[Help] F5-221 replacement - What to buy next

[tattoopup]

Hi

Sorry if this is in the wrong thread but my F5-221 is showing signs of winding down now. I have had it for years and it cannot cope anymore with my needs so I am looking to replace it. Looking through the Terramaster website just now I think I have found what I need.

I use my F5-221 for Plex mainly (2 of the drives) but I do store all my personal documents (on 1 of the drives) as well as backups of work documents and backups of other stuff (2 other drives) hence having the 5 bays. I can manage with a 4 bay NAS so I am thinking of the F4-425 Plus as it can do all that I need it to do and more, stuff like transcoding (that I currently do on my PC)...

My main question is; can I just take out the 4 drives I want to use from the F5-221 and put them straight into the F4-425 Plus and just get going without any formatting of the drives etc? These drives are JBOD btrfs.

Any other relevant information you think I might need to know before buying the new NAS will be appreciated.

Regards

Martin.

[TMzethar]

Your idea is feasible. Please purchase an M.2 NVMe SSD (2280) of any capacity in addition to the F4-425 Plus. This SSD will be used to install TOS6 (the old HDD will no longer be the target for TOS installation).

Start the F4-425 Plus with only the SSD installed, and install TOS6 on this SSD.

While TOS6 is running, hot-plug your four HDDs in F4-425 Plus.

To prevent the old TOS4/TOS5 system on the HDDs from interfering with TOS6 operation, open the Terminal and enter the following commands to clear the system partition and swap partition on the HDDs:
(First, confirm the disk identifiers of the four HDDs using lsblk before execution; assume they are sda, sdb, sdc, sdd)

Code: Select all

lsblk
mdadm --zero-superblock /dev/sda3
mdadm --zero-superblock /dev/sda2
mdadm --zero-superblock /dev/sdb3
mdadm --zero-superblock /dev/sdb2
mdadm --zero-superblock /dev/sdc3
mdadm --zero-superblock /dev/sdc2
mdadm --zero-superblock /dev/sdd3
mdadm --zero-superblock /dev/sdd2

(/dev/sd*4 is the data partition; absolutely do not use this command on it)

Enter the following command to automatically detect, activate, and mount the storage pool and volumes on the HDDs:

Code: Select all

/etc/tos/scripts/mntdata

Then you should then be able to see your data from the old HDDs in the File Manager.

You may not be able to see the volume information of the HDDs from old TOS system.
At this point, you need to check the capacity usage through the Terminal.

Code: Select all

df -h

[tattoopup]

Thanks for your quick reply.

I understand the bit about the SSD, I can do that. So are you saying that if I boot the F4-425 Plus with just the SSD inserted it will work and enable me to upgrade to TOS 6 from TOS 5?
Once I am on TOS 6 and the NAS is on I can just plug my 4 drives of choice and run the commands you listed?

Sorry to sound like I am repeating what you said, I just want to make sure I get it correct!

Thanks
Martin.

[TMzethar]

Correct. Regarding the 'upgrade' issue you mentioned, the F4-425 Plus defaults to installing TOS6. After completing the TOS6 installation, please insert your 4 HDDs while TOS6 is running, and then execute the command according to the specific drive letter situation.

[tattoopup]

Great, thanks.

I have ordered the F4-425 Plus and will order a 256GB M.2 to go in it and will report back how things go.
Should something fail, I do have a complete backup of everything so starting from scratch is an option also.

I will copy what I received from the email after I ordered the NAS....
'Dear customers,our company wil be on Spring Festival holiday from February 8th to February 24th.During this period,shipments will be temporarily suspended.All orders will resume processing on February 25th.We apologize for any inconvenience and wish you a joyful holiday!'

So I may not get the NAS until the end of the month anyway, I wish I had known this before ordering the NAS.

Martin.

[Gremlin]

Amazon uk are quoting next day delivery on Prime.

[tattoopup]

Cheers, I see that now, bit annoyed about it but hey ho, whats done is done. It'll give me time to get stuff sorted this end.
Currently on Amazon trying to find an M.2, some of the prices are shocking though. Think it's worth shopping around afterall i've got a month to get one, haha.

[Gremlin]

Depends what capacity you are looking for, I suppose. Quick check of the specs show that m2 slots are (still) only PCIE3x1, so you don't need high spec. I used Crucial P3 500GB but ........ "not available". The chip "shortage" is a B********! Glad I built when I did and my Fn-221's are going to have to live on

[tattoopup]

It's only to get the upgrade to TOS 6 from 5 then whack in my older drives from my F5-221 without losing data cause I have about 48TB of stuff.
It is backed up to external drives but the time it would take to transfer it over would be a pain in the ar's.

I just spoke to my mate who has a ton of computer stuff at the back of his garage, he's got a WD Black SN750 250GB M.2 that he can let me have so that was a bonus then I can wait for a bit before buying a few TB's at a later date, maybe when the prices come down.

My F5-221 is still working for the most the part, it just has 'moments'. It seems to struggle, beeps at me when I am doing the simplest of tasks transferring files being one of them, the CPU goes to over 90% which should not happen especially when I only have Plex installed so I know it's on its way out

Martin.

[Gremlin]

Guess you have already checked Bios for upgrade compatibility? I have an F2-221 running TOS7 and F5-221 running TOS6. Have you added additional ram?