The TD2 Thunderbolt 3 Plus comes with a few significant upgrades over the plain non-Plus model, but also costs more. Performance-wise, both read and write speeds are improved, but not by a huge margin. So if your focus is on performance alone, it isn't worth paying the additional $80 for the Plus model. That said, there are several other worthwhile features on the Plus to justify the significant price difference. Besides a pair of USB 3.1 ports, which can be used to affordably increase available storage space, the Plus also comes with a Gigabit Ethernet port and more capable DisplayPort interface for 8K resolution, 60 Hz refresh-rate content. Its power adapter is also stronger, so energy-hungry laptops, like my MacBook Pro 15.4, won't be an issue. Finally, Terra Master included a 40 Gbps instead of 20 Gbps Thunderbolt 3 cable.

Getting a capable Thunderbolt 3 storage device with all these features at this price point is a good bargain if you are a video editor and need a lot of fast storage. The option of daisy-chaining several TD2 Plus devices together also increases flexibility, although it is still much more affordable to utilize the fast USB 3.1 ports and connect external storage devices if you need more storage space. While read speeds are high, I cannot say the same for write speeds, which barely exceeded 217 MB/s in my testing sessions with a RAID 0 configuration—the best-case scenario. On the other hand, power consumption is low, and the same goes for noise output. Since you will keep the DAS very close to your system because of the short TD3 cable it is bundled with, a silent operation is essential. Thankfully, this is the case if you use SSDs instead of HDDs, which have increased operating temperatures. I don't know the output noise with HDDs installed and under heavy load since I only use SSDs in my NAS and DAS reviews. Still, given the affordable prices of SSDs and the much higher transfer speeds and considerably better access times, I suggest using SSDs in devices with high bandwidth interfaces like this one.

While the Terra Master TD2 Thunderbolt 3 Plus would be better with higher write speeds, it is still a good choice for those wanting a good DAS with lots of options that doesn't empty a bank account. If you don't care much about the extra features, you can save a notable amount by selecting the non-Plus model. If you plan to use it with powerful laptops which can be charged through a Thunderbolt 3 port (e.g., MacBooks), though, I strongly advise getting the Plus model with the 90 W power adapter. The small power adapter (40 W) of the non-Plus model can't deliver much juice to your laptop. It would be great if Terra Master were to enable the second TD3 port for data transfers over two clients—it would have me strongly recommend the TD2 Plus over the plain model despite the high price difference.