I installed the TerraMaster D4‑320U into my studio, and it proved to be a fast way to boost on-site data storage

TechRadar Verdict

If you want a quick and easy way to boost your NAS storage, then this 4-bay rack-mountable hard drive enclosure is a great option. It's a simple-to-use, just insert four drives and connect through USB to a computer or NAS. Obviously, this means no error checking and no hardware RAID, but as a boost to an existing NAS system or just for mass archival storage, this is an exceptionally cheap and easy option.

Pros

• +High-capacity storage
• +Easy to maintain
• +Rack-friendly design

Cons

• -No built-in hardware RAID
• -Requires USB-C for full potential
• -Noisy fans

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TerraMaster D4-320U: 30-second review

The D4-320U is a 4-bay direct-attached storage enclosure for 3.5 or 2.5-inch HDDs or SSDs. The form factor is designed to mount into a standard server rack, so it can sit alongside your server and acts as an easy way to boost your business's storage without adding a huge amount of cost.

It arrives empty with four drive bays to insert standard 3.5-inch HDDs up to 30 TB apiece, recently upgraded from 28 TB, which means you can add 120 TB of storage to this external enclosure.

The setup has been made ultra-simple. Unlike a NAS, you can quickly pop out the drives, insert your HDD or SSD with the SATA fitting, and it'll slot straight in. You can then plug in the power, connect the single USB 3.2 Gen2 cable from the back through to either your machine, server or NAS, and the four inserted drives will appear as with any other external drive or storage extension.

Performance depends on the speed of the SSD or HDD you install. With USB 3.2 connectivity and the fastest drives, you should get speeds around 1,000 MB/s. In this test, while we didn't hit that peak, it was purely due to the SSDs installed, with read/write speeds coming close to the quoted performance of the Lexar NS100 SSD used individually and close to the max when configured in Software RAID 0.

It's important to remember that the D4-320U is just an external hard drive enclosure. It has four bays but no hardware RAID or OS, as found in the usual best NAS devices. This is really just a DAS, and the drives should be treated the same way you would if installing into a desktop. You can apply a software RAID to consolidate all four drives into one or use them through your existing NAS as expansion storage.

It's easy to overthink a device like this, but if you're simply after a quick and easy way to expand your storage, directly or through an existing NAS, then this is an easy solution.

TerraMaster D4-320U Price & availability

• How much does it cost? $389.99
• When is it out? Now
• Where can you get it? Widely available

The TerraMaster D4-320U 4-bay DAS is widely available and can be purchased directly from TerraMaster for $300. It's also available from many online retailers, including Amazon.

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