Article: Migrating From One QNAP NAS to Another

Migration should be on the minds of anyone owning a NAS.  Let’s face it, you aren’t going to keep the same amount of data forever and most of us like to hang on to what we have.  Let’s say you didn’t think ahead, or that your wallet had a few too many cobwebs in it before you made your initial NAS purchase and you bought something like the TS-419P+ or the TS-559PRO II. Well, now you finally had enough cheddar to get that snazzy TS-669PRO II you have always wanted, but you don’t have enough disks to populate both devices for data transfer.  Fear not, QNAP had this in mind when they built their systems and because of their forethought, you can upgrade with little worries.

There are a few rules before you begin:

  1. You can only migrate to a new NAS if it has equal or greater quantity of drive bays.
  2. If you are using disk encryption, you can not migrate to a NAS that does not support it.
  3. Your registered MyCloudNAS name will not be moved to your new NAS.
  4. Some of your QPKGs will need to be reinstalled
  5. If you are using Windows AD, you will have to reconfigure on the new NAS.

You can save yourself some hassle and have your firmware ready for the following migrations:

Source NAS Destination NAS Firmware Update Required
TS-x10, TS-x19, TS-x39, TS-509, TS-809, SS-x39, TS-x59, TS-x69, TS-x12, TS-x79 TS-x10, TS-x19, TS-x39, TS-509, TS-809, SS-x39, TS-x12 Yes
TS-x10, TS-x19, TS-x39, TS-509, TS-809, SS-x39, TS-x59, TS-x69, TS-x12, TS-x79 TS-x59, TS-x69, TS-x79 No

 

The process:

  1. Turn off the source NAS (the one you are replacing) and remove the hard drives, making note of their order.
  2. Remove the hard drives from the old trays and install them to the hard drive trays of the new NAS, again keeping them in order.
  3. Plug the hard drives to the new NAS, guess what? IN ORDER.
  4. Follow the instructions of the Quick Installation Guide to connect the power supply and network connections of the new NAS.
  5. Turn on the new NAS and login the web administration interface as the administrator (default login: admin; password: admin).
  6. If you are informed to update the firmware of the new NAS, follow the instructions to download and install the firmware.
  7. Click “Start Migrating”. The NAS will restart after system migration. All the data and settings will be retained.

About Joe D

I have always had a passion for everything computing. In early 2000, I decided to take my passion to the web. Thus, C.O.D. was born. Through the years we have made many great friends at C.O.D. and hope to continue our journey for years to come.

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4 comments

  1. How long should the migration process take?

    • It depends on your NAS model, the speed of the drives, the number of drives, and the amount of data you are migrating. I am not sure there is a definitive way to determine how long a process like this should take.

  2. But.. what to do if the new nas is NEW and you cant enter on directly as admin (the nas ask´s you to make the quick installation) And in this installation… you cant choose “migration” … when you press the final “next” it advices you “all data will be lost” …

    thanks

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