 (Aliexpress search N5105 NAS Motherboard)
    RAM: Crucial SODIMM DDR4 15GB

    Im running Unraid and I have an assortment of HDDs from previous builds, which is one of the best parts of Unraid you can mix and match drive capacities.

    • chartparker on 05/05/2025 - 13:59
      +5

      If you wanted an N305 you’d be paying like $450 for the Mobo alone. That’s what makes the 424 Pro so appealing

      • DarnyBoy1982 on 05/05/2025 - 14:05

        I see your point, but for me I have not yet come accross a use case scenario that requires that kind of processing power, for plex direct streaming, music streaming, photo and video storage it has been flawless so far.

        • chartparker on 06/05/2025 - 07:59
          +2

          Agreed, but the N305 is attractive to people who also want to run a VM or two as well and need a few extra cores

    • Tight Tim on 05/05/2025 - 14:28

      What CPU did you settle on?

      I'm also looking to build in the Jonso N3, with an i5-14100.

      • DarnyBoy1982 on 05/05/2025 - 14:30

        The motherboard I purchased comes with the n5105 processor pre installed with a generic singlefan heatsink. I could have gone the "gaming style" mini itx board route but this was a no-fuss solution and more than sufficient for my needs.

    • riff.79 on 05/05/2025 - 14:38
      +1

      While you are correct, you're not charging for your time. Some don't have time for the build. But that said, nice system!

    • SickDmith on 05/05/2025 - 14:53

      Im running Unraid…

      Are you paying annual fee for Unraid?
      I've heard a lot of good things about it. But with their new pricing model I am no longer considering them.

      • DarnyBoy1982 on 05/05/2025 - 15:02

        Its not an annual fee you just pay a one-off fee and you are done. However after 1 year you no longer recieve OS updates (Lifetime comes with lifetime OS updates)

        Unless a newer OS update includes some groundbreaking feature I cant see why I would care though. I can see how completely free options are more appealing however, Unraids UI and features were attractive to me, and there is a tonne of youtube videos for new users out there.

        • dav3 on 05/05/2025 - 15:22
          +2

          Patching for CVEs would certainly make it worth it.

        • SickDmith on 05/05/2025 - 16:56

          (Lifetime comes with lifetime OS updates)

          Good to know.
          Security updates are important so "one-off fee and leaving it as is" is not an option for me.
          I have an old QNAP and it is still receiving security updates. It works Ok. But sometimes I dream about newer hardware (faster CPU, faster network). :)

          Unraid Lifetime is $385 AUD. If I ever buy TerraMaster I am going to give OMV a shot. :)

    • McMaferMur on 05/05/2025 - 17:03

      @darnyboy so thats the items we need to buy (and then add hdd) ? thats all ? wow.. and how much $ you end up spending

      • DarnyBoy1982 on 05/05/2025 - 17:07

        No I didn't, I mentioned that the heatsink is included with the mobo to the other dude, just lookup the motherboard you will see for yourself. I did however forget to include the Psu which is a thermaltake toughpower sfx 650w. Unfortunately ozbargain doesn't allow you to edit comments that someone has responded too.

        I can't remember the exact cost but just go ahead and tally it up, while also taking note that you can fit literally double the drive capacity. Obviously price varies depending on the drives you use but thats no different than the terramaster.

        • McMaferMur on 05/05/2025 - 17:09

          ok thanks will put all your items on ali and see how much total

  • Carrera1963 on 05/05/2025 - 14:12
    +2

    F4-424 Pro is often discounted to $850 and has been as low as $799.

    F4-424 also down to $607 & F6-424 down to $799, which is the "usual" sale price for both. Previously they were 'full' price but had coupons available.

    The F6-424 showed up for me as reduced to $799 plus the $200 coupon, but once clicking through the coupon shows as expired. I'd definitely buy it for $599! (6-bay, 2.5Gbe, Celeron N95).

    • Mikael on 05/05/2025 - 14:41

      Couldn't see coupon either on the F6-424.
      Got an unRaid and got 4 3.5" and 2 M2. Starting to get bit small in case. In the process upgrading size hdd and to clean my qnap to main backups only. Just 4x4tb and an OLD Nas. But working.

    • Tater on 06/05/2025 - 10:27
      +1

      The F4-424 Pro at $799 only had 16GB memory

  • frkino on 05/05/2025 - 14:20
    +1

    Thank you for sharing this deal OP : )

    Solid spec for the price, notable the 32GB ram even it is non-upgradable
    tick all the major boxes at first glance with: 1.) NVMe SSD slots for caching , and 2.) intel UHD for QuickSync transcoding over 3.) 2.5G ethernet ports

    buyer beware though: it is the HDD price that is going to sting :/

  • aedomsan on 05/05/2025 - 14:24

    I'm just about to pull the trigger on a DIY NAS, but rather than one of the low-powered n100 type chips, was going to go for a higher power desktop i3 (14100), as I want the stronger iGPU for multiple plex transcodes. For whatever reason I hadn't seen much about these n305's until now, anyone know if these are even remotely comparable to the desktop i3's in terms of iGPU transcodes, or is it much closer to the n100s?

    • at9 on 05/05/2025 - 15:17
      +2

      the N100 can do up to 6 4k transcodes with quick sync if you aren't really running anything else.
      Forced subtitles having to be burnt in can be a huge limiting factor.

  • Polaremail on 05/05/2025 - 14:34

    Been having some trouble with my d5 300c- it's different, its DAS. But got 2 drives "corrupted" simultaneously 3 times in a month - so thinking moving away from Terra master myself.

    • riff.79 on 05/05/2025 - 14:42

      Afraid that is a completely different unit. Many variables can lead to that outcome.

  • riff.79 on 05/05/2025 - 14:39

    Great units - runs many OS's well. TIP - the NVME screws are somewhat fragile, do not over tighten.

  • t25 on 05/05/2025 - 14:40
    +2

    After the stunt Synology pulled with only supporting their drive, I am considering this brand instead.

    • Krosbow on 05/05/2025 - 15:10

      Yeah agree, not a bad option at all. Once my 918+ snuffs it something like this running UnRaid or TrueNAS will be the go I think.

    • kizzaaa on 05/05/2025 - 15:34

      Same but with Unraid installed.

      • McMaferMur on 05/05/2025 - 17:04
        +1

        but unraid is not free :(

    • dav3 on 05/05/2025 - 15:59

      Hadn't heard of that (I'm running QNAP) but they're releasing a list of supported third party drives, so you're not just locked to Synology disks.

  • aedomsan on 05/05/2025 - 14:43
    +1

    Also, other than east-digital who seems to be poorly priced now, whats the go for cheap refurb drives at the moment?

    • Lastora on 05/05/2025 - 14:53

      Wondering this myself :)

  • jasonc on 05/05/2025 - 14:50
    +3

    I also have this nas. Very happy with it. No plex performance struggles

  • Larsson on 05/05/2025 - 14:52
    +1

    Asustor is better, it has an SSD array:

    Asustor AS5404T

    • McMaferMur on 05/05/2025 - 22:32

      How much?

    • Tater on 06/05/2025 - 11:04

      True for storage, this has more memory out of the box and a higher performing CPU
      These things may or may not be important depending on your use case

      • Larsson on 06/05/2025 - 16:55

        Yeah true, if you are meaning to host a ton of services that are resource hungry, especially virtual machines, it might make a difference.

        But then again, for everyone’s favorite arr* stack, Asustor is perfectly fine. Also ram is super easy to upgrade and dead cheap.

  • buffalo bill on 05/05/2025 - 15:25
    +2

    To play Devil's advocate, the common complaint with this is poor operating system performance from TOS (which is solved by using Unraid or another OS).

    Also, the N305 (now superceeded by N350) is likely overkill for most NAS and media server use cases and comes with increased heat and power use 24/7.

    Having said that, i would probably buy this if I didnt have an N150 NAS already although for up near this coin you're getting to the point you can put a nice little ITX box together with power efficient components.

    • grumblerain on 05/05/2025 - 15:38
      +2

      Yep, I posted this above too.

      TerraMaster hardware itself may be decent - but worth investigating even that. I've been unable to upgrade my older NAS's RAM (F2-422). Also slightly annoying if you want to install a new OS.

      But yes, let's say you aren't bothered by any of that - the software (TOS5 for me, F2-422 isn't eligible for TOS6 I believe) is rubbish. Stay far, far away.
      (I posted a bunch of alternatives in a rage-filled comment further up in this deal lol.)

      • buffalo bill on 05/05/2025 - 15:45

        Yeah I would basically consider TOS to have 0 value in this. As you said, even if you persist with it, you can find on forum posts of everything from unusable read/write performance to full data loss using TOS; all resolved by installing a new OS (well, maybe not the data loss).

  • lawyerz on 05/05/2025 - 15:55

    I have a TerraMaster DAS and I can't seem to reliably and consistently solve the issue of the HDD not being recognised upon reboot. I have to physically eject and reinsert the HDD then it shows up. I've tried to troubleshoot - power options, turn off power saving, fast boot is off etc but sometimes it's recognised on reboot, sometimes it's not. Anyone got any tips? with Win 10 currently

    • DigitalAnalog on 05/05/2025 - 16:49

      Do you have a known working HDD that you can test on the DAS? Can you also test the HDD in question on other machines? You just need to isolate where the fault is - potentially it could be the DAS backplane, and for hardware issues you willneed to contact the seller and/or Terramaster - they're quite responsive actually.

      • lawyerz on 05/05/2025 - 16:51

        the two HDDs in the DAS are brand new and perfectly working. The DAS itself is new too. there's also 2 additional HDD directly connected not via DAS that works perfectly. I suspect it's something to do with the boot up sequence or something along those lines

        yeah i might have to contact Terramaster - bought from them directly

        • DigitalAnalog on 05/05/2025 - 17:07

          Are they unrecognised at the BIOS level too?

  • hishaken on 05/05/2025 - 15:59

    What is power consumption and noise level company with aoostar deal?
    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/898683

    • buffalo bill on 05/05/2025 - 20:46
      +1

      Worse power consumption and noise level than both the Aoostar N150, and the Ryzen. I believe the fan is better in the Aoostar but the N305 also needs more cooling.

      Worse overall performance than the Ryzen, but best transcoding performance of the 3. Probably looking around 15W idle for the Aoostar N150, 35W or so for the Ryzen, and about 50W or so with this.

      • FujinShu on 06/05/2025 - 03:06

        This NAS has hot-swappable hard drives, though. The Aoostar NAS doesn’t have that, only disk shelves.

        • buffalo bill on 06/05/2025 - 12:26
          +1

          Yeah there are pros and cons for sure. Although I'd take non-hot swappable over non-recognised drives like the above comment.

      • Tater on 06/05/2025 - 12:59
        +1

        FWIW I measured 38W idle and 64W max during boot with 5 drives and no power saving configured (proxmox 8 - no VMs running)

  • pandaaram on 05/05/2025 - 16:28

    This or D423+ ??

    • FujinShu on 06/05/2025 - 03:07

      This by far. Synology’s locking up hard drive compatibility to only “approved” drives (i.e., drives sold by them for an insane markup).

  • bargainbosun on 05/05/2025 - 17:08

    Not sure this is totally the right forum but I currently run a PLEX server off my regular laptop (M1 MacBook Pro) and have around 5-10 friends who use it for remote viewing. I play 4Ks off it natively and it all works great!

    The only thing is I would like to have a more permanent solution as I take my laptop away for work all the time – would something like this suffice? Does streaming off HDDs instead of SSDs affect the performance?

    • McMaferMur on 05/05/2025 - 17:59
      +1

      Wow you are such a good friend…

    • Tater on 06/05/2025 - 10:42
      +1

      There wouldn't be any noticeable change between streaming off SSD or HDD

  • bjt on 05/05/2025 - 18:19
    +2

    Synology's hard drive lock-in makes this more of a deal too: https://nascompares.com/2025/04/16/synology-2025-nas-hard-dr…

  • morpheous on 05/05/2025 - 18:46
    +1

    I was looking at using my Dell micro 7060 with a DAS, any major advantages of using this instead? Besides more computing power?

    • yak on 06/05/2025 - 02:16
      +1

      The 7060 Micro seems like a neat machine, but doesn't really have a good way to attach a DAS. You could use USB, but advice from other NAS DIY'ers seems universally against using USB to connect drives. Everything might setup okay, and then fail in unexpected ways. Maybe you'll be fine. Do some research before committing to that path. Most connect to a DAS with SAS cables (eg. SFF-8088 from controller PC to DAS, and then split to SATA cables there) You could use the internal M.2 port with some sort of adapter, but that's a bit hacky.

      The other limitation is that the 7060 Micro has a 1Gbps network port. You might be perfectly happy with that, bit it's worth noting that the TerraMaster has 2.5Gbps and that's something that you'll probably want in the future.

      • morpheous on 06/05/2025 - 10:46
        +1

        Thank you for your detailed reply. That was the worry as I have seen different opinions on the internet regarding using the USB connection.

        As my use case is backup, plex, automation and minecraft server (in that priority), should I be looking at a custom build or SFF?

        SFF controller if I am correct, would need a PCIE, SFF8088 cable and a DAS that supports SFF8088?

        And If I am correct, I can connect an adapter for the 2.5gbps ethernet?

        • yak on 06/05/2025 - 15:24
          +4

          All of your answers to your questions were correct. You’ve done good research. I am going with a custom build myself using mix of new and used parts, but it’s a tough recommendation to give because no build is as simple as the internet makes it out to be.

          Consider breaking your NAS project into 2 discrete units. One computer for the NAS. Networked storage only. Keep it simple.

          A second computer as your home server (your 7060 Micro would be good) to run your services like Home Assistant, Plex Server, etc.

          For the NAS you could buy a prebuilt unit like the Terramaster here, or a used Synology, etc. You won’t need much compute power seeing as it’s just running as a file system really. You could get away with something quite underpowered.

          BUT it’s not easily expandable and your locked in, so let’s look at DIY:

          Unless you’re going with a server rack (in which case you’ll want ex-enterprise disk shelves and can handle the noise, heat, and power bill), then…

          Start without a DAS. But ensure your NAS can add one in future. That’s because most non-server rack DAS are either janky, overpriced, 3D printed, or re-purposed PC cases. Then you need to use expensive SAS cables, and either run its own PSU or power it from your main PC.

          If you ignore DAS for now, then start with a PC that can store at least 4 x 3.5in HDD (unless you want 2.5in SSD) and most importantly has 1-3 4xPCIe slots free so that you can add networking, SATA ports, or DAS connection ports in future. For the first build connect the HDDs straight to the mobo SATA ports.

          A used PC is good value for this. An old PC is fine. Full ATX and able to take full size PCIe cards will give you future flexibility. Try to not go too old, because it’s going to cost you more power to run an inefficient 22nm CPU than a 14nm CPU.

          ZFS is happy with you moving drives around. You can have a NAS with HDDs directly on the SATA ports and then move them out to a DAS over a HBA card years from now and ZFS will just pick them up again and carry on like nothing has changed.

          If you want to build your own NAS (fun!) then consider the Fractal Design Define 7 XL case to fit 18 or so drives and keep them quiet. More stock is coming to Australian retailers in a couple of months.

          If you want something cheaper and smaller, then a Jonsbo N3 is good value and popular in the DIY NAS community. Less than $160 including GST and free shipping from AliExpress. $229 from PLE. It’s only ITX and not very quiet, but it’s small and can hold 8 x 3.5in drives. Because it’s ITX, get a mobo with plenty of SATA ports (or m.2 NVME ports for SATA adapters), and onboard graphics CPU support, and 2.5Gbps ethernet if possible, so that you can leave its single PCIe slot free for a HBA card (or other DAS connection like the sadly underused Oculink) in future.

          Jonsbo N4 is trash. Jonsbo N5 is good, but impossible to get in Australia. Jonsbo N3 is the sweet-spot for price and capacity for a new case.

          If you want to 3D print your own DAS case then you’ll probably want to plan it around a specific backplane for your drives to plug into. The Jonsbo N3 backplane is cheap. Supermicro server backplanes are also recommended.

          There are plenty of other good solutions out there, but few that are available in Australia at reasonable prices right now.

          One computer for storage. One computer for server services. That’s my general advice over building one system that tries to do everything. If you do want one beast to rule them all, then…

          You can get a refurbished Lenovo Thinkstation tower with a Xeon e5 v4 or better for around $300 from eBay. It would give your 4 x HDD bays, DDR4 ECC RAM and plenty of expansion and upgrade options. Not the smallest or quietest of computers, but there are plenty of cheap Xeon e5 v4 CPU upgrades available if you need more perf for the Minecraft server.

          https://www.reddit.com/r/admincraft/comments/1d4vc8y/how_man…

          I am not following much of my own NAS build advice because I learnt it too late. 🙃

          https://youtu.be/uO6DMWHK_HA Linus building a NAS in the Define 7 XL for Mark Rober

          There are plenty of Jonsbo N3 NAS builds on Reddit, including 3D printed versions. Good reads.

          • morpheous on 06/05/2025 - 20:21

            @yak: Thank you again for your detailed reply!

            You are right, each build does come with its own set of issues. That is a solid advice to have 2 discrete units and one which I was considering as well due to the limited use case of the micro PC.

            DIY does make sense for the my purposes with the micro PC as a separate unit. And you are right about a custom build being the fun part, I built my PC last year and it has been great learning experience. Will be adding the costs up to see which route seems more feasible.

            Lenovo Think station tower doesn't seem like a bad option either. The more I have been looking into this, the more I finding that this will be a fun hobby. Wouldn't be surprised to have a home server with a proper rack down the line. Love the looks of Jonsbo N5, matches my fractal north PC case and have been watching N3 videos on YouTube. The amount of content out there is amazing, just need a lot of coffee to process it all :).

            You have saved me quite a few days of browsing and YouTube! Deeply appreciate your time on this.

            What route did you end up going with your setup? The setup done MKK, looks pretty cool. Very much an overkill for my purposes. Is this the route you took?

            • yak on 07/05/2025 - 01:03
              +1

              @morpheous: Adding up the costs? Oh no! Expensive hobby alert, hahaha.

              The problem with the Lenovo Thinkstation is it's overkill for a NAS. If you're going with a Thinkstation or similar Xeon work horse, then you may as well use it for most of your home server needs too.

              My new NAS setup is still in progress. I'm waiting on the parts I've ordered to come in. I've bought a Thinkstation P510 to run the NAS. Waiting on delivery. I have a Jonsbo N3 case to use as a DAS. Waiting on delivery. I have the HBA and all needed SAS cables, and a few other related bits and pieces. That's not how I initially planned my setup, but it's what's coming.

              In an earlier post, I knocked USB-C powered DAS for ZFS. I might have been premature there.

              This is one of many warnings against it: https://forums.truenas.com/t/why-you-should-avoid-usb-attach…

              But then Level1Techs (who are cool home labbing nerds and IT pros) use some USB enclosures happily. https://forum.level1techs.com/t/usb-c-10gbs-enclosure-with-a…

              That Level1Tech thread seems to have very good experiences with the TerraMaster D6-320 DAS that just went up on OzBargain for sale tonight. That unit passes through the SATA drives to the host PC properly. Experiences with ICYBOX and Sabrent DAS enclosures received awful reports, but that specific TerraMaster unit and an Asustor that Wendel mentioned seem good. https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/904657

              So, despite me negging USB, that specific unit reportedly handles things well. So, your initial idea about using a DAS on your Micro PC is worth considering. You need to be very picky about the USB controllers inside the units and how transparently they pass the HDDs back to the host computer.

              Did I just tell you to ignore everything I ever said about building a NAS? o_o

              • morpheous on 07/05/2025 - 11:11

                @yak: hahaha I am in to deep now.

                I checked out a few YouTube videos on the ThinkStation but haven’t fully made up my mind yet. I feel like the best approach with anything new is to start with the lowest available resource—gives you a better grasp of the ins and outs. That said, I’m about ready to toss my Ender 3 printer out the window; the constant tinkering is getting old. Your setup sounds solid, though—wishing you the best with it!

                I’ve been going back and forth on this too. I ordered the TERRAMASTER D4-320 after watching this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdEqEWiA2CE

                The video covers USB connectivity issues and explains how the D4—like the D6—is apparently a secure option for NAS with a micro PC. Ended up canceling the order, but it was already shipped, so now it’s on its way regardless. Thinking of just giving it a go, since D6 is out of stock now.

                Hahaha, yep—you got me! Honestly, I think it makes sense to test things out by going with a Micro PC, DAS, and offline backup for critical data. No matter how secure a NAS might seem, an offline backup is always a smart move. Later on, I can expand the setup later as per need and invest in hard drives right now.

                Have you got all your hard drives sorted? Been looking for deals on them, East Digital seems to be the go to with Ozbargain comm. My partners on for a trip to the states but couldn't see any great deals there atm.

                • yak on 07/05/2025 - 12:01
                  +1

                  @morpheous: I picked up 4 hdd from Amazon UK. Arrived yesterday. The parcel looked like it’d been used as a soccer ball for a pick up game. The drives look okay physically, but I haven’t plugged them in yet.

                  I’ll have plenty of room for more drives, so I’m keeping an eye out for good deals and will add more capacity as I go.

                  East Digital is where I’m looking as well. Seems to have good rep. New Egg, Amazon, and anywhere selling ex-commercial computer gear are also on my radar.

            • impoze on 08/05/2025 - 11:55

              @morpheous: What makes N4 trash?

              Considering migrating from a fractal define case as well

              I have mAtx board so might have to go the N5

              • impoze on 08/05/2025 - 14:42

                @impoze: Saw some vids, N4 is definitely an odd design.

                Sagittarius 8-bay looks like a winner too, if I can find a decent seller on Aliexpress

  • GrabOzB on 05/05/2025 - 20:54

    How does this compare to the Aoostar? Looking at setting one up to back up computers, laptops, and phones as well as a media player.

    • Tater on 06/05/2025 - 10:55

      Higher performance (this has n305 vs n150 in Aoostar)
      Aoostar has expandable memory slots, this one has non-expandable memory
      This one has hotswap HDD, Aoostar does not
      This is more of a dedicated NAS, Aoostar is more of a mini-pc with a NAS-style case

  • tas05 on 05/05/2025 - 21:32

    I'm looking at a Dell optiplex 5055, 4 X sata ports, 1 X m.2, ryzen 2400g, 16gb, these are $300 second hand. Even a spare pcie slot for expansions, but only 1gb nic

    • SickDmith on 06/05/2025 - 00:05

      I use 2.5Gbe USB NIC in my old QNAP.

  • Kayfam on 06/05/2025 - 09:08

    I'm using the 16GB ram version of this with UNRAID mainly for Plex, Deluge, Immich and Home Assistant. Very happy with its performance.

  • RedFoxAU on 06/05/2025 - 19:20

    went to buy and price back to 1099?

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