New NAS OS – System reboot required for TOS 5.0

The long-awaited NAS TOS 5.0 operating system for TerraMaster NAS systems, which was previously available in public beta, has now been released in its final version. The new version of the operating system should not be just an iteration, but TerraMaster speaks volumes about a revolution.

Lots of new features and improvements

TerraMaster estimates the changes in TOS 5.0 to be more than 50 new features and more than 600 enhancements that have been incorporated throughout development. More than 300,000 lines of code have been put together for TOS 5. The memory structure and data interaction mode have been changed, and TerraMaster also promises significantly improved reaction speed, security, and ease of use. The web interface should react three times faster than before under TOS 4 and be better structured and easier to use.

Also new is the Log Center, which is designed to collect comprehensive system and service logs for system administrators so that system and service status can be viewed more easily and abnormalities can be more easily diagnosed and corrected. quickly.

In addition to one-time passwords (OTPs) for 2FA, which can be generated through the new TNAS mobile app in version 5, the new version also offers faster RAID repairs and the option to encrypt USB drives. Additionally, TerraMaster has expanded backup options and with RAID, TerraMaster provides flexible array configurations, online migration and expansion, and redundancy strategies with increased storage space. File deduplication to reduce storage space is also supported by TOS 5.

Update requires reboot

However, the switch from TOS 4 to TOS 5 is not as easy as expected, as a simple upgrade via the TOS 4 web interface is not possible. Instead, the TerraMaster NAS user must first perform a system reset. to factory settings then reconfigure and configure it yourself. Update file provided by TerraMaster to TOS 5 to select. If the file is not manually selected, TOS 4 will be installed again on reboot.

Data on the drives is not necessarily lost during a reboot, but we strongly recommend that you back up all data off-site beforehand so that it can be restored after the upgrade if necessary.

TOS 5.0 is only available for 220, 221, 420, 421, 422, and 423 series x86 architecture NAS systems. To enable a lossless upgrade, at least TOS 4.2.32 must be installed.

ComputerBase already installed TOS 5.0 on a first TerraMaster NAS, the reset and reinstallation described above worked without issue. After the upgrade, the user is greeted by a security advisor who points out any vulnerabilities that the user needs to close during post-configuration.

To what extent the new system affects the speed of data transfers, ComputerBase will examine in more detail shortly. The web interface, which looks very similar to the previous one, actually reacts much faster than before in a first test. It remains to be seen whether problems have also been fixed that sometimes prevented, for example, the creation of a new shared folder with the same name as a previously deleted folder.

A guide and download links for TOS 5.0 and the updated programs can be found directly in TerraMaster.