HDD Migration and filesystem change

[chaugi]

Hi,

I have read kb.synology.com as well some post here and on reddit regarding my topic, but still want to double check.
I have old DS216j (armada38x) with following drives:

1. 3TB
2. 4TB

Those are in SHR-1 with ext4 filesystem.
I plan to migrate over new DS920+ and convert from ext4 to BTRF. I also have one more new empty 4TB drive.
My assumption regarding migration is the following:

1. Take a backup of DSM settings. And take a backup of my data.
2. Turn off DS216j
3. Take 1st 3TB drive and put into DS920+, as I cannot start with new 4TB drive as I should start with smallest. Shall I click "Deactivate drive" before taking it out?
4. When DS920+ boots up, I have to format 3TB as BTRF configured as SHR-1.
5. Then I need to add my new 4TB drive into that newly created pool.
6. I will have to recreate shared folders manually to benefit from BTRF checkums
7. Take second 4TB drive from old DS216j and put into new DS920+
8. I hope it should just appear in the system as volume2 and allow me to copy information over? This is my main question and concern.
9. When information is copied, I can format last 4TB drive and add it into existing pool and enjoy my total capacity of 7TB.
10. Probably at this moment I shall restore my DSM backup settings.

Can you please confirm or correct me in my judgements.
I am not considering Hyper backup because of lacking so much disk space.
I am not considering Migration assistant because of 1Gbps connection, I think that HDD migration is still faster.
My main concern is adding drives from old NAS into new one.
I am fine to reconfigure everything from scratch on my NAS except:

• Synology notes
• Synology photos - as it took weeks to generate thumbnails and videos, I would really want to preserve the database. I know that thumbnails are in @eaDir.

I really appreciate your help and suggestions.
Thank you.

 

[Telos]

If you want to reuse the drives you must reformat them using a PC before adding them to the new unit. Any format will suffice as the objective is that the drives are not recognized as coming from a Synology NAS.

You would then add both blank drives together and start the NAS to create your new btrfs volume.

 

[chaugi]

If you want to reuse the drives you must reformat them using a PC before adding them to the new unit. Any format will suffice as the objective is that the drives are not recognized as coming from a Synology NAS.

You would then add both blank drives together and start the NAS to create your new btrfs volume.

Dear @Telos

I guess it means that if I click on the drive "Deactivate drive" then it is only removed from current NAS pool, but still if it inserted in another Synology NAS it will appear with data visible, correct?

It is interesting that I am not able to format drive in DSM and have to use PC.

Thank you

 

[Telos]

I guess it means that if I click on the drive "Deactivate drive" then it is only removed from current NAS pool, but still if it inserted in another Synology NAS it will appear with data visible, correct?

I've not tried this, but it may be possible.