The TerraMaster F2-223 is a two-bay NAS that's part of the company's push into 2023 with more advanced internals. Compared to its predecessor, TerraMaster loaded in a new low-power Intel Celeron processor, support for up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM, and launched the enclosure with a new version of TerraMaster's NAS operating system.
We found the NAS to be an excellent choice for those who need an expansive NAS with two drive bays and a total raw capacity of up to 40TB. Throw in two M.2 SSD slots and you have an enclosure with excellent potential for a reasonable price. It also happens to be one of the best NAS for Plex, thanks to the HDMI port and Intel processor.
TerraMaster F2-223
A great two-bay NAS with an Intel CPU
The TerraMaster F2-223 is one of the more powerful two-bay NAS from the brand, rocking a capable Intel processor, two drive bays, multiple 2.5GbE ports, and a decent OS. This is a good value choice for homeowners seeking a serious enclosure.
- Brand
- TerraMaster
- CPU
- Intel Celeron N4505
- Memory
- 4 GB DDR4 (max. 32 GB)
- Drive Bays
- 2
- Expansion
- 2x M.2 SSD
- Ports
- 2x 2.5 GbE, 1x HDMI, 2x USB-A 3.1
- Caching
- Yes
- OS
- TOS
- Price
- $260
- Dimensions
- 227 x 119 x 133 mm
- Weight
- 2.4 kg
- Impressive specifications
- Exceptional value
- 2.5 GbE networking
- Limited app selection
- Limited cloud platform
TerraMaster F2-223: Price and availability
The TerraMaster F2-223 cost $300 at launch, which is a notable price for an enclosure from the brand. TerraMaster is known for undercutting the competition with more affordable hardware and sub-par software, but the brand has made strides with updating its operating system and the F2-223 has considerable performance. Not only does it have two drive bays, but also M.2 SSD slots, upgradeable RAM, an Intel CPU, and 2.5 GbE networking. Compared to the competition, this is a fair price to pay.
Design and hardware
Just like other NAS brands, TerraMaster hasn't altered the design of its enclosures and the TerraMaster F2-223 looks like just about any other TerraMaster-branded NAS out there. That's not a negative remark, as these are some good-looking servers with an aluminum finish to the main chassis. Two drive bays are present up front with a power button and some LED indicators. The sides of the NAS have the TerraMaster branding and the top and bottom are completely bare.
The rear of the TerraMaster F2-223 has all the noted ports including DC input for power from the external power supply, the HDMI port, two USB-A 3.1 ports, and two 2.5GbE connections. Interestingly, TerraMaster doesn't really bother with putting one of its available USB ports on the front of the NAS, unlike what one would find with other brands. Should this be a requirement for your deployment, it may be worth looking elsewhere. For most people, this would be a low priority and access to the rear of the NAS would unlikely be impeded.
The two drive bays require no tools to remove them or install 3.5-inch drives — TerraMaster includes some screws for attaching 2.5-inch drives. In order to reach the RAM and M.2 slots, however, the rear of the NAS will have to be removed, and two fans detached from the PCB. It's a slightly fiddly process involving numerous screws. Then the bottom bracket of the NAS needs to be removed, which is held to the chassis by a further four screws. After this, the outer shell can be pulled over the main board, revealing all the inner workings of the enclosure.
Performance and software
TerraMaster didn't hold back when offering as much performance as possible while keeping a low price tag. The Intel Celeron 4505 processor is a dual-core chip from 2021 with two physical cores, two threads, and a burst speed of up to 2.9GHz. It's more than enough for a small compact server such as the TerraMaster F2-223. This thing will even work through 4K transcoding of larger media files for Plex Media Server without an issue. 4GB of DDR4 RAM is ample out of the box and is more than you'd find on some laptops.
TerraMaster officially supports a maximum capacity of 32GB of DDR4 RAM, providing room for future usage growth at home or in the office. The two M.2 slots are ideal for adding SSDs for caching to help improve the overall performance of the NAS. With the latest version of TOS 5, the company's operating system, the TerraMaster F2-223 is a powerful server. We installed two 4TB Seagate IronWolf drives, designed for NAS use, as well as two desktop-class M.2 SSDs to test how the F2-223 performs in real-world test scenarios.
An area where TerraMaster remains behind the curve is with app support and the cloud platform backend. For those who need either (or both) in abundance, a competitor such as Synology offers the complete NAS package with plenty of apps through its software center, as well as its full cloud platform for everything from synchronization to password management. This shouldn't be a major concern to those who simply want a local place on the network to store files and run a few apps and services, however, the TerraMaster F2-223 is excellent at this task.
Setting up TerraMaster OS is a seamless process that requires a few moments of time, especially with an active net connection ready to go. The NAS is capable of booting with a drive and downloading the latest version of TOS on its own, allowing you to quickly create a super admin account and configure how you wish the OS to be installed and drives to be formatted. We'd recommend going with TerraMaster's TRAID unless you have a RAID preference and know precisely what you're doing with these steps of the installation process.
We were able to fully saturate the two 2.5 GbE connections with data when transferring files across to the NAS. The F2-223 with its Intel processor has no problem handling multiple simultaneous connections from different accounts, achieving just shy of 470MB/s sustained. Streaming 4K content through Plex Media Server was a breeze with the Intel chip too, transcoding on the fly with more than enough headroom for performing other tasks on the NAS. It's clear you get a lot of power for $300 here.
Competition
The competition for a two-bay NAS is fierce, especially at the more affordable end of the segment. TerraMaster usually offers capable specifications are more reasonable prices and the TerraMaster F2-223 is no exception. A Synology equivalent would be the Synology DiskStation DS723+. The DS723+ costs $460, a full $160 more than the TerraMaster F2-223. Instead of an Intel processor, Synology went with an AMD Ryzen R1600 (just like the DS1522+), a powerful CPU that has more computing power but lacks an integrated GPU for more efficient transcoding.
Both NAS supports up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM, and both have M.2 slots and two drive bays, but where the Synology NAS falls behind is with networking. It has two 1GbE connections compared to the two 2.5GbE ports on the TerraMaster NAS. Still, Synology's enclosure is worth considering thanks to its impressive operating system and cloud platform. There's also the option to install a proprietary Synology 10GbE networking card on the DiskStation DS723+. QNAP and ASUSTOR offer NAS with similar specifications are prices varying between TerraMaster and Synology.
Should you buy the TerraMaster F2-223?
You should buy the TerraMaster F2-223 if:
- You need a two-bay NAS with an Intel processor.
- You don't feel comfortable spending more than $250.
- You don't need expansive cloud support.
You shouldn't buy the TerraMaster F2-223 if:
- You need more than two drive bays.
- You may require expansion support.
The TerraMaster F2-223 is an impressive network-attached storage enclosure. The Intel processor is powerful enough to handle just about everything you can throw at it within reason. It won't win awards for the fastest chip inside a NAS enclosure, but it'll have no issue handling 4K media transcoding. The available M.2 SSD slots are a good option for improving overall system performance, as well as bumping the RAM capacity up to a maximum of 32GB. For the price, it's an enticing choice for those looking to save money on a place to store up to 40TB of data.
TerraMaster's OS still isn't quite as refined as other offerings in the market, but recent major updates have improved the user experience tenfold. The release of the company's own TRAID also provides a clearer data protection route for newcomers to storage. Using the NAS for countless weeks and through rigorous testing, we found the Intel Celeron CPU and all other components of the TerraMaster F2-223 to be more than adequate. It's a very capable NAS with room for a few upgrades. The dual 2.5GbE networking also leaves room for network infrastructure upgrades.
Overall, we're fans of what TerraMaster has to offer with the F2-223. It's affordable compared to the competition whilst being able to offer similar levels of performance, making it a great choice for those looking for an affordable NAS enclosure with some guts.
TerraMaster F2-223
The TerraMaster F2-223 is one of the more powerful two-bay NAS from the brand, rocking a capable Intel processor, two drive bays, multiple 2.5GbE ports, and a decent OS. This is a good value choice for homeowners seeking a serious enclosure.