How to migrate hard drives from an existing TNAS to a newly purchased TNAS?

[CursaYang]

I have an F5-221 running TOS6 (6.0.794) with 5 drives and I want to move the drives over to a F6-424 MAX.
My concern is:
Note:
Hard drives cannot be directly swapped between models with different boot modes (legacy vs. UEFI). Reinstallation of the TOS system will be required in such cases.

When they say a reinstallation of the TOS system, do they mean the data is preserved, and I only need to reinstall the TOS?, or a complete start over?

Also, I checked the Boot mode and it is (Legacy+UEFI) if that helps.

In TOS, the system partition and data partition are fully independent. The TOS system reinstallation mentioned here only targets the system partition, so your data partition will remain completely unaffected.
You can refer to this forum thread and follow the instructions to reinstall the system using your original five hard drives:
viewtopic.php?t=9523

[greenyamo]

Hi, I have an F2-210. The drives are fine, the data is fine, but the NAS is dead.
What will be the easiest hardware upgrade for me? F2-425?

[EriChan]

We recommend upgrading to the F2-425 Plus paired with TOS 7 for the best upgrade experience!

Please note that direct hard drive swap migration is not supported due to differences in the underlying architecture and boot mechanism between the F2-210 (ARM) and the new x86 platform.

The advantage of the F2-425 Plus is its built-in M.2 NVMe SSD slots—this allows you to install and experience the latest TOS 7 system on an NVMe SSD while keeping the SATA drive bays free to directly insert and mount your old hard drives to access and migrate your data.

Once your new NAS arrives, feel free to contact our support team via the link below, and we can provide a remote technical support session to assist you directly with the data migration：

https://salesiq.zohopublic.com/signatur ... 97d0be8892

[greenyamo]

If I get the F2-425, can I install TOS 7 via an external SSD, and then insert my drives??

[TMroy]

If I get the F2-425, can I install TOS 7 via an external SSD, and then insert my drives??

TOS does not support boot from external SSD, if you prefer to keep your current drives, you can pick up another model like F2-425 plus,
this model support vnme SSD, then you can install TOS on nvme SSD, then you can insert your drives after that.

[exqo]

Hi,

My F4-424 was returned under RMA/warranty exchange, and TerraMaster is sending me a replacement F4-425 Plus (N95) instead. It's still in transit, so I don't actually know yet which TOS version it will ship with — hence my questions below, since I'd like to plan the process before it arrives rather than improvise once I have it.

My old F4-424 was running TOS 7 (version 7.0.0746) with 3 hard drives:
HDD1 + HDD2: in a TRAID pool (Storage Pool 1), with HDD1 set as the system disk
HDD3: a separate disk, not part of the RAID, in its own Storage Pool 3

Could someone lay out a clear step-by-step process for this migration? Specifically:

First boot of the new F4-425 Plus: should I power it on empty first to check/note its TOS version, or insert drives right away?

If it ships with TOS 6: do I need to update it to TOS 7 before inserting any of the original drives, or will TOS 6 correctly import a TOS 7 storage pool as-is?
Drive insertion order: all 3 drives at once, or the 2 TRAID drives first (with HDD1 as system disk) and HDD3 afterward?
Any specific precaution regarding HDD1 being the system disk, to avoid it triggering a reinitialization of the new unit instead of being recognized as an existing system pool?

Both the F4-424 and F4-425 Plus are UEFI-boot x86 models, so I understand the drives should in principle be directly compatible — I'd just like a clean, low-risk sequence given this is a straight RMA replacement, not a planned upgrade, and I want to avoid any data loss.

Thanks in advance for the guidance.

[Gremlin]

An empty device from Terramaster does not ship with any version of TOS.
What it does have is a usb boot device which fetches the version it is targetted for (probably Tos6 up to this point, but they might be targetting Tos 7 now the installation files are available). You can see the available files here: https://support.terra-master.com/downlo ... 425%20Plus
This is what the usb initboot device does (and all it does!) However, as you are moving from a very similar machine and have TOS already on your hdd, This should not concern you at all, provided there was nothing wrong with the actual software and it was a wholly hardware related failure causing the RMA.
I would be inclined to install your HDD1 in the FIRST slot and so on (for the simple reason TOS has always looked to the first slot drive for it's default boot, but it doesn't really matter). ie all three at once.
Notes:
if you have an undamaged installation you should be able to put the drives in any order and could even remove the usb boot device if desired.
To date TM have not issued (as far as I am aware) a procedure for updating the -425 versions' initboot device which is a USB-DOM daughter-board. They have only indicated using a standard pluggable usb instead. viewtopic.php?p=37031#p37031
You may wish to check the BIOS version before installing - viewtopic.php?t=10182

[TMjack]

Based on your description, these three drives can be installed directly into the F4-425 Plus and will work normally right after powering on, without any additional configuration required.

[exqo]

An empty device from Terramaster does not ship with any version of TOS.
What it does have is a usb boot device which fetches the version it is targetted for (probably Tos6 up to this point, but they might be targetting Tos 7 now the installation files are available). You can see the available files here: https://support.terra-master.com/downlo ... 425%20Plus
This is what the usb initboot device does (and all it does!) However, as you are moving from a very similar machine and have TOS already on your hdd, This should not concern you at all, provided there was nothing wrong with the actual software and it was a wholly hardware related failure causing the RMA.
I would be inclined to install your HDD1 in the FIRST slot and so on (for the simple reason TOS has always looked to the first slot drive for it's default boot, but it doesn't really matter). ie all three at once.
Notes:
if you have an undamaged installation you should be able to put the drives in any order and could even remove the usb boot device if desired.
To date TM have not issued (as far as I am aware) a procedure for updating the -425 versions' initboot device which is a USB-DOM daughter-board. They have only indicated using a standard pluggable usb instead. viewtopic.php?p=37031#p37031
You may wish to check the BIOS version before installing - viewtopic.php?t=10182

Based on your description, these three drives can be installed directly into the F4-425 Plus and will work normally right after powering on, without any additional configuration required.

Thanks for the detailed replies !