Noontec TerraMaster D4-310 4-Bay USB Type-C DAS Review

Introduction I have had a close look at a lot of storage devices of various types here at eTeknix, but there have been few DAS units between them. Today I'm taking the Noontec TerraMaster D4-310 4-bay Direct Attached Storage unit for a spin in the testing area and a closer look at the details. The difference between a NAS and a DAS is that the NAS is connected through your Network while the DAS is connected directly to a single system. There are a variety of connection options for DAS units, and the TerraMaster D4-310 features USB as its connection option. This DAS connects through a USB Type-C port on the unit to a Type-A port on your host system. While it does use a Type-C port, it isn't a USB 3.1 unit yet - it's only USB 3.0. Still, that should be plenty for the intended usage area and installed drives. The enclosure itself is crafted out of aluminium which looks great and also helps the unit to stay cool. When the passive cooling from the enclosure isn't enough, then it has two low-noise fans that will help with the cooling. With four drive bays in the D4-310, we can have up to 32TB storage capacity in a blazing fast setup. Very few NAS units and network setups can compete with this kind of speeds. While the performance naturally depends on the type of drives used, the D4-310 can perform with over 400MB/s. That kind of storage capacity and speed makes it perfect for designers, graphic editors, photographers, and other people that edit, copy, and move a lot of large files on a regular basis. While the TerraMaster D4-310 has four drive bays, it doesn't offer RAID 5 and RAID 6 setups. Instead, it groups the drives into two groups of two drives that each have RAID 0, RAID 1, JBOD, or Single drive modes available. That also means that you theoretically could set a soft RAID 10 from two hardware RAID 1 arrays, but I couldn't get that to work in Windows. Compatibility isn't an issue either. The D4-310 comes with full support for both Windows and Mac OS controlled systems. The Type-A connector on the cable also makes sure that it will be compatible with the widest array of devices. Should you have a newer system that comes with USB Type-C on its own, then you could invest in an aftermarket Type-C to Type-C cable. A storage capacity of 32TB is a lot, but it might not be enough. Running low on USB ports on the host system can also be a problem when you use DAS units. But neither is an issue for the D4-310 that also features two USB 3.0 host ports. Those allow you to connect and daisy chain other storage units, flash drives, enclosures, cameras and other USB-based devices. Feature Highlights Supports two sets of RAID Transfer speeds above 400MB/s possible Aluminium enclosure and low-noise fans USB Type-C interface Up to 32TB raw capacity SSD, HDD, and SSHD compatible Packaging and Accessories The packaging is very similar to the one that we saw on the recently tested NAS unit of theirs. A simple blue box that doesn't reveal much on its own. On the side is a small sticker that tells you what's inside the box and its basic specifications along with the serial. Inside is the NAS itself as well as a bunch of accessories. Noontec's attention to details shows here too with all items being neatly wrapped up in individual bags, each sealed with a TerraMaster sticker. There is a power supply brick along with two connection cables, a UK and an EU plug. Whether that is because of this being a review sample is unknown, but there will at the very least be the appropriate cable for the region you purchased it in. There are screws for five 3.5-inch and five 2.5-inch drives even though this unit only is a 4-bay unit. That's great as its good to have some spare in case you drop one or two. There's also a screwdriver for these screws included, so you don't have to have any tools on your own to get the D4-310 up and running. The tiny screwdriver and pin pusher are for the RAID selection on the unit. There's also the obligatory limited warranty along with a link to the quick installation guide of the unit. The guide includes everything from the physical setup to the drive assignment in your operating system. A Closer Look at the D4-310 The TerraMaster D4-310 is a beautifully crafted piece of machinery with a nice texture on the aluminium. There are LEDs for each of the four drives and one for the system power. Other than that, the front is relatively straightforward and only features a power button beside the drive trays. The bottom of the DAS has a bunch of ventilation intake holes. The unit features four rubber feet that should prevent any vibration transfers between the unit itself and the surface it is located on. The product sticker doesn't contain a lot of information, but it does mention the power requirements. A piece of useful information in the rare case that you lose or break the original PSU brick. Moving to the rear and the whole thing gets a little more interesting. There are two USB 3.0 host ports at the top which allows you to connect other USB devices. This could be external storage drives, other RAID enclosures, cameras, card readers, and everything else. The four drives are divided into two categories that are configured individually. You have the choice between RAID 0, RAID 1, Single, and JBOD modes. The drive trays themselves are of plastic, but they are very thick and sturdy. A general concept that goes through TerraMaster's product: Attention to details and quality. Every drive tray is marked with numbers too for easy plugging and into the slot where you want it after a removal. There are screw holes for both 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch drives, giving you the flexibility of installing the drives you please. The included USB-C to USB-A cable is 1 meter long. That should be plenty for most setup locations. The included PSU brick can deliver 12V at 7A which equals to about 84 watts. That's more than enough for the 40-50 watts it will use during full usage. The insides of the DAS are pretty simple with a small motherboard with the main features and a daughter board for the SATA connectors. There are a couple of chips on here to take care of all the functions, such as the ASMedia ASM1074L, ASMedia ASM1156R, and a difficult to read ASM1367 or ASM1387 or something like that. They take care of the SATA to USB bridging as well as the RAID mode settings. Having a look at the rear of the PCB shows how the connectors and switches are set up. The bridge card is relatively straightforward on the front with just the four SATA connectors. The bridge card also features a bunch of capacitors on the rear side that makes sure that your drives get a stable power supply. Test Methodology & Setup The test setup and methodology of a DAS is very similar to a NAS. The two kind of storage options are very similar in their usage setups, and as such, I'll keep the reviews and tests close by each other. As part of the testing, I'll load the DAS itself with Western Digital's 6TB RED NAS drives. Intel's NASPT software does require us to drop the memory down to 2GB, as using any more would lead to data caching and skew the results in a big way. I will be testing the DAS box performance under each of the RAID options that it has available as well just a single drive. I will run each test 5 times on each drive mode after which the best of the five results in each category is selected for use in the charts. Test system: Supermicro C7Z97-OCE Intel Xeon E3-1230Lv3 Exceleram EP3001A 2GB PC3-10666 Kingston HyperX 240GB SSD Sapphire R7 240 2GB be quiet! Dark Power Pro 11 850W Thermaltake Water 3.0 Performer C Lian Li PC-T60 Windows 10 Pro Disks in Product: WD RED NAS 6TB We would like to thank our sponsors for supplying us with the components needed for the test system as well as drives. Software used: With a device of this sort having so many different applications, Intel's NASPT software covers all the bases and also gives us a set of results that we will be able to utilise and compare those against other similar systems. Intel NASPT (Network Attached Storage Performance Toolkit) performs its test by transferring varying sizes and quantities of data to and from the device based on twelve different scenarios. HD Video Playback HD Video playback is a read test, where a single 2GB file is read sequentially from the drive in 256 kb blocks. That simulates a 720p HD video streamed over the network. 2x HD Video Playback 2x HD Video Playback works with the same data set as the first HD Video test, however, this time the same content is streamed twice from the NAS box, thereby simulating two simultaneous streams to external media players. 4x HD Video Playback In the same way that the 2x Video Playback streams to the equivalent of two external media players at the same time, the test here doubles up on that to a four player simulation. HD Video Record The HD Video Record test is, as the name suggests, a write test to the NAS box. A single 2 GB file is written to the device in 256 kB blocks sequentially to the disk. HD Playback & Record The HD playback and record test performes the same single record and playback tests as before, but simultaneously. This test is a good way to show how the system performs with quick changes between reading and writing two large blocks of data across the network to the device. Content Creation The content creation test simulates access to the NAS from a video creation app. The test is made up of 98 files with 12 MB reads and 14 MB writes in varying block sizes. The activity is predominantly non-sequential with the majority of access time made up of writing to the drives. There are quiet periods of read/write activity interrupted with busy periods to present the drives with a bigger workload. Office Productivity The office productivity simulation is very similar to the content creation. A total 1.4GB data in 607 files are written to and read from the drive. The majority of write access is made up of 1 kb writes. File Copy To NAS This test quite simply puts a copy of a single large file from the test system onto the NAS. The 1.4 GB file is copied to the drive and written in 64 kb blocks. File Copy From NAS File Copy from NAS works in the same way as the previous test, just in the opposite direction. The single read has a 1.4 GB file size in 64 kb blocks. Directory Copy To NAS In the Directory Copy to NAS test, a directory tree representing that of a typical commercially available office suite is copied to the NAS to trace the bulk copy of a complex list. A total of 2833 files making up 247MB are moved, but the file sizes vary considerably with an average size of 41.4 kb. Due to the varying sizes of the files, only around 50% of the writes are sequential. Directory Copy From NAS In the same way that the File Copy from NAS traces the same file back across to the test system, the directory copy from NAS does the same but to the entire directory that it copied across previously. Photo Album When a photo album is viewed on-screen, the NAS only loads the images that you see on the screen from the drive. So, when you scroll through the album, new images have to be fetched and read all the time. The test album contains 169 photos with varying file sizes based on the dimensions, quality, and detail in the image. Reading the photos in an album puts an unusual read load upon the drive as the metadata is read, a thumbnail constructed, and finally the image viewed. Average Throughput This page shows the average throughput from each of the previous 12 tests in one and it can serve as an easy comparison between products. Final Thoughts: Pricing and Conclusion Pricing At the time of writing, the Noontec-TerraMaster D4-310 USB 3.0 Type C external 4-bay RAID enclosure can be yours for just $199.95 or £169.99 from Amazon US and Amazon UK. Overview This is the second Noontec TerraMaster device that I had the pleasure to test, and it truly was a pleasure. The TerraMaster D4-310 is a beautifully crafted DAS with attention to the details. The system is build inside an aluminium enclosure that passively aids the cooling abilities of the system. It further has two silent-mode fans when the passive cooling ability of the unit isn't enough. The four drive bays are divided into two categories that each can be set to RAID 0, RAID 1, JBOD, or single-drive mode. I kind of like this setup and it is a great addition to Noontec's other DAS devices. Should you want RAID 5, RAID6, or RAID 10, then Noontec has other DAS options that support this. There are also two and five bay models available. We didn't fully reach the advertised 400MB/s in our tests, but that was to be expected as those figures are for use with SSHDs. I used NAS drives in my setup, and while they are good, they aren't as fast as those drives aided by flash memory. We still saw impressive results for a USB enclosure. Speaking of USB, the D4-310 comes with a nice extra feature which is two USB 3.0 ports. Even if your system hasn't got a USB 3.0 port to spare, you can connect the D4-310 by removing another device and plugging it directly into the DAS. The unit itself features a Type-C USB port for its connection and comes with a Type-A connector cable. That kind of setup allows for maximum compatibility with legacy systems while still offering the choice to get an aftermarket Type-C to Type-C cable. Pros: Aluminium Enclosure and two silent-mode fans Double drive array setup USB Type-C connector Two USB 3.0 host ports Supports HDD, SSD, SSHD up to 8TB each Cons: No RAID 5/6/10 setups, but there are other TerraMaster devices for that. "The Noontec TerraMaster D4-310 is a great choice for anyone that needs a fast storage space and a lot of it." Thank you Noontec TerraMaster for providing us with this review sample.