Terramaster NAS RAID Configuration

[Enquiries]

TLDR: Can I combine three drives into one storage pool and RAID it with an equal sized drive? Then setup a cloud service to offsite backup select folders.

I have a TerraMaster F4-210 NAS I have previously used for simple media storage along with a 6tb USB drive for my Kodi. I have recently purchased a 12tb drive and I have three other drives (6tb+5tb+1tb) equaling 12tb. I would like to combine the three drives into one storage pool and mirror it with the 12tb drive. When I attempt to do this, I cannot see where to format the drives and they are much smaller than their capacity. Not sure what I am doing wrong here.

My important data is in the cloud as an archive. I would like to use a cloud service (Google, Mega, Box, etc) to backup offsite in case my server is compromised (which has happened in the past).

[ed]

If you're looking to maximize storage while still maintaining some redundancy, you might want to consider switching to Unraid. Unraid gives you the flexibility to use different-sized drives and configure them in a way that maximizes space without the strict limitations of traditional RAID. You can also protect your drives with a parity disk for redundancy, which might be ideal for your setup.

Another option is Traid (similar to SHR in Synology), which allows you to combine drives of different sizes into a single array, offering better space utilization and protection than RAID. It's a great middle ground if you're looking for redundancy without wasting too much space.

Alternatively, you could set up your drives in JBOD or Basic Mode, treating each drive as an independent unit. While this approach doesn’t provide redundancy, it offers the most straightforward way to use all of your drives for maximum space. To protect your data, you could set up manual automated backups to another drive or even a cloud service. That way, you can keep everything safe without worrying about drive failures too much.