TerraMaster is a brand that is gaining user support not least by their good design, solid construction and exclusively unique features offered by some models. This "TerraMaster D2-310 USB Type C External Hard Drive RAID Enclosure USB3.1 (Gen1, 5Gbps) 2-Bay RAID Storage Support RAID 0/1/Single (Diskless)" offers a generous feature-set for which they also claim 12TB capacity per bay, giving a superb 24TB maximum capacity in RAID 0 but without redundancy or protection from data loss available in RAID 1 but at the expense of limiting capacity to that of one of the pair. Both RAID modes need both drives to be of equal capacity but the other two modes can utilise any spare units. It will also accept 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch drive units, SSDs apparently included, for which there are separately packaged sets of screws in the appropriate sizes and a screwdriver to suit. Both UK and EU power leads are provided.
There may be reasons to have the two drives individually used for different types of files, possibly one for downloaded music and the other for books or movies and identified independently as Drives E and F under Windows; for this enclosure, that position is labelled as 'SINGLE' which differs from other brands' nomenclature who mostly choose JBOD (Just a Bunch of Drives) for it. The Final mode is actually marked as 'JBOD' which, for most brands is variously labelled as 'SPAN', 'BIG', 'LARGE' or 'COMBINE' and allows two drives of very different capacities to be used where their capacities are added together. For non-critical applications, and when capacity is king, JBOD (as is used here) may offer the best choice. A bright yellow label is attached to one side of the enclosure that clarifies its terminology.
Setting of a Mode cannot be much simpler as there is a single small rotary switch at the rear to select one but it will need a small-bladed screwdriver, and then to validate the mode by holding in the RESET button for up to 5 seconds until there are two sequential 'bongs' - a small pin tool is provided for the purpose but a straightened paperclip will also work. You will need to supply the drive units required (up to 12TB each) and format them as appropriate to the selected Mode, capacity and your computer's OS. The enclosure is powered after a quick press of the POWER button and turned off after holding it down for 3 seconds. The power LED and the two Status indicators are tiny and non-intrusive; the Status indicators will flash green while reading or writing, steady green when idle and red in the event of an error.
Data connection is via a provided USB-C to USB 3.0 Type-A 1m-long cable. In the event that the enclosure is not to be used immediately adjacent to the host PC, the lead may need to be substituted by a longer double-ended USB-C cable or a longer version of that supplied (2 and 3m lengths are possible) to suit the host; otherwise a USB 3.0 extension cable will work.
Personally, TerraMaster was not previously used as a brand although others are known who use and trust them (both with a larger 5-bay model). A single Taiwanese brand was previously used for several years, chosen for their extensive range of RAID enclosures to meet differing demands, but that is likely to end as recently introduced models were found to be dramatically less capable than claimed and lower than the older models they replace. One from each of two new series was separately purchased from different suppliers and found to be similarly limited; technical support from manufacturer and sellers is at best weak and non-committal, especially lacking by the manufacturer whose support should be expected to be reliable, but not needed until encountering the problem.
PS - While the original unit has worked perfectly with three different sets of hard drives, a second unit purchased 10/19 has not. It is very fussy about some drives and drive types (all proven to work perfectly in other RAID enclosures); some including a Toshiba NAS drive were never recognised.
| Processor | 2 GHz Core_2_Duo_P8800 |
|---|---|
| Hard Drive | 10 TB |
