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7 minutes ago, DevTech said:

Weeds?

 

 

 

 

exactly.  

Quote

Now he actually wants "Mom & Pop File Server with a FileMaker DB gravy on the side"

 

As soon as he mentioned that, you should have realized anything you state will be over his head and into the weeds.....might as well have tried to explain astrophysics to a 2 year old.  No offense to anyone, filemaker really should be updated and pushed to the cloud if possible.

This thread is hilarious! We started by talking about a requirement to support a 5 employee business, and now we are talking about Kubernetes.

 

Even a $7K server is too much for a business of that size.  Build in resilience if you need it.  For each application, ask how long you can wait before you start to suffer because it is broken.  Build resilience to make sure you never end up in that situation, but be realistic and don't build resilience for stuff that will affect you but won't kill you if it is temporarily unavailable.

Buy a storage device to back data up onto.  Back up to the cloud as well for offsite in case flood/fire/act of god destroys your on-site device.

 

You could easily do this for well less thank $7K.  You certainly don't need Kubernetes, regardless of how much of a hard-on it gives to some nerds.

  • Like 2
5 minutes ago, DevTech said:

I'm trying to understand your objectives in terms of how they translate into a technical requirement.

 

#1 - you don't really need to upgrade for any performance reason

 

#2 - so, you need to upgrade, yet instead of lookiing at 2019, you config a pumped up 2008 type system that improves on nothing at all (that you need) for this effort

 

#3 - the only thing that could help you in a way your needs might get a shot in the arm is the STORAGE which is why I focus on it!

 

#4 - i will check and see what Dell has available

I think #2 is kind of where you are losing me. I just wanted a new box with more modern hardware to last me a good long time and run the Windows based apps that I need on it. I am only even considering doing anything with the server because our business software was updated to a version of Filemaker Server that requires a 64-bit OS.

 

Buying 3 servers or that other K-stuff you were talking about seems like using a Falcon Heavy to get to the grocery store down the street. As computer savvy as I thought I was, almost everything server-wise that you're talking about may as well be Greek. Maybe it's my age, lol.

 

I was actually even wondering about buying Windows Server 2019 and installing it on my current hardware.

 

It's not like I'm not willing to spend the $7,500. I'm just getting so confused at a lot of the stuff that you're suggesting. I just don't want to be getting into something that's designed for huge companies when I just need something small and simple.

 

I do immensely appreciate all the time and effort you're putting in helping me.

4 minutes ago, sc302 said:

exactly.  

 

As soon as he mentioned that, you should have realized anything you state will be over his head and into the weeds.....might as well have tried to explain astrophysics to a 2 year old.  No offense to anyone, filemaker really should be updated.

No offense taken. That's exactly how it feels. My Dad used to get so angry with me because I'd explain computer stuff to him that was over his head. Now I know how it feels.

 

So how do small business owners with no knowledge of servers set up something simple but good enough to handle their needs?

3 minutes ago, Fahim S. said:

This thread is hilarious! We started by talking about a requirement to support a 5 employee business, and now we are talking about Kubernetes.

 

Even a $7K server is too much for a business of that size.  Build in resilience if you need it.  For each application, ask how long you can wait before you start to suffer because it is broken.  Build resilience to make sure you never end up in that situation, but be realistic and don't build resilience for stuff that will affect you but won't kill you if it is temporarily unavailable.

Buy a storage device to back data up onto.  Back up to the cloud as well for offsite in case flood/fire/act of god destroys your on-site device.

 

You could easily do this for well less thank $7K.  You certainly don't need Kubernetes, regardless of how much of a hard-on it gives to some nerds.

Yeah I think you are kind of hitting it on the head. I build gaming computers but when it comes to servers, I'm like a 2 year old. All that I feel I need is an updated server with modern processor(s) and storage with enough redundancy in case of failures. I'd almost think of just building one myself and then buying Server 2019 separately.

Not sure if it would be helpful here. Lots of info being flung around... I personally prefer building my own servers over using Dells. I've been building SuperMicro servers for a long while. Just built two for two clients based on 7048R-C1RT. They are splendid machines. All the goodies included. I even have one configured to pass-through a Quadro GPU to a RDSH VM - using Hyper-V 2019 mind you.

8 minutes ago, patseguin said:

I think #2 is kind of where you are losing me. I just wanted a new box with more modern hardware to last me a good long time and run the Windows based apps that I need on it. I am only even considering doing anything with the server because our business software was updated to a version of Filemaker Server that requires a 64-bit OS.

 

Buying 3 servers or that other K-stuff you were talking about seems like using a Falcon Heavy to get to the grocery store down the street. As computer savvy as I thought I was, almost everything server-wise that you're talking about may as well be Greek. Maybe it's my age, lol.

 

I was actually even wondering about buying Windows Server 2019 and installing it on my current hardware.

 

It's not like I'm not willing to spend the $7,500. I'm just getting so confused at a lot of the stuff that you're suggesting. I just don't want to be getting into something that's designed for huge companies when I just need something small and simple.

 

I do immensely appreciate all the time and effort you're putting in helping me.

I wouldn't worry too much about it then.  Buy a server within budget, replace your existing if it is over 5 years old, and be done with it.  Make sure you have the storage required and I would say 16GB of memory (don't sell yourself shorter than that).  

 

Everything else is not what you need at the moment.  

 

 

4 minutes ago, Bryan R. said:

Not sure if it would be helpful here. Lots of info being flung around... I personally prefer building my own servers over using Dells. I've been building SuperMicro servers for a long while. Just built two for two clients based on 7048R-C1RT. They are splendid machines. All the goodies included. I even have one configured to pass-through a Quadro GPU to a RDSH server - using Hyper-V 2019 mind you.

Dells Business critical 4 hour turn around really kicks super micro's replace whatever in whenever's times ass.  If you don't need it, build supermicro's all day long.  If you lose more money than the server is worth within a few hours, you probably want to stick with that 4 hour turnaround time...it could be 10pm or 2 am, they deliver.

  • Like 2

with the very greatest respect, you could probably run your business on an i7 Intel NUC, 32GB RAM, Windows 10 Pro 64 bit, with a 128GB system NVMe SSD, and a 1TB SATA SSD for storage.

Pair that with a decent 4 bay Synology NAS stuffed with 4TB discs, and a subscription to a reasonable cloud backup solution (choose your poison).

 

I haven't priced it up, but I think that is about $2K?

Seriously... based on what I have read, you genuinely don't need more.

 

Buy a second NUC, and put it into a cupboard so you can restore onto it should the hardware in the first one fail - or not, you can practically get the parts for a new computer delivered on Amazon Prime in a day or so.  The question, is how badly will your business suffer if you lose your software (not the data) for a day?

Power Edge 640 

- $4000 no O/S

- still looking for M.2 based mobo

- has empty CPU socket for expansion

 

 

PowerEdge T640 Tower Server Summary

List Price$6,482.00

Total Savings$2,396.36

Dell Price$4,085.64

 

OptionSelectionSKU / Product CodeQuantity

Base

PowerEdge T640 Server[210-AMBC]0

Trusted Platform Module

No Trusted Platform Module[461-AADZ] / NTPM1

Chassis

Chassis with up to 8" x 3.5 SAS/SATA Hard Drives, Tower Configuration[321-BCXD] / 51064581

Processor

Intel® Xeon® Silver 4114 2.2G, 10C/20T, 9.6GT/s, 14M Cache, Turbo, HT (85W) DDR4-2400[338-BLUS] / 51034021

Additional Processor

No Additional Processor[374-BBBX] / 1P1

Processor Thermal Configuration

Standard HS for Less = 150W[412-AAJW] / 51049871

Memory DIMM Type and Speed

2666MT/s RDIMMs[370-ADNU] / 50992781

Memory Configuration Type

Performance Optimized[370-AAIP] / PEOPT1

Memoryi

32GB RDIMM, 2666MT/s, Dual Rank[370-ADNF] / 50988901

RAID

C5, RAID 10 for HDDs or SSDs in pairs (Matching Type/Speed/Capacity)[780-BCDQ] / 50988741

RAID/Internal Storage Controllers

PERC H330 RAID Controller[405-AAMT] / 50995691

Hard Drive

480GB SSD SATA Mix Use 6Gbps 512 2.5in Hot-plug AG Drive,3.5in HYB CARR, 3 DWPD, 2628 TBW[400-AZVL] / GABDSK14

Boot Optimized Storage Cards

BOSS controller card + with 2 M.2 Sticks 240G (RAID 1),FH[403-BBPT] / 51036191

Operating System

No Operating System[619-ABVR] / NOOS1

OS Media Kits

No Media Required[421-5736] / NOMED1

Embedded Systems Management

iDRAC9, Express[385-BBKS] / 50995571

Group Manager

iDRAC Group Manager, Disabled[379-BCQY] / 51009261

Password

iDRAC,Factory Generated Password[379-BCSF] / 51013431

Removable Storage

None1

Additional Network Cards

On-Board Dual-Port 10GbE LOM[542-BBCT] / G0LHQ4X1

IDSDM and VFlash Card Reader

None1

Internal SD Module

None1

Internal Optical Drive

No Internal Optical Drive for x8/x18/x16 chassis[429-ABDL] / 51075181

Fans

No Additional Mid Fan for T640[384-BBSO] / 51076881

Power Supply

Single, Hot-plug Power Supply (1+0), 495W[450-ADWP] / 495NR1

2 minutes ago, Fahim S. said:

with the very greatest respect, you could probably run your business on an i7 Intel NUC, 32GB RAM, Windows 10 Pro 64 bit, with a 128GB system NVMe SSD, and a 1TB SATA SSD for storage.

Pair that with a decent 4 bay Synology NAS stuffed with 4TB discs, and a subscription to a reasonable cloud backup solution (choose your poison).

 

I haven't priced it up, but I think that is about $2K?

Seriously... based on what I have read, you genuinely don't need more.

I already said he could use any modern (high end) laptop!

 

But that is not the point here...

 

Just now, sc302 said:

you don't need m2 to run applications.  you aren't going to find one on a server.  m2 is for pc builds.

Oh no... it just looks different - usually a card with M.2 sockets. or flash integrated on the card but PCIe lanes? Hell YES...

 

Just now, DevTech said:

I already said he could use any modern (high end) laptop!

 

But that is not the point here...

 

sorry, must have missed the memo.

Is it not the point to give him an appropriate and cost effective solution to his problem?

1 minute ago, DevTech said:

I already said he could use any modern (high end) laptop!

 

But that is not the point here...

 

Business is important, Having a decent Dell server with their enterprise warranty is important and a factor in the cost, but when down-time matters for a business it's worth it. Most of the stuff you have suggested or mentioned muddys the water or is irrelevant to this type of small business setup.

 

My advice to the OP is, listen to sc302 here - 

 and ignore all of your advice.

18 minutes ago, patseguin said:

So how do small business owners with no knowledge of servers set up something simple but good enough to handle their needs?

You are doing it right by asking.

 

It would be nuts for me NOT to mention the correct approach - just irresponsible IMO. So, now that's done, just ignore that :)

 

Once that is out of way we focus on the Goldilocks "Just right for you"

 

2 minutes ago, DevTech said:

You are doing it right by asking.

 

It would be nuts for me NOT to mention the correct approach - just irresponsible IMO. So, now that's done, just ignore that :)

 

Once that is out of way we focus on the Goldilocks "Just right for you"

 

Translation "Let me spout off a buncha BS that isn't right for you as I do in every thread, then we'll worry about actually helping you in your specific situation"

4 minutes ago, Fahim S. said:

sorry, must have missed the memo.

Is it not the point to give him an appropriate and cost effective solution to his problem?

He is getting lots of very different suggestions from different perspectives and ALL of them are GOOD in some context.

 

Without sitting down with him in a room for a couple of hours and doing a COMPLETE NEEDS ASSESSMENT, the "appropriate solutions" here are a bunch of opinionated guessing  based on how everyone sees server side provisioning...

 

Nothing wrong with that since unlike many threads where nobody takes an interest, he is getting a wealth of info to poke through...

 

 

 

1 minute ago, xendrome said:

Translation "Let me spout off a buncha BS that isn't right for you as I do in every thread, then we'll worry about actually helping you in your specific situation"

Or you think, like most people that your opinions are the right ones.

 

I do my due dilligence and then I focus in - standard drill-down - if you don't like good analysis, don't read it...

 

32 minutes ago, Fahim S. said:

You certainly don't need Kubernetes, regardless of how much of a hard-on it gives to some nerds

You need to go back to the start of thread where he was getting good advice based on the appearance of an enterprise server installation where everyone was correctly suggesting multiple servers instead of a single Giant Monolithic server.

 

And all enterprise configs have to consider expansion and growth and in 2019, not to mention Kubernetes in that context is simply not responsible.

 

As the tread progressed it turns out this was NOT an enterprise scenario and your NUC proposal is a s good as any.

 

8 minutes ago, DevTech said:

Also, every single config he has received from the Dell server guys has had a Dual M.2 provisioned.

 

that is interesting....lets take a look at his latest config...

 

Quote

CardsBOSS controller card 

yep add on card....not built onto the motherboard.

 

https://i.dell.com/sites/doccontent/shared-content/data-sheets/en/Documents/Dell-PowerEdge-Boot-Optimized-Storage-Solution.pdf

 

If the server doesn't have to reboot all that often or open applications all that often, m2 is really moot.  A really unneeded expense.  It is going to take forever to post through the life cycle controller (I hate that thing).

 

34 minutes ago, patseguin said:

I'd almost think of just building one myself and then buying Server 2019 separately.

The previously mentioned SuperMicro brand has dual CPU LGA 3647 socket mobos, but it is overkill.

 

Your idea of upgrading your current O/S might also be simple provided that that hardware meets system requirements.

 

But @sc302has correctly pointed out the value of rapid on-site service from Dell...

 

 

3 minutes ago, sc302 said:

that is interesting....lets take a look at his latest config...

 

yep add on card.

 

https://i.dell.com/sites/doccontent/shared-content/data-sheets/en/Documents/Dell-PowerEdge-Boot-Optimized-Storage-Solution.pdf

 

Are you feeling weirdly argumentative? You said M.2 is not a server thing. I was just updating your awareness.

 

It's just a thing now everywhere. And if Dell supplies some junk NVMe it still has to compete with good old consumer Samsung 970 Pro on speed and reliability for which only Enterprise SLC comes to mind...

 

thanks for making me aware...I deal with more enterprise level equipment....more dealing with flash storage...the servers boot off of SD drives, not spinning disk or ssds.  

 

but I wouldn't fight too hard for the ssd boot option on a server, just being honest here, not argumentative.  ssd performance for me is on pc...I don't see a need for it on a server esp during boot...servers aren't going down that often to require it (up 24x7) and ui interaction is limited unless you need to check the service or device managers.  Wasted money if you ask me.

 

 

15 minutes ago, sc302 said:

thanks for making me aware...I deal with more enterprise level equipment....more dealing with flash storage...the servers boot off of SD drives, not spinning disk or ssds.  

 

but I wouldn't fight too hard for the ssd boot option on a server, just being honest here, not argumentative.  ssd performance for me is on pc...I don't see a need for it on a server esp during boot...servers aren't going down that often to require it (up 24x7) and ui interaction is limited unless you need to check the service or device managers.  Wasted money if you ask me.

 

 

Ah really agree with you - I thought ordering from those Dell configs was a mostly "hard requirement" and was trying to massage the config so the RAID-1 M.2 could be for the DB storage and then he could boot off of any old SATA SSD.

 

1 hour ago, patseguin said:

Yeah I think you are kind of hitting it on the head. I build gaming computers but when it comes to servers, I'm like a 2 year old. All that I feel I need is an updated server with modern processor(s) and storage with enough redundancy in case of failures. I'd almost think of just building one myself and then buying Server 2019 separately.

 

1 hour ago, Bryan R. said:

Not sure if it would be helpful here. Lots of info being flung around... I personally prefer building my own servers over using Dells. I've been building SuperMicro servers for a long while. Just built two for two clients based on 7048R-C1RT. They are splendid machines. All the goodies included. I even have one configured to pass-through a Quadro GPU to a RDSH VM - using Hyper-V 2019 mind you.

https://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon/C620/X11DPH-TQ.cfm

 

Supermicro mobo with TWO LGA 3647 CPU sockets AND TWO M.2 NVMe sockets on board

 

X11DPH-TQ.thumb.jpg.07bfb7068e19e0918d428c99f2dde267.jpg

8 minutes ago, DevTech said:

 

https://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon/C620/X11DPH-TQ.cfm

 

Supermicro mobo with TWO LGA 3647 CPU sockets AND TWO M.2 NVMe sockets on board

 

X11DPH-TQ.thumb.jpg.07bfb7068e19e0918d428c99f2dde267.jpg

That a bad thing?

50 minutes ago, Mindovermaster said:

That a bad thing?

 

59 minutes ago, DevTech said:

 

https://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon/C620/X11DPH-TQ.cfm

 

Supermicro mobo with TWO LGA 3647 CPU sockets AND TWO M.2 NVMe sockets on board

 

X11DPH-TQ.thumb.jpg.07bfb7068e19e0918d428c99f2dde267.jpg

Oh, no no no...

 

One of the options the OP is considering is building his own "pocket rocket"

 

So far while poking around in Dell's server site I have not found anything as nice as this SuperMicro mobo...

 

So,

 

1. This mobo

2. Any LGA 3647 CPU and a bit above the bottom end of that crowd enables 6 Way RAM

3. Either dual channel RAM or 6 channel RAM, the board takes either type. i.e use the black sockets OR the blue sockets.

4. Plug in TWO Samsung 970 Pro 4 TB NVMe drives into the mobo

5. Attach a server style PSU (Zippy brand is possibly the best)

6. screw onto a piece of plywood for a talking piece in your corporate entrance since you need ZERO drives or anything else or stuff in some boring server style case

7. DONE!

 

8. For BONUS SERVER POINTS locate some REALLY LOUD SCREAMING FANS and place everywhere!

 

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Processor E-cores L3-cache Turbo clock GPU GPU-clock TDP Intel N355 8 6 MB 3.9 GHz 32 EUs 1.35 GHz 9 W Intel Core 3 N350 3.9 GHz 1.35 GHz 7 W Intel Core i3-N305 3.8 GHz 1.25 GHz 9 W Intel Core i3-N300 3.8 GHz 1.25 GHz Intel N250 4 3.8 GHz 1.25 GHz 6 W Intel Processor N200 3.7 GHz 0.75 GHz Intel N150 3.6 GHz 24 EUs 1 GHz Intel N97 1.2 GHz 12 W Intel Processor N100 3.4 GHz 0.75 GHz 6 W The CPU is part of the Alder Lake-N series that sits just below the top N355 offering, albeit with an impressive TDP (less than the N355 and N305) for the features it offers. It is designed for low- powered systems and entry-level laptops. As before, we are seeing another NAS with an acceptable, if not great, amount of RAM. It should be noted that the F4-425 Pro only has one SODIMM slot, so if you are planning to upgrade the already 16GB included in this NAS, it will have to be on one module of Single Rank DDR5. As a reminder, up until a couple of years ago, it was commonplace to only get 2 or 4GB max on a flagship Synology or QNAP home NAS. Ever since the likes of TerraMaster and more have entered the market with ample RAM sizes included in their NAS offerings, it has gone a long way in forcing the hands of the traditional makers to up their game a bit. Before we dive in, you can view the different SKUs released so far since the 2025 series launched for Home and SMB users, with the most important specifications listed along with the MSRP listed below: SKU CPU Cores Memory Link Price F2-425 Intel N5095 4 4 GB DDR4 2.5 GbE x1 $249.99 F4-425 Intel N5095 4 4 GB DDR4 2.5 GbE x1 $369.99 F2-425 Plus Intel Core N150 4 8 GB DDR5 5 GbE x 2 $399.99 F4-425 Plus Intel Core N150 4 16 GB DDR5 5 GbE x 2 $569.99 F4-425 Pro Intel Core N305 8 8 GB DDR5 5 GbE x 2 $699.99 F4-425 Pro Intel Core N350 8 16 GB DDR5 5 GbE x 2 $799.99 The F2 in the product name means two 3.5-inch HDD bays, where F4 is four 2.5-inch bays. First impressions Like with the F8 SSD Plus packaging, the F4-425 Pro is using the upgraded box materials, which certainly look better than a plain cream colored box with TERRAMASTER stamped on the sides. The box gives off a premium feel and certainly adds a positive vibe to first impressions. In the box F4-425 Pro TNAS device Power adapter LAN cable (CAT 6) Quick guide [full online guide] Limited warranty notice Screws (for HDD bays) Stickers 2x rubber feet (spares) Design As has become kind of common with TerraMaster, certainly in the last three years, the 2025 F2- and F4-series have received a makeover that really adds to the premium feel of the NAS. Gone are the plastic shells, now replaced with an aluminum outer shell, with the front and back retaining the textured black plastic we saw on the 2024 models. Some key differences from the 2024 series include placing the power button back on the front, along with the addition of a Type A USB port. It's not much bigger or heavier either; in fact, it weighs 500 grams less than the F4-424 Pro. It's slightly shorter in height and depth (length), but only by a few millimeters. The front and back do retain a similar style to the 2024 series. On the front, you just have your four bays along with LED indicators for the HDDs and power. The welcomed change is having a USB port on the front for quick access, should you need to back up a USB drive, for example. Around the back, from top to bottom, you have a reset pin hole, an HDMI port, two 5 GbE Ethernet ports, two USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) Type A ports with a Type-C port below them, and a connector for the barrel port power source. Again, there's no Kensington Security Slot present, which is a bit of a shame considering it's a data storage device. Left side Right side On the left and right of the F4-425 Plus, it is completely smooth aluminum with a TERRAMASTER logo printed on both sides. On the bottom, there are some holes to assist ventilation. Unlike with the F4-425 Plus, the rubber feet did come unstuck during the teardown, which was also an issue on the 2023 series. It seems like other customers have lodged complaints about them, as TerraMaster now includes two spare rubber feet in the box, in case any of the preinstalled ones are lost; however, this seems more like a papering over the cracks solution rather than actually fixing the issue with better quality rubber stand-offs. There are also four screws that must be removed in order to access the internals. Teardown Upon removing the four screws, you can slide the device out of its shell to reveal the three NVMe M.2 slots (PCIe 3.0 X1) and single SODIMM slot connector, which is populated with a single 16GB DDR5 4800MT/s module. I added a couple of MP44Q M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSDs (2 x 4TB) that can be availed on Amazon for $492.99 that TEAMGROUP supplied us with, along with a 250GB 970 Evo Plus that my colleague Chris White sent me by accident and let me keep a few years ago. As I have said in previous reviews, TerraMaster support staff actually encourage installing whatever you want on their devices, and happily, the USB port for the bootloader is now easily accessible should you want to use it for your own flavor of NAS OS, such as TrueNAS, Unraid, or maybe Xpenology. Yes, because TerraMaster has now switched to a 256 GB NAND Flash card (3rd photo above) for the TOS bootloader. This is also replaceable, but you can also simply add a USB bootloader, access the BIOS, and tell the F4-425 Pro to boot from that instead of the Flash card. Unlike earlier iterations of TerraMaster NAS, you don't have to tear this down any further than the four screws on the outer shell in order to be able to access and manage the memory, NVMe slots, and USB bootloader. However, if you need to access the NAND Flash card or CMOS battery, then eight more screws (four on each side) need to be removed in order to take off the rear panel with the 120mm fan, and then the motherboard can be lifted off and removed from the SATA connector PCB. There's also no risk of threading the screw holes, because the four that hold the shell in place are metal on metal, while the screws that hold the rear panel on do screw into plastic. Either way, like last time when I reviewed the F4-425 plus, I was just happier to see larger screws being used. Overall, it follows some great improvements in build quality from the 2024 series and earlier. Setup BIOS The F4-425 Pro includes an Aptio BIOS from American Megatrends [1, 2], and you can setup pretty much everything here including the boot order, which is locked to the UEFI OS, however above that choice you can enable or disable booting to the USB bootloader so this would still allow you to switch to a USB stick with an alternative bootloader and boot from it, or disable it to instead always start from the first disk with an OS installed on it. Initial Setup Setup is roughly the same as the F4-425 Plus, along with the new TOS 7 setup dialogs, so there will be no surprises here. Upon connecting to the LAN and booting up, the F4-425 Pro can be reached by navigating to http://tnas.local. If that doesn't work, you can use the local address assigned via DHCP, which you can find using the TNAS PC desktop application, which is essentially a TerraMaster NAS finder. The setup process is pretty straightforward, through a wizard, and in full below: TOS 7 Initialization As you can see, TOS 7 received a new coat of paint, and the initialization requires fewer interactions. Happily, TOS no longer decides to throw all disks into the same Storage Pool; 2.5-inch HDDs are allocated into Storage Pool 1. This is because two of the HDDs are allocated to hold system files. Previously (with TOS 5 and 6), if you pre-installed HDDs and SSDs, they were all placed into Storage Pool 1, even if you did not select the SSDs for inclusion during the onboarding. TOS 7 Setup On first boot, there is a tutorial and some steps to take to harden the TNAS (or not), which includes an immediate update from TOS 7.0.0616 to 7.0.0706, of which the changelog screenshot is also included in the above gallery. It must be noted that the Security Advisor still contains (in my opinion) a pretty major bug in that if you enable SPC and then do the required rebooting, the Security Advisor still says that SPC is disabled. TerraMaster provided the following statement about it: It is disappointing that TOS 7 has been in beta since December, and this OOBE issue is still there. Shutdown option has moved Instead of a Taskbar option to manage the NAS, all of these options have been moved to a "Start panel", initially I didn't see it and my contact had to show me how to power off the F4-425 Pro. To logout, reboot or power off you can find those controls at the top right of the Panel. It is also possible to power off through the TNAS mobile app beta. Storage setup Above, you can see the steps I took to create the Storage Pools and Volumes. I made a second Storage Pool using TRAID on two 4TB MP44Q SSDs (which, in this instance, is similar to RAID 5), and finally, I added the 250GB 970 Evo Plus drive as Hyper Cache on Storage Pool 1 in Balanced mode. Registering If you decide not to lock down the F4-425 Pro in Security Isolation Mode (blocking all external connections), then you could set up a TNAS device ID through the Remote Access setting in the Control Panel (which must be unique). This works in combination with an online TerraMaster account. TOS 7 TNAS Online Creating a TerraMaster account and linking the device online activates the warranty when you provide proof of purchase and the serial number, but it also gives you access through the TNAS mobile app, which allows you to complete certain operationsб including powering off and restarting the NAS remotely. A TNAS mobile update is required to gain access through TOS 7, and this is provided on the TerraMaster website, as it is not yet on Google Play. The app is evolving all the time and has made leaps and bounds since I first started reviewing TerraMaster devices almost three years ago. It is not quite there yet if you are comparing the likes of Synology, which, sadly, a lot of users online do all the time. OpenClaw setup One of the main selling points of the new F4-425 Pro is the inclusion of OpenClaw, with TerraMaster claiming that it is "powered by the world's first AI-native TOS 7 OS, supporting local-first smart workflows and independent data control." However, I immediately ran into problems trying to enable OpenClaw. After waiting 20 minutes at the "Enabling" message of the OpenClaw app following installation, I decided to do some searching online and discovered that it couldn't complete the installation process due to SPC being enabled, which is something TOS 7 immediately recommends to be enabled on first boot. SPC for NAS (TOS 7) is basically the same principle as UAC in Windows; it blocks executables from being launched by non-Super Users. After reaching out to my contact about these issues, I received the following response: Anyway, this only became clear when I closed the OpenClaw app screen and clicked on the OpenClaw icon in the taskbar; that is when I saw the message about disabling SPC. I think, due to the fact that this is a requirement, this should be a prompt during the installation process, not when closing the App Market and then trying to launch OpenClaw. There's also no 'Getting started' guide for people like me who have never used OpenClaw. I tried to add an LLM and discovered the tutorial led nowhere. That's when I started looking around the official TerraMaster forums, and I found a guide that helpfully explains that you won't get anywhere with OpenClaw unless you have a paid plan, which is disappointing because I imagined there would be an option to use a local LLM as I do in SubtitleEdit with Whisper-XXL. In addition, with the marketing imagery on the official site, it says that the OpenClaw feature is "all processed 100% locally for absolute privacy." which led me to believe that I could install a local LLM, not one that required paid tokens. In any case, TerraMaster does not provide guidance for this new feature, which was also a selling point of the F4-425 Pro! My contact also provided clarification about the above points I raised with TerraMaster Since it is not in the scope of the review to add paid services, I'll leave that to the people who are more qualified with OpenClaw. F4-425 Pro Surveillance App TOS also comes with a Surveillance app, which is not installed by default; it can be found in the App Market recommended section. In addition, after installing, it doesn't drop a shortcut on the Desktop or top taskbar, but you can "Send to Desktop" from the App Market listing for the app for a quick way to open it. Adding my Reolink POE doorbell camera was painless. TerraMaster doesn't appear to have a repository of preconfigured cameras; instead, the camera must be added using ONVIF or RTSP. No mobile Surveillance app TerraMaster still doesn't have a dedicated Surveillance app, although from searching online, Surveillance can be used and managed through the TNAS mobile app. I tried this with the updated TNAS mobile app beta in combination with TOS 7 and got a message that Surveillance was "Only accessible through web browser," so I reckon this must be limited to the stable versions of TOS 6 and the mobile app. More quirks In addition, whenever I minimized the Live View window in the browser Surveillance app, the feed appeared to switch to the Low-bandwidth stream, and there was no way to get the High-quality stream back. To get the High-quality stream back, I had to close Live View and then reopen it. Benchmarking A pretty cool feature of the TOS 7 is that it allows you to install directly to the NVMe M.2 SSD. In order to do that, you would have to leave out any HDDs during initialization, and even then, the system partitions are always written to two HDDs when they are eventually added. With three NVMe slots, this also gives an interesting scenario where you could build a TRAID storage Pool for installing all your apps and Docker on, and keep the third for SSD cache on the HDD pool. Limitless options! SATA PCIe 3.0 X1 A CrystalDiskMark test on a mapped network drive from within a Windows 11 25H2 PC (image above) connected over a 5 GbE hub was well within acceptable ranges. Although the read result on SATA was a little less than with the F4-425 Plus, for some reason, while writes were generally better. SATA PCIe 3.0 X1 I also ran the NAS Performance tester, which tests the link speed performance. As you can see, it pretty much maxes out the 5GbE connection. Of course, you can also opt to bond the two 5 GbE connections for a bit more umph, but I didn't do that. TOS 7, which, as of testing, is still in Beta, comes with an App Center that has a bunch of handy programs you can install right off the bat, such as Emby, Plex, Docker, as well as in-house Backup and Surveillance solutions. As you can imagine, any media streaming services you would want to host off the F4-425 Pro will work great, thanks to the Intel Core N350 CPU and its 16 GB of DDR5 memory. Accessing from mobile is only possible if Security Isolation Mode is disabled, which can put your NAS at risk from external sources, so there was no way to access it from the TNAS Mobile app. It's also quiet. I had this sat next to my computer on my work desk for the past week, and I did wonder if the noise I was accustomed to with NAS devices would annoy me, but all I could hear was a soft whirring of the rear fan (which was a little annoying) when the disks were not actively copying or reading data. Conclusion So what have I learned? Unfortunately, this release raises a few important questions and concerns that I feel haven't been adequately addressed. What I didn't like Our variant shipped with TOS 7 beta, and it's advised not to use it in a production environment. I feel that's a bit limiting on an $800 device. The mobile app is also still in beta and does not support some of the first-party apps, like Surveillance, and it still has quite a few bugs. I am a bit confused about the OpenClaw marketing along with the F4-425 Pro. I feel like that if it's going to be a main selling point, then offer official guidance on how to get started with it. TerraMaster recommends enabling SPC, but then markets the NAS for use with OpenClaw, which requires disabling SPC to be able to use it, opening up genuine security concerns for the NAS; and that's before you get into the security concerns of OpenClaw itself. Of course, the above issues won't be a problem if you decide to install something else on it, or even go back to the stable TOS 6. I wish TerraMaster had just given TOS 7 as opt-in rather than shipping with it. TOS 7 has been available as a preview since December 2025 (so well before my last TerraMaster review), and according to a thread on Reddit where a user shared a screenshot from the TerraMaster Facebook page, it is scheduled to launch today, June 23, but there's nothing about that in the TerraMaster news blog. My contact confirmed over email that TOS 7 exits beta today. The rubber feet also deserve a mention as they continue to be a problem, with them coming unstuck the moment you shift the F4-425 Pro anywhere on your desk. What I liked What it comes down to, though, aside from what I already mentioned, you are still getting a quality, affordable device here, so recommending it will depend on the individual's use case. If you're just looking for a relatively small NAS device to manage virtual machines on, backup your files, and take care of your home theater streaming, then it is a great device that will certainly futureproof you for some time. It provides good performance, takes up little space, and is, on the whole, very quiet. Four bays afford proper redundancy using TRAID or RAID 5, and you can even expand on storage capacity by adding the 2-bay D5, or 4-bay D8 Hybrid DAS over a USB 3.2 (10Gbps) link. Considering the 2024 releases were more about power, with the likes of an Intel Core i5-1235U high-end laptop CPU under the hood, I asked my contact last time if we could expect more of the same in higher-end models and was told: It makes a lot of sense to use Intel's N350 chip inside a NAS; it is more than capable of doing what the F4-425 Pro is intended for, media streaming and backup. The only downside is still the clear lack of community and even staff support on the official forums. In the past, I have had topics go unanswered for days, or there would be generic-type "we've noted this and passed it onto our developer team" type responses. Along with the other things I mentioned, it all ends up costing it a couple of points. If you are comfortable with the command line, Docker, and setting up TrueNAS or Unraid, you'll be fine. You can do great things with this hardware. In TOS, the apps are a bit lacking, and things don't always work as expected.\ AI NAS?! What has become clear to me this year is that we are going to start seeing all kinds of "AI NAS" come to market, and while that might be good for us consumers, be diligent and research these claims. Although the F4-425 Pro technically comes with AI, it is really using a cloud service that is externally sourced off-device through the third party OpenClaw app. My colleague did review a newcomer to the NAS space earlier this year, and it includes a local AI assistant inside the Zettlab D4 NAS, and they do not even use AI in the product name, check out Chris' review here. Where to buy and a discount coupon However, it does not change the fact that this is truly a great entry-level home media-class NAS that you can buy right now. TerraMaster is having a 20% off launch discount, plus you can also still apply our unique 10% off coupon on checkout, which only works on the official website. So here is a breakdown of the pricing that is only valid on the official TerraMaster website. TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N350) + 20% discount + 10% coupon = $575.99 TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N305) + 20% discount + 10% coupon = $503.99 TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N350) + 20% discount + 10% coupon = £525.59 TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N305) + 20% discount + 10% coupon = £460.79 Use NEOWIN coupon code during checkout for 10% discount Over on Amazon US and UK, the F4-425 Pro also gets a 20% launch discount, but here, the above 10% coupon cannot be applied. TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N350) for $639.99 at Amazon US (was $799.99) TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N305) for $559.99 at Amazon US (was $699.99) TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N350) for £583.99 at Amazon UK (was £729.99) TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N305) for £511.99 at Amazon UK (was £639.99) As an Amazon Associate, when you purchase through links on our site, we earn from qualifying purchases.
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