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I currently have a nuc8i5beh running Ubuntu server for jellyfin with external drive media storage. I am looking to replace the external storage with a NAS with primary concerns being prevention of data loss and media streaming. If possible I would also like to host VPN, be able to use it as personal cloud and if there is remaining capacity possibly dome other non essential services. I was interested in zfs for data loss prevention. Would this unit work or is there a better option? Should I stick with tos or go truenas zfs? Would it be better to run jellyfin from the terramaster or the nuc? I appreciate ease of use and don't want to constantly have to be tweeting things but I am willing to put in the configuration/learning curve work up front.
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Thanks for reaching out — sounds like you have a clear plan, and the TerraMaster F4-223 is a good starting point.
✅ The F4-223 is well-suited for:
• File storage with redundancy – Supports RAID 5/6 (great for 4x4TB).
• Media streaming via Jellyfin – The Intel N5095 CPU handles direct playback and light transcoding well, especially for 1080p and some 4K.
• VPN server (OpenVPN/WireGuard) – Easily supported on TOS or via Docker.
• Personal cloud features – TOS includes built-in tools like TerraSync and Rsync.
⚠️ About ZFS & TOS vs TrueNAS:
• TOS does not support ZFS natively, so if ZFS is a must, you’d need to install TrueNAS SCALE (or CORE) manually — which the F4-223’s hardware can support, but it’s not officially endorsed by TerraMaster and might require some tweaking.
• TrueNAS offers:
• ZFS with snapshots, scrubbing, and bitrot protection.
• Better long-term data integrity, but more complex setup.
• Slightly higher RAM needs (16–32GB recommended, which your upgraded unit can handle).
If you’re okay with setting it up once and leaving it, TrueNAS SCALE + Jellyfin + VPN + file sharing is very viable on the F4-223, especially with 32GB RAM.
NAS vs NUC for Jellyfin:
• Keep Jellyfin on the NUC if you want best performance and simplicity — it already works, and offloading storage to the NAS keeps things modular.
• If you want an all-in-one system, run Jellyfin on the F4-223 (TOS or TrueNAS) — just know transcoding performance may be limited without GPU support.
