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Back in 2011 I picked up a Synology DS411 NAS, which has proved to be one of the most beneficial parts of my home lab. When I purchased it, I filled it with 4x 3TB drives for a total of 12TB of storage (~8TB usable with RAID5). I use the NAS as an iSCSI datastore for my home ESX hosts, which has helped me to run many more test virtual machines than I could have otherwise. I’ve also been using the NAS as a media server, file server, and a general backup location for everything I do.
The only problem with the DS411 is that the device is now over six years old – which means its processing power just doesn’t keep up with what I need it for today. The device is also reaching its end of life state, so I needed to replace it anyways. For reference, the device only came with a single-core 1.6Ghz processor and 512Mb of RAM.
Synology just recently released their new 2018 models, so I opted to pick up the DS918+. I could have upgraded to an equivalent model(DS418) of what I already have, but I was really interested in some of the additional features offered by the plus-series model. The DS918+ supports docker containers and Synology’s own virtualization hypervisor – along with the ability to add extra RAM modules later if I need them. As sad as I am to see my DS411 go, it was definitely time for an upgrade!
Anyways, I just completed the migration from my old DS411 NAS to a new DS918+. The whole process was much easier than I had anticipated, but I figured I would write up a quick summary of what I did:
- First thing – Update the current NAS to the latest version of Synology DSM
- Control Panel > Update & Restore > Click Update if one is available
- Take a backup of the DSM configuration
- Control Panel > Update & Restore > Configuration Backup > Click Backup Configuration
- Power off the old NAS – in my case, my DS411
- Unplug the old NAS and remove the drives
- For the DS411, this requires disassembling the chassis
- MAKE SURE YOU KEEP THE DRIVES IN ORDER (I actually printed labels to put on mine)
- For the DS411, the drive numbers start top to bottom (Disk 1 is top, Disk 4 is bottom)
- Install the drives into the new NAS – in my case, a DS918+
- Again, these drives must be replaced in the same order!
- The DS918+ numbers left to right (Disk 1 is the first slot on the left, Disk 4 is last slot on the right)
- Again, these drives must be replaced in the same order!
- Once all of the drives have been inserted – Plug in the new NAS and power it on
- Download the Synology Assistant application
- This is necessary because the new NAS will not retain the previous IP configuration of the old NAS
- Once the new NAS is booted up – Open Synology Assistant and click Search
- It should locate the NAS, and the status should be Migratable
- In my case, it shows both network adapters for the NAS
- Select the NAS and click Connect – This will launch the Web UI of the NAS
- The WebUI should show something similar to the screenshot below, with the button to Migrate
- If the WebUI does not show you a migrate option, DO NOT CONTINUE. You may need to double-check that the drives have been inserted in the correct order.
- If the WebUI does not show you a migrate option, DO NOT CONTINUE. You may need to double-check that the drives have been inserted in the correct order.
- Click Migrate, then you will be prompted to select whether you would like to migrate all settings or perform a clean install of DSM
- Performing a clean install will still retain all of the data on the NAS, but all DSM settings will be lost
- I selected the option to retain all of my settings
- Next, Click through the prompts to install the newest version of DSM
- Wait for the system to download and install DSM
- Once complete – you will be brought to your DSM login screen and the migration is complete!
- If you selected to keep the DSM settings, everything should still be there – with the exception of your IP/network configuration.
After all that is complete – you’re ready to enjoy your new Synology NAS! The migration was significantly easier than I had expected it to be. The longest part for me was just removing the drives from the DS411 – since it requires disassembling the chassis and removing multiple screws to free the drives from the drive sleds. So far the DS918+ is fantastic – and I would highly recommend purchasing one to anyone who is interested.
Hope this quick tutorial helps out – Let me know in the comments!