TerraMaster NAS F4-421 understanding

[Enquiries]

Dear Sirs,
I bought a TerraMaster NAS F4-421 and I am starting with the installation, but the TRAID and partitioning system are not completely clear to me.
In the TerraMaster I inserted one 4TB hard disk; I would like to back up the data I have in a 2TB hard disk onto the TerraMaster, and then format and insert the 2TB hard-disk inside the NAS to be the 2nd hard-disk there. Is that possible?

I also have another clarifying question: if I start the NAS with two 4TB hard-disks in TRAID mode, can I then add another hard-disk with a lower capacity (re-using a spare hard-disk)? Or do I need to insert a new disk with a higher capacity than the ones already inside the NAS?

Thanks in advance!
Best,
Tom

[ed]

TRAID stands for Redundant Array of Independent Disks. It essentially allows for:

Flexible disk array configuration
Flexible online migration
Capacity expansion
Redundancy policies
What this means is that TRAID leverages a RAID system that combines the storage space of your various sized hard drives into smaller partitions and combines them with redundancy to create a storage array. This enables you to add hard drives of different sizes to your NAS while still enjoying the benefits of increased storage capacity.

For instance, you can add a combination of 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, 8TB, and even a 10TB hard drive together to form a RAID array with redundancy protection. Notably, compared to traditional RAID modes, TRAID offers increased storage space by utilizing the entirety of the hard drive's space instead of being limited to the size of the smallest drive in the array.

In conclusion, you can go ahead and set up your TerraMaster NAS F4-421 with your 4TB hard drive, back up your data from the 2TB drive onto the NAS, format the 2TB drive, and subsequently insert it into the NAS as the second hard drive. You can also add another hard drive with a lower capacity in the future!

https://nascompares.com/2022/06/19/terra...city-raid/