How to Install TrueNAS Scale/Core on a Terramaster NAS

If you’re new to private server storage, you’ve probably heard the phrase “everything runs on Linux.” While that’s not entirely true (many other platforms exist with their own foundations), Linux remains the dominant base for much of the software we use daily—including Network Attached Storage (NAS). When it comes to NAS, most new or less experienced users fall into two main categories:

1. DIY Enthusiasts – Those who prefer to build their own systems, optimizing costs and flexibility with open-source platforms like TrueNAS Scale (the Linux-based counterpart to the popular TrueNAS Core on FreeBSD).
2. Turnkey Buyers – Those willing to pay extra for a prebuilt system, even if it means dealing with some software limitations.

But what if you want the best of both worlds? Good news—you can have it! In this guide, I’ll show you how to transform TerraMaster’s highly affordable NAS solutions (arguably the best value on the market right now) into a TrueNAS -powered, ZFS-backed NAS system. Even the 2024/2025 models come well-equipped with multiple NVMe support (the F8 SSD PLUS as a particular stand out device), 2.5GbE networking, embedded graphics CPUs, and more, making them a fantastic base for a Linux NAS.

Best of all, setting this up is much easier than you might think, completely reversible, and provides you with the customization and flexibility of TrueNAS while still benefiting from a prebuilt 24/7 server at an unbeatable price. Sounds great, right? Let’s get started with the step-by-step guide!

Note – You can watch my FULL 30 Min+ beginners Guide to installing TrueNAS on a Terramaster NAS Here

TrueNAS on Terramaster – What You Need?

Before you begin, it’s important to note that simply owning a TerraMaster NAS isn’t enough. To get TrueNAS up and running, you’ll need to complete a few preliminary checks and have a few extra items—many of which you may already have at home or in the office. If not, a quick $10 purchase online should cover it.

To upgrade your TerraMaster NAS to TrueNAS , make sure you have the following:

• A Terramaster NAS Drive with (minimum) an Intel 64bit x86 CPU and a minimum 2GB of Memory (recommended 8GB+)
• Download the latest stable release of TrueNAS here as a system image (you will be converting this to USB later on) – DOWNLOAD
• Any Data that is currently on the Terramaster NAS RAID that is mission critical to be backed up or moved (as it will be completely formatted)
• A USB drive no bigger than 9mm x 17mm x 20mm ( I STRONGLY recommend THIS ONE here from Sandisk, as it is low price and incredibly small, even at 32GB)

 

• I recommend not using a USB larger than 32GB, due to the constraints of 1st party software to format larger than this in FAT32. Don’t be tempted to spend like $2 more for a 64GB, as the TrueNAS installation will occupy the full USB space (as you will create a system-image-USB) and space is utterly irrelevant when the TrueNAS installation is so small
• A Disk Image to USB conversion too. I recommend ‘Rufus’, currently in ver 3.19 and can be run in a portable .exe form that doesn’t require installation – DOWNLOAD
• A basic USB Keyboard (example HERE but really, any will do) and an HDMI Monitor (or simply any device that has an HDMI input – NOT output) such as a TV or Capture card
• Hard Drive and/or SSD media (you should already have these, but just in case) for your storage
• Optional – Download Advanced IP Scanner HERE, as it is a really useful tool for analyzing your network and finding your new TrueNAS NAS for remote access

That is about it. Most of these (maybe not the USB drive at that physical size) you will almost certainly already have to hand.

Can I Reverse the TrueNAS Installation back to Terramaster TOS?

Almost certainly, yes! However, there is one key consideration. When switching from TerraMaster’s TOS to TrueNAS , the internal drives (HDDs and/or SSDs) will be formatted to ZFS, meaning they won’t be recognized by TOS if you choose to switch back later.

The good news? Reverting back is incredibly easy—all you need to do is replace the internal USB drive and reboot the system. However, switching between NAS operating systems will wipe the data on the drives, so be sure to back up your important files elsewhere before proceeding.

Now that you’re ready, let’s move on to installing TrueNAS on your TerraMaster NAS!

TrueNAS on a Terramaster NAS – Step 1, Download TrueNAS

Head to the TrueNAS website HERE and download the latest stable release of the software to your local PC, Linux or Mac system. Make sure to remember where you downloaded it.

TrueNAS on a Terramaster NAS – Step 2, Download Rufus USB Image Tool

Head to the Rufus website and download the latest version of that tool – I recommend downloading the standalone executable file here, as then it will immediately run when you double click the file, without installation etc. It may redirect you to Github, but it will be the same executable file. Once again, remember where you downloaded it.

TrueNAS on a Terramaster NAS – Step 3, Preparing the USB

Connect the small form factor USB Drive to your system (again, this is the one I used from Sandisk) and after a few seconds, it should appear as an available USB Drive. The drive MAY need formatting (you will be prompted to do so), if that is the case, then you can format it via the system prompts and by default, it will format it to FAT32 (as long as your USB is less than 32GB). If you are not presented with a system prompt to format your USB, then you can head into My PC, or My Computer via a windows computer and right-click the drive, select ‘format’ and format it that way.

If you have used the USB for other things previously, there is a chance that the drive has existing partitions in place. For that, the quickest way to completely remove any partitions is to open up the bottom-left windows system menu as normal, and then just type diskpart and open the command-line GUI tool. From there, use the command list disk to show the available drives that are connected, you will see your USB (normally disk 1 or 2, but can differ depending on your system layout and can be spotted by the storage amount). From there, type select disk # (where # is the drive number that your USB is shown as) and then type clean, which which will then remove any index structure for the drive (i.e the partitions and existing format) and then you can go back to the My Computer/My PC page and format the drive to FAT 32 as normal.

TrueNAS on a Terramaster NAS – Step 4, Creating a USB Installer Image of TrueNAS

Open the Rufus application and from there you will see the USB Drive (listed as NO NAME, or ‘UNTITLED’, ETC) at the top. From there, look to the select image/find image option (depending on the ver. of Rufus or your USB Image Creator tool of choice) and find the TrueNAS disk image you downloaded earlier). If the drive is not listed, it may have downloaded as a compressed/archive file. If that is the case, head to the location of where you downloaded TrueNAS (in your file explorer, not in Rufus) and right-click the file you downloaded. If the option to ‘extract‘ is visible, then you can extract it (i.e unpack it to the original form) in that same download directory. From there, head back into RUFUS and then the TrueNAS system image should be visible. Select it, then run the Rufus System image creator tool and create your USB bootable TrueNAS disk image.

REMEMBER! This will completely format your USB drive and any files that are on that USB will be destroyed. The system image creator tool will turn the USB into a pure boot image tool – the USB will not be usable for traditional storage again unless you completely format it again.

TrueNAS on a Terramaster NAS – Step 5, REMOVE THE USB FROM YOUR PC!!!!!!!!!

Really, really important and sometimes overlooked. Once the USB creation is completed, you need to remove the USB (using the eject hardware safely option at the bottom right of your windows machine taskbar as normal). DO NOT accidentally leave the USB in your USB Ports for any longer than necessary. If you leave it in and your system reboots at any point (eg in a normal ‘end of day shut down, go home, reboot tomorrow’ scenario), then the system might boot directly into the TrueNAS installation and although it is easy to exit from, it can change your system default boot preferences, maybe even remove your primary boot drive as the OS drive – requiring a little messing with a windows installation disk to change it back. The odds of this are very small, but not zero, so make sure to safely remove your USB drive when the TrueNAS system image creator tool is completed.

TrueNAS on a Terramaster NAS – Step 6, Opening up your Terramaster NAS

This next step is going to differ depending on the Terramaster NAS Drive you are choosing to use. For this guide, I am using a 2022/2023 generation F4-423 4-Bay NAS, but the general steps are the same for any Terramaster NAS (though the location of the USB will differ) (the F8 SSD PLUS for example has a particularly secluded USB key internally). With the Terramaster NAS disconnected from the network and from any power source. From there you will need to remove the external casing. In the case of most Terramaster NAS, the chassis is held by 4-6 screws on the rear of the casing that, when removed, allow you to remove the rear pannel+fans and slide the internal framework out the front of the casing (be sure to check the fans are not disconnected accidentally in this process). IMPORTANT – Remove any HDD/SSD Media during the dismantling of the Terramaster NAS chassis, as it would be so, SO easy to harm these with accidentally dropping/motion damage. No need to remember the order of the drives when you re-install them, as they are going to be formatted during the TrueNAS installation.

Now, if you take a closer look at the main controller board of the Terramaster NAS (the one with network/USB ports attached, not the one that the HDD/SSD bays are on), you will spot a VERY small USB module in a tiny USB port. It should look something like this:

Now, THIS is where the default Terramaster TOS NAS software installation is kept. This is NOT where the OS actually runs from, but this is where the system checks in it’s BIOS when booting to find installation media (IF the system does not already have an active OS on the drives). Very delicately (as it IS a small USB and likely tucked in next to some other delicate components) remove the USB there is there, put it somewhere safe (as you will need this if you ever want to return the Terramster back to a TOS software system) and then replace it with the USB from earlier that has the TrueNAS system image you created in Rufus. THIS is why you needed a very small USB, as otherwise there is simply no way you would fit a traditional USB flash stick in the space provided.

That is pretty much it. This only other thing to factor in here is IF your Terramaster NAS does NOT have an external HDMI port. Most Terramsater NAS released in 2020-2025 have an HDMI port on the rear that although largely useless in TOS, is still accessible (something you will need for TrueNAS initialization. However, some Terramaster NAS with Intel Processors have the HDMI Port located INSIDE the main chassis (especially the older great box 2019-2020 gen devices). So, IF your NAS has an inside HDMI port, you are going to need to connect an  HDMI monitor to it and run the initial installation (covering in a bit) with the chassis in this open state. After installation is complete, you can close the Terramaster NAS chassis up. Otherwise, if your NAS already has an external HDMI port, you can go ahead and reconstruct the NAS chassis. Essentially, if you NAS has integrated graphics (Intel Celeron, Pentium, N100, N305, Core, etc), you will have an HDMI output.

NOTE – If you plan on upgrading the memory of your NAS to 8GB-16GB (in order to use ALL of the features of TrueNAS to their fullest extent), I would recommend doing so at this point before rebuilding the physical chassis again, as many Terramaser NAS have the 2nd SODIMM memory slot in really tight locations.

TrueNAS on a Terramaster NAS – Step 7, Accessing the HDMI Port and Keyboard Control

Next, you need to start getting the system ready for Initialization and Setup. I would strongly recommend running the first-time installation via a direct interface with the Terramaster NAS. You will need to connect an HDMI Monitor/TV/Capture Card to the HDMI port of the NAS, a Keyboard (and/or mouse) to an available USB port) and then connect the power/network connections to the NAS and boot the device up.

After a few minutes, the TrueNAS GUI/Command will appear on your monitor and all you need to do is navigate the config choices to set up your TrueNAS NAS the first time.

Important – TrueNAS Scale/Core runs at its best when it is run on a separate drive from your storage. Much like an Operating System, you can install TrueNAS on an available SSD in a SATA or NVMe SSD slot in the Terramaster NAS, then (after initialization) you can go into the TrueNAS > Storage area and create a pool of storage using the available storage media bays,

It is NOT recommended that you install it on a USB drive, for reasons of speed and power-connections.

After you have completed the setup and are back at the initial TrueNAS boot menu, select the ‘SHUTDOWN‘ option (not reboot/restart, for reasons I will explain in a moment).

TrueNAS on a Terramaster NAS – Step 8, Remove the Boot USB Drive

Once your Terramaster NAS has fully powered down, you need to disconnect the storage, power and any other cables, then open up the Terramaster NAS again (if it was re-constructed from earlier) and then remove the USB drive you installed earlier with TrueNAS boot loader on it. You need to do this as otherwise, when you reboot the Terramaster NAS, it will reboot into the bootloader again. You can skip past this and/or it will not action a reinitialization without your input, but better to remove the USB and therefore allow the system to always immediately boot into the TrueNAS system. After you have reconstructed the terramaster NAS, you can go ahead and connect all the cables and power on the device.

Note – Do NOT replace the USB with the original Terramaster USB Drive that it arrived with, or the system will auto boot into the Terramaster TOS Installation setup.

TrueNAS on a Terramaster NAS – Step 9, Reboot the NAS

Upon rebooting the Terramaster into TrueNAS (can take up to 5 mins, but usually much quicker). You have two options with how to access the configuration and controls. You can use the HDMI+Keyboard if you choose for console/command level access, but it will be ALOT higher a learning curve than the network GUI.

Alternatively (much more recommended), use a program such as Advanced IP Scanner, which is free and VERY useful anyway, or even network command prompt) to scan your local area network and find where the Terramaster with TrueNAS is located (i.e it’s IP). This IP (eg 192.168.1.111) is what you put into the URL bar ofay web browser and it will load into the login GUI for TrueNAS . From here you will need to use the username ‘root’ in combination with the password that you created during initialization.

And that is about it. You now have TrueNAS installed as the default OS of your Terramaster NAS. From here you can do anything and everything that his highly regarded ZFS powered server software offers. Head into the Storage area and start creating pools, as well as areas for caching and lots more features.

TrueNAS Core was recently updated to ver.13 in a stable release of the FreeBSD format, as well as new improvements in the Linux-based version ‘TrueNAS ‘. The first thing you are going to need to do when setting up your TrueNAS > Terramaster NAS server is set up your storage. Do this by heading into the storage tab and following the handy steps on screen. After that, you can pretty much do anything on your new ZFS NAS!

You can find out more about TrueNAS in my full review below that covers everything I like and dislike about the platform:

Thanks for reading! I hope this guide has helped you make the most of your storage setup. If you’d like to support my work and help me create more guides, reviews, and tutorials on NAS and related topics, there are several ways to do so—I’d truly appreciate any support!

• Visit the “Support NAS Passion” page [HERE] to explore different ways to contribute.
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• Spread the word! If you found this guide useful, share it with friends, colleagues, or on your favorite social media platform.

Thank you again for your support, and have an amazing week!

 

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How to Install UnRAID on a Terramaster NAS Drive in 15mins

Note – Terramaster have changed their policy with regard to installation of 3rd Party OS’ on their systems. This change now means that running UnRAID on your Terramaster NAS will NOT invalidate your 2/3 Year (device dependent) hardware warranty. However they will not support you on a software level and if you damage/corrupt the internal USB that bootloads the TOS OS, or mount your TOS storage in UnRAID and/or render it unusable in TOS, they will not be able to support you in reversing it. So, BACKUP YORU DATA/TOS CONFIG if you think you will be returning to the default OS setup down the road!

Aong the many Network Attached Storage (NAS) software options discussed online, one of the most underrated yet highly effective solutions in the DIY server community is UnRAID. Like many great innovations, UnRAID was born out of necessity—developed by a software engineer looking to solve a personal challenge. In the early 2000s, the primary concern was efficiently storing, accessing, and backing up large amounts of media. While RAID solutions existed, they came with rigid configurations, limited flexibility, and performance overheads that made 24/7 operation difficult for average users.

Fast forward to 2025, and while the NAS software market is filled with a variety of solutions, UnRAID has maintained a strong following among users who prioritize flexibility and customization. Unlike traditional RAID setups, UnRAID provides a unique approach to storage management, offering users greater control over their data, media, applications, and even virtual desktops. Its appeal extends to media enthusiasts, gamers, and professionals handling large data workloads, thanks to its ability to run on virtually any combination of hardware. This open-ended hardware compatibility grants users the freedom to build and optimize their systems to fit their exact needs.

So, where does TerraMaster NAS fit into the picture? At first glance, TerraMaster might seem like a traditional plug-and-play NAS solution, bundling hardware with its proprietary TOS operating system. However, many users who are drawn to UnRAID’s features may lack the confidence or technical expertise to build their own NAS from scratch. This is where TerraMaster NAS stands out—it offers an excellent balance of affordability, hardware capability, and ease of modification. Not only does it provide some of the best price-to-performance hardware options in 2025, but it is also surprisingly simple to reconfigure and install alternative software like UnRAID.

Note – There is a full 30+ Min Guide showing you how to Install UnRAID on a Terramaster NAS here on the NASCompares YouTube Channel.

UnRAID Software on Terramaster NAS Hardware – What You Need?

It’s important to note that simply owning a TerraMaster NAS isn’t enough to get UnRAID up and running. The process requires a few additional steps, as well as some extra components—many of which you may already have at home or in your office. If not, a quick online purchase for around $10 should cover what you need. Before proceeding with the upgrade, be sure to check and gather the following essentials:

• A Terramaster NAS Drive with (minimum) an Intel 64bit x86 CPU and a minimum 2GB of Memory (recommended 8GB+)
• Download the latest stable release of UnRAID here as a system image (you will be converting this to USB later on) – DOWNLOAD
• Any Data that is currently on the Terramaster NAS RAID that is mission critical to be backed up or moved (as it will be completely formatted)
• A USB drive no bigger than 9mm x 17mm x 20mm ( I STRONGLY recommend THIS ONE here from Sandisk, as it is low price and incredibly small, even at 32GB, so it fits in the same USB cavity as the USB in the Terramaster NAS)

 

• I recommend not using a USB larger than 32GB, due to the constraints of 1st party software to format larger than this in FAT32. Don’t be tempted to spend like $2 more for a 64GB, as the UnRAID installation will occupy the full USB space (as you will create a system-image-USB) and space is utterly irrelevant when the UnRAID installation is so small
• A basic USB Keyboard (example HERE but really, any will do) and an HDMI Monitor (or simply any device that has an HDMI input – NOT output) such as a TV or Capture card
• Hard Drive and/or SSD media (you should already have these, but just in case) for your storage
• Optional – Download Advanced IP Scanner HERE, as it is a really useful tool for analyzing your network and finding your new UnRAID NAS for remote access

That is about it. Most of these (maybe not the USB drive at that physical size) you will almost certainly already have to hand.

Can I Reverse the UnRAID Installation and go back to Terramaster TOS?

Almost certainly, yes! However, there is one important caveat to keep in mind. When switching from TerraMaster’s TOS to UnRAID, the internal drives (HDDs and/or SSDs) will be reformatted to UnRAID’s storage pools, making them incompatible with TOS until reformatted again. This also applies if you decide to revert back to TOS—the transition is straightforward (simply replacing the internal USB drive and rebooting), but all data on the disks will be erased in the process.

Therefore, before making the switch between NAS operating systems, ensure that all critical data is properly backed up elsewhere. With that in mind, let’s move forward with installing UnRAID on your TerraMaster NAS.

UnRAID on a Terramaster NAS – Step 1, Download UnRAID

Head to the UnRAID website HERE and download the latest stable release of the software to your local PC, Linux or Mac system. Make sure to remember where you downloaded it. You CAN recommend the USB creator tool and that can allow you to create a system image of the UnRAID loader, but some users have highlighted that compatibility issues with some USB sticks and capacities have been highlighted. So, that is why I recommend scrolling down and downloaded the latest stable release of UnRAID to your local PC/Mac system.

UnRAID on a Terramaster NAS – Step 2, Preparing the USB

Connect the small form factor USB Drive to your system (again, this is the one I used from Sandisk) and after a few seconds, it should appear as an available USB Drive. The drive MAY need formatting (you will be prompted to do so), if that is the case, then you can format it via the system prompts and by default, it will format it to FAT32 (as long as your USB is less than 32GB). If you are not presented with a system prompt to format your USB, then you can head into My PC, or My Computer via a windows computer and right-click the drive, select ‘format’ and format it that way. IMPORTANT – Make sure in the ‘volume label’ or Drive Label field, you call the drive UNRAID (all in caps and no spacing)

If you have used the USB for other things previously, there is a chance that the drive has existing partitions in place. For that, the quickest way to completely remove any partitions is to open up the bottom-left windows system menu as normal, and then just type diskpart and open the command-line GUI tool. From there, use the command list disk to show the available drives that are connected, you will see your USB (normally disk 1 or 2, but can differ depending on your system layout and can be spotted by the storage amount). From there, type select disk # (where # is the drive number that your USB is shown as) and then type clean, which which will then remove any index structure for the drive (i.e the partitions and existing format) and then you can go back to the My Computer/My PC page and format the drive to FAT 32 as normal.

UnRAID on a Terramaster NAS – Step 4, Creating a USB Loader Image of UnRAID

Now that your USB has been prepared for the UnRAID USB setup, the next thing you need to do is move the appropriate installation files over to it. Find the .zip UnRAID Server installation you downloaded earlier on your PC/Mac system.

Then use the 1st party extractor tool or 3rd party tools such as WinRAR, then extract the contents of the downloaded .zip to the UNRAID USB drive (DO NOT CREATE ANY ADDITIONAL FOLDER STRUCTURE)!

REMEMBER! This will completely format your USB drive and any files that are on that USB will be destroyed. The process upto this point will have turned the USB into a pure boot image tool – the USB will not be usable for traditional storage again unless you completely format it again.

UnRAID on a Terramaster NAS – Setting the UnRAID USB to be a bootable Drive for the NAS

Now that you have the files extracted onto the UNRAID USB drive, you need to go into the folder structure and right-click the .bat file ‘make_bootable’, then select ‘run as Administrator’. This will open a new cmd window.

In this new CMD window, you simply need to press any button and the bootable batch file will do it’s thing in less than a second. Press any button again to exit the CMD window. Next, we need to amend a folder to ensure the drive is picked up as a bootable drive in the Terramaster mobo.

File the folder labelled ‘EFI-‘ and then rename it ‘EFI’. That’s all, there is nothing else left to change.

You can now safely remove the USB using the contextual system options on Windows/Mac systems and then prepare to install the USB inside the Terramaster NAS.

UnRAID on a Terramaster NAS – Step 6, Opening up your Terramaster NAS

This next step is going to differ depending on the Terramaster NAS Drive you are choosing to use. For this guide, I am using a 2023 generation F4-423 4-Bay NAS for this install, but the general steps are the same for any Terramaster NAS (though the location of the USB will differ) all the way up to the recently released F4-424 Max and T9-500 Pro!. With the Terramaster NAS disconnected from the network and from any power source. From there you will need to remove the external casing. In the case of most Terramaster NAS, the chassis is held by 4-6 screws on the rear of the casing that, when removed, allow you to remove the rear pannel+fans and slide the internal framework out the front of the casing (be sure to check the fans are not disconnected accidentally in this process). IMPORTANT – Remove any HDD/SSD Media during the dismantling of the Terramaster NAS chassis, as it would be so, SO easy to harm these with accidentally dropping/motion damage. No need to remember the order of the drives when you re-install them, as they are going to be formatted during the UnRAID installation.

Now, if you take a closer look at the main controller board of the Terramaster NAS (the one with network/USB ports attached, not the one that the HDD/SSD bays are on), you will spot a VERY small USB module in a tiny USB port. It should look something like this:

Now, THIS is where the default Terramaster TOS NAS software installation is kept. This is NOT where the OS actually runs from, but this is where the system checks in it’s BIOS when booting to find installation media (IF the system does not already have an active OS on the drives). Very delicately (as it IS a small USB and likely tucked in next to some other delicate components) remove the USB there is there, put it somewhere safe (as you will need this if you ever want to return the Terramster back to a TOS software system) and then replace it with the USB from earlier. THIS is why you needed a very small USB, as otherwise there is simply no way you would fit a traditional USB flash stick in the space provided.

That is pretty much it. This only other thing to factor in here is IF your Terramaster NAS does NOT have an external HDMI port. Most Terramsater NAS released after the 2020 generation have an HDMI port on the rear that although largely useless in TOS, is still accessible (something you will need for UnRAID initialization. However, some Terramaster NAS with Intel Processors have the HDMI Port located INSIDE the main chassis (much older 2018/2029 SERIES). So, IF your NAS has an inside HDMI port, you are going to need to connect an  HDMI monitor to it and run the initial installation (covering in a bit) with the chassis in this open state. After installation is complete, you can close the Terramaster NAS chassis up. Otherwise, if your NAS already has an external HDMI port, you can go ahead and reconstruct the NAS chassis. Essentially, if you NAS has integrated graphics (Intel Celeron, Pentium, N100, N305, Core, etc), you will have an HDMI output.

NOTE – If you plan on upgrading the memory of your NAS to 8GB-16GB (in order to use ALL of the features of UnRAID to their fullest extent), I would recommend doing so at this point before rebuilding the physical chassis again, as many Terramaser NAS have the 2nd SODIMM memory slot in really tight locations.

UnRAID on a Terramaster NAS – Step 7, Accessing the HDMI Port and Keyboard Control

Next, you need to start getting the system ready for Initialization and Setup. I would strongly recommend running the first-time installation via a direct interface with the Terramaster NAS. You will need to connect an HDMI Monitor/TV/Capture Card to the HDMI port of the NAS, a Keyboard (and/or mouse) to an available USB port) and then connect the power/network connections to the NAS and boot the device up. After this method of connection (as it allows you to check everything is working), you can switch back to accessing the system over the network in future.

You have two options with how to access the configuration and controls.

You can use the HDMI+Keyboard if you choose for console/command level access. Alternatively (much more recommended), use a program such as Advanced IP Scanner, which is free and VERY useful anyway, or even network command prompt) to scan your local area network and find where the Terramaster with UnRAID is located (i.e it’s IP).

This IP (eg 192.168.1.113) is what you put into the URL bar of your web browser and it will load into the login GUI for UnRAID. From here you will need to use the username ‘root’ in combination with the password that you created during initialization.

And that is about it. You now have UnRAID installed as the default OS of your Terramaster NAS. Now, it is worth remembering that UnRAID does require the use of a licence key in order to use all of the storage features. The type of licence you will need will be largely based on the scale of your storage (in terms of # of drives). However, you CAN go ahead and register for a free 30 day trial of UnRAID from within the GUI and get started.

From here you can do anything and everything that his highly regarded and exceptionally low resource-consuming server software offers. Head into the Storage area and start creating pools, as well as areas for caching and lots more features.

UnRAID was recently updated to ver.6.10.3 in a stable release of the massively portable format The first thing you are going to need to do when setting up your UnRAID > Terramaster NAS server is set up your storage. Do this by heading into the storage tab and following the handy steps on the screen. After that, you can pretty much do anything on your new lightweight NAS server!

Another fantastically easy and powerful bit of DiY NAS Software you can download that is often compared against is, of course, TrueNAS Core (currently in it’s Ver 13 release) You can find out more about TrueNAS Core in my full review below that covers everything I like and dislike about the platform:

Thanks for reading! I hope this guide has been helpful in maximizing your storage and getting the most out of your NAS. If you’d like to support my work and help me continue creating in-depth guides, reviews, and tutorials on NAS and related topics, there are a few ways you can do so—any of which I’d truly appreciate! You can visit the “Support NAS Passion” page HERE to explore different ways to contribute. Another easy way to help is by using the links below when shopping for your hardware—purchasing through these links earns us a small commission (at no extra cost to you), which helps keep the site running. Not looking to contribute financially? No problem (let’s be honest, we are all a bit strapped for cash these days – preach! You can still support us by recommending this blog to a friend, sharing a link on social media, or spreading the word to others who might find it useful.

Thanks again for reading, and have a fantastic week!

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Finally, for free advice about your setup, just leave a message in the comments below here at NASCompares.com and we will get back to you. Need Help? Where possible (and where appropriate) please provide as much information about your requirements, as then I can arrange the best answer and solution to your needs. Do not worry about your e-mail address being required, it will NOT be used in a mailing list and will NOT be used in any way other than to respond to your enquiry. [contact-form-7] TRY CHAT Terms and Conditions   Alternatively, why not ask me on the ASK NASCompares forum, by clicking the button below. This is a community hub that serves as a place that I can answer your question, chew the fat, share new release information and even get corrections posted. I will always get around to answering ALL queries, but as a one-man operation, I cannot promise speed! So by sharing your query in the ASK NASCompares section below, you can get a better range of solutions and suggestions, alongside my own.

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