F4-424 Pro TOS on the SSD Instead of HDD After Factory Reset

[PeteC]

Hi Folks can anybody point me in the right direction to solving this issue

I've new F4-424 NAS; Initialisation went OK but after power cycling I couldn't log on as the verification code was not accepted, tried many times

Tech Support say follow viewtopic.php?t=423 Method B for a full factory reset

This works but as it says plug in a Hard Drive whilst powered up, this means that TOS will be installed on the hard drive and not the much faster M2 SSD which isn't a great idea.

When I ask Tech Support how do I get it to install on the SSD they say plug the SSD in when powered up rather than the HDD. I think this is risky and may void my warranty or damage the M2, possibly both

This just doesn't sound right especially as my request that they email me to confirm this method has not produced anything.

Am I just being paranoid ?

One other thing: There is a tiny pushbutton on the motherboard just under the bottom of the righthand M2 slot It looks like the type that would be used for a factory reset. Anyone know what it is Tech Support don't know or won't tell

Pete

[EthanLiu]

Are you installed with TOS 6? If you wish to install the system on an HDD, you can try reinitializing and selecting the manual installation mode to choose which disk to install the system on. The default automatic initialization will install the system on the first disk it detects based on the disk order. According to your description, it seems that only an SSD was installed during the installation process.

Lastly, please avoid reposting the same content. Thank you very much.

[PeteC]

TOS 5.1

AS I SAID I wish to install the system on the SSD NOT the HDD The Method B procedure Support asked me to use would mean me plugging an M2 NVMe into the socket with power ON.

[Gremlin]

Are (is?) the nvme drive(s) clean?

[PeteC]

I'd already removed the NVMe's put then in a NVMe / USB caddy Then deleted the partitions and formated EXt4 with Windows also tried just deleting the partitions and not formatting

[Gremlin]

The trick I try to use is to
delete partitions,
initialise as MBR,
initialise as GPT
(in that order) but I do not format. (I use 3rd party software on Windows 10).

{My thinking being that the MBR/GPT cleans out any remains of previous systems having seen odd things happen in TOS5 installs. Whether it is needed or not is dubious, but it does not hurt and is quick. The alternative is 'secure erase' which can be tedious.}

Put the nvme in the chassis (with power off!) and then:
Use a *.ins installation file via the custom installation options.

{I have not checked if a TOS6 *.ins file is available for your model but you can use one from another model (if TM have not deleted them all) from the support download pages.} Usual caveats apply.

Using the default install on a device previously installed with Tos6 version > 6.0.420 will (usually) install the latest TOS6 (6.0.535 currently).

{When TOS 6 > 0.420 the initboot USB (internal) is re-written to achieve this. When ONLY TOS5 OR TOS6 < 229 has been installed, the USB in not re-written and your choices are limited to what was installed prior.}

In the event you have progressed to 6.0.420 or beyond, but you want to re-install TOS5, you need to re-write the internal USB with a legacy version.

[PeteC]

Gremlin, Thanks for your detailed response, unfortunately, I decided to ignore Tech Support and had already decided to try my own method before reading yours.

What I ended up doing was:
1 Remove all drives HDD & SSD
2 Powered up and followed instructions inserting 1 HDD when prompted
3 Installed TOS 5
4 Updated to TOS 6 which now allowed me to initiate a Factory Reset from the System Menu
5 Watched the power LED during the reset and as soon as it went OFF I pulled the power plug and installed the 2 SSDs then powered up again
6 Initialisation started and I was presented with the option to install on an SSD

RESULT
All looks good, everything appears to function correctly, only issue is that both M.2NVMe drives are now showing as being “At Risk”. Should I pull them, Delete the Partitions as advised and start again? I’m not really sure how one of these drives can be “At Risk” surely, it’s a case of they work or they don’t and why would both fail at the same time? BTW they are Crucial P3 1TB M.2 PCIe Gen3 NVMe

Pete

[Gremlin]

I suspect you will find that, if you look at Control Panel > Disk > Disk (Tos6.0 - it's different for 5.1)
there will be 1 hdd plus 1 nvme showing as "system drive"
This means you have a raid 1 array - mirror - over that HDD and that nvme.
Hopefully the 2nd nvme will be "Normal".
Raid comprising of dissimilar devices is usually not recommended. (Google is you friend/enemy depending )

Sorry, but I don't have anything at the moment to offer as comparison.
I am currently running my 424 with 2 (small) nvme in raid1 mirror for operating system and apps {on Pool1, Volume1}. (no data HDD at present.)

[Gremlin]

ps: My nvme are P3 500GB and function fine.

[neoz]

Hi! I'm in a similar situation.

I bought a F-424 some weeks ago, with 2 6Tb HDD and, by the moment, one nvme (Crucial P3 1TB)

My first intention was use the 2 HDDs for initialize a RAID (store files shared smb, some foto application, serve some multimedia file,...) and use the nvme as Hyper Cache. But (I didn't think much about it) one of my requirements is use Docker for run some little services. Docker, as a service (and containers) is constantly writing logs to disk and the HDDs disk never go into hybernate mode.

Another thing, I don't have any (critical or essential) data in the TNAS, because I'm in trial mode.
The best way, as I understand, will be:

- Extract the HDDs
- Install second nvme (to have a new RAID volume)
- Install TOS (first 5 and update to 6, because F-424 doesn't have a image for 6)
- Clean the HDDs, for example, with a 3rtd party software, connected externally to another computer
- Connect the HDDs and create new RAID volume

Would that be right?

Thank you!