TerraMaster D5 Thunderbolt 3 in the test: Five HDDs in hardware RAID for 1,450 MB/s over TB3

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The TerraMaster D5 Thunderbolt 3 offers space for up to five drives to provide fast storage via Thunderbolt. Additional devices and monitors can be connected via an additional Thunderbolt 3 connection and DisplayPort. Up to 1,450 MB/s are achieved in the test and the system works reliably.

Table of contents

  1. 1 Five HDDs in hardware RAID for 1,450 MB/s over TB3
    1. Six configurations with five HDDs
    2. When starting it needs 100 watts
    3. RocketRAID and Intel JHL6540
    4. Twice Thunderbolt 3 with 40 Gbit/s
    5. Setup via browser and system administration
    6. Booting and configuration via BIOS possible
    7. Volume mainly depends on HDDs
  2. 2 Test setup, benchmarks and conclusion
    1. Test system: desktop PC and notebook
    2. Benchmarks of the various RAID modes
    3. Conclusion

The TerraMaster D5 Thunderbolt 3 (D5-330) is a direct attached storage (DAS), an external hardware RAID hard drive enclosure with Thunderbolt 3 connections that can accommodate up to five hard drives. For a recommended retail price of around 700 euros, at which the RAID enclosure is currently sold exclusively through Amazon *, the system should offer fast external storage for work environments in which large amounts of data have to be transferred much faster than with a NAS.

Six configurations with five HDDs

Hard drives are not included in the price, so the buyer has to choose the right number and storage capacity for himself. Depending on the number of hard drives, different RAID arrays are supported; when fully equipped with five drives, you can choose from RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 6, RAID 10, JBOD and the configuration as single drives. For example, it is also possible to create a RAID 0 and a RAID 1 on the D5. At least six hard disks would be required for a RAID 50, so it is not supported, but confusingly it is offered for selection in the software and then rejected with a message that the number of HDDs is insufficient. HDDs with up to 16 TB are officially supported, so that the maximum storage capacity is 80 TB. Like a NAS, the hard drives are screwed onto drive frames that are made of plastic and are not additionally secured against removal. The side screw holes are provided with rubber buffers to dampen vibrations. In addition to 3.5-inch drives, 2.5-inch drives are also supported. Screws, an external power supply unit, a quick start guide and a Thunderbolt 3 cable are part of the scope of delivery.

In contrast to a NAS, where the data is potentially available to all members in the network, the TerraMaster D5-330 is connected directly to a device and is only available on this device. After setting up, a DAS is easier to use because no network drive has to be connected and no rights assignment is required, just like an external hard drive, the Thunderbolt cable is simply connected to access the data.

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TerraMaster D5-330 Thunderbolt 3
TerraMaster D5-330 Thunderbolt 3
TerraMaster D5-330 Thunderbolt 3

TerraMaster D5-330 Thunderbolt 3

The aluminum housing of the TerraMaster D5-330 uses two 80 mm fans with a thickness of 25 mm on the Back to cool the hard drives sufficiently even under constant load. The fans are temperature-controlled and can be replaced relatively easily by the user himself. The case measures 227 × 225 × 176 mm with an empty weight of 2.4 kg.

When starting it needs 100 watts

The external power supply delivers a maximum of 120 watts. When using five hard drives, TerraMaster speaks of a typical power consumption of 76.8 watts for writing and reading. When starting up, the system shows that a 120 watt power supply is not excessive, because then the power consumption in the test is briefly 100 watts. The test measured a fairly constant 60 watts under full load on five HDDs; the power consumption in everyday life is around 30 watts without read/write operations. If the HDDs are allowed to go to sleep, the D5-330 alone consumes 13.1 watts.

Power consumption unit: watt (W)

  • Idle state:
    • TerraMaster D5-330 Thunderbolt 313.1
  • Idle:
    • TerraMaster D5-330 Thunderbolt 330.3
  • Last:
    • TerraMaster D5 -330 Thunderbolt 360.4

RocketRAID and Intel JHL6540

Internally, the TerraMaster D5-330 relies on the SAS RAID controller Highpoint RocketRAID 2720, while the Thunderbolt 3 controller is the Intel JHL6540, i.e. an Alpine Ridge and not the newer JHL754 alias Titan Ridge. Both are passively cooled.

TerraMaster D5-330: RAID -Controller in the device manager

The status of the system and the hard drives show a total of six LEDs on the left front, which are placed above the single button, the on/off switch. Four large rubber feet are to avoid transmission of vibrations to the table, two replacement feet are part of the scope of delivery.

Twice Thunderbolt 3 with 40 Gbit/s

The two Thunderbolt 3 ports each deliver up to 40 Gbit/s and TerraMaster promises a maximum transmission speed of up to 1,035 MB/s in a RAID 0 network. In addition to two Thunderbolt 3 ports, one of which is used to connect to the computer or notebook, the D5 Thunderbolt 3 also offers a DisplayPort 1.2 for connecting a screen. Here the Alpine Ridge controller is limiting, because only Titan Ridge supports DisplayPort 1.4. Two displays can be connected directly to the D5-330 via Thunderbolt and DisplayPort and connected to the notebook via a single Thunderbolt 3 cable. The notebook itself can be charged with up to 15 watts via the TerraMaster-DAS – an additional power supply unit is therefore required for high-performance systems. Thanks to the daisy chain via Thunderbolt 3, six D5-DAS can theoretically also be connected in series and a monitor connected via DisplayPort.

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TerraMaster D5-330 Thunderbolt 3
TerraMaster D5-330 Thunderbolt 3
TerraMaster D5-330 Thunderbolt 3
TerraMaster D5-330 Thunderbolt 3

Setup via browser and system administration

Insert hard drives, start up and get started? Commissioning the TerraMaster D5 Thunderbolt 3 is not that easy in practice. Because after connecting the DAS to the PC or notebook, the hard disks turn on, but they are not yet visible or configurable via the system settings. First a RAID driver must be installed, which can be downloaded from the TerraMaster website, and the hardware RAID controller of the D5-330 can be accessed via the browser in order to configure the RAID system – RAID Manager can also be used for this Pro will be installed, which creates a link to the address http: //localhost: 7402 /. TerraMaster explains the individual steps in detail in the instructions for the DAS and RAID Manager Pro. A few prior knowledge is helpful when setting up the D5-330 for the first time, otherwise you have to take the time to familiarize yourself with the matter, because options such as “Write Back” and “Write Through” also need to be set correctly during the setup. A RAID migration is possible from single drives to RAID1 or RAID 5 and from RAID 1 to RAID 5, and settings for automatic rebuild, the time to sleep and e-mail notifications can be made.

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TerraMaster D5-330 Thunderbolt 3
TerraMaster D5-330 Thunderbolt 3
TerraMaster D5-330 Thunderbolt 3
TerraMaster D5-330 Thunderbolt 3
TerraMaster D5-330 Thunderbolt 3
TerraMaster D5-330 Thunderbolt 3
TerraMaster D5-330 Thunderbolt 3
TerraMaster D5-330 Thunderbolt 3
TerraMaster D5-330 Thunderbolt 3
TerraMaster D5-330 Thunderbolt 3
TerraMaster D5-330 Thunderbolt 3
TerraMaster D5-330 Thunderbolt 3
TerraMaster D5-330 Thunderbolt 3
TerraMaster D5-330 Thunderbolt 3
TerraMaster D5-330 Thunderbolt 3
TerraMaster D5-330 Thunderbolt 3

If the RAID array has been created, the drives can be initialized in the Windows disk management or the macOS disk service program and then with the File system FAT, exFAT, NTFS or ext4 can be formatted. The file system can be selected by the user depending on the working environment. Since the D5 is potentially used on several computers, a broadly supported format is recommended.

Booting and configuration via BIOS possible

The D5-330 can theoretically also be booted. If the controller is connected via Thunderbolt during startup, it will appear at startup. The settings of the RAID controller can also be accessed and the RAID configuration can be carried out. RAID networks can be created and deleted or spare drives can be added. The use of the Windows software is therefore not absolutely necessary.

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TerraMaster D5-330: The drives have to be initialized
TerraMaster D5-330: After initialization, the RAID appears as a normal drive

Once the drives have been set up, the D5-330 can actually be used like an external hard drive. As soon as it is connected via Thunderbolt, the hard drives appear like local drives and can be used as usual. As soon as the Thunderbolt 3 cable is disconnected from the notebook or PC, the hard drives are switched off suddenly, as if they were completely disconnected from the power supply. Not a sound that one likes to hear with mechanical drives.

Volume mainly depends on HDDs

Speaking of noise: The TerraMaster D5 Thunderbolt 3 is about as loud as a Synology DiskStation 918+ at 35 dB when idling, but its operating noise depends primarily on the hard drives used. Five mechanical drives in close proximity to the notebook or PC are definitely a disadvantage compared to a NAS that can be placed anywhere with a network connection. Access and rotating noise of the hard disks are relatively poorly attenuated, so that 39 dB are achieved when five HDDs are accessed.

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TerraMaster D5-330 Thunderbolt 3
TerraMaster D5-330 Thunderbolt 3
TerraMaster D5-330 Thunderbolt 3
TerraMaster D5-330 Thunderbolt 3
TerraMaster D5-330 Thunderbolt 3

(*) The links marked with an asterisk are affiliate links. In the case of an order via such a link, ComputerBase receives a share of the sales proceeds without increasing the price for the customer.

On the next page: test setup, benchmarks and conclusion