Migrate from Windows to TruNAS

[ccro]

Hi,

I have nearly 2TB of CCTV footage that i can't lose and i'm looking to move from Windows to TruNAS but can't seem to find a way of doing it without losing my files if i start the new install with a new pool and Dataset. Is there documentation that i have missed or a tutorial maybe on Youtube to watch.

Thanks in Advance.

 

[Patrick M. Hausen]

On the same machine? That won't work. Also, most systems designed for Windows are not really fit for TrueNAS.

You are supposed to install TrueNAS on a dedicated "empty" machine with quite some minimum hardware requirements - 16 G of RAM to begin with, ECC strongly recommended - and after the system is up and running copy your data from Windows systems to your new server over the network.

 

[ccro]

Hi,

Thanks for the Quick Response.
So either way i have some File Transferring to do.
No its a different system but i was thinking due to having the data on different drives i could just set import them in after i install TruNAS on a different system but it didn't work so i just went back to using Windows while i was waiting. Just don't want to lose the Media Files. that's all.

 

[ChrisRJ]

You have multiple backups, at least one of them outside your house?

 

[Patrick M. Hausen]

Oh you can import them for faster transfer compared to the network. But you will also need some additional blank drives, because "import" means a read-only mount of NTFS and automatic copying of your data. Just to facilitate the copying. There is indeed no way to keep the drives formatted as they are and just use them in TrueNAS.

Also you would miss out on all the data safety feature of ZFS, right? So new drives it is in any case. If you copy the files over the network or connect them temporarily for import is your decision.