Alternatives

[Prieved88]

What alternative M.2 SSDs would provide adequate performance for the TERRAMASTER F4-424 without being overkill?

[ed]

When choosing NVMe for caching you need to look at reliability ratings such as DWPD/MTBF. Here are a few on the list
https://nascompares.com/answer/nvme-m-2-...dwpd-mtbf/
Caching means a lot of read and write operations, unlike regular storage situation.
You would need to look at models with 0.5DWPD and above

970 pro – 0.66DWPD

990pro – 0.68 DWPD

Synology SNV3400 – 0.68DWPD

Seagate FireCuda 510 – 0.7 DWPD
Seagate IronWolf 525 – 0.7 DWPD
Seagate Firecuda 530 – 0.7 DWPD
Seagate PS5 Game drive – 0.7 DWPD

Seagate FireCuda 520 -0.9 DWPD
WD Red SN700 – 1.0DWPD

[Prieved88]

Thanks for the reply.