Todd Miller

I did about 8 or 9 times now. And while I have done a lot of volume testing I have everything backed up and continue to treat this experience as a beta test. I'm not sure we are far enough down the path to treat it as anything else. People are still yelling the Immich is broken and how can Eshtek have such a crap product. And when they find out it was actually a TrueNAS change you start to see complaints about how this product can't accommodate this type of change. Then the complaints asking for a conversion process from old to new but that was manual so it didn't work for everyone. So now people have partial changes from several tries and a broken product. Then guys like me who left the safety of the TrueNAS catalog and followed Docker install videos. so I am not making things any easier. I made a joke a while back that go-live would be everyone formatting their systems and all starting from the same point. I said it a second time not to long ago because of this Immich specifically because I wasn't joking anymore. Now I can't see any way around it. How do you explain to the support team everything that got you to the situation your in? They know that firestorm is coming. So I do apologise to responding with this doom and gloom post to your very simple and straightforward request. I sincerely hope that they have a way to help you because I had to reload 1.25 TB of images and almost 10TB of movies (with a few family vacation videos sprinkled in. Honestly, I thought that was why rsync was going to be the answer but I guess nothing is ever that easy. Best of luck, really.

Emby, Plex and Jellyfin? How are we ever going to chose (setting aside cost for the moment)?

Not much if you strip out all the extra add-ons for NextCloud but what fun is that. When I tried to compare them I set the one requirement as 'replace google drive'. With that they seems different but equal. I guess that is because one is a fork of the other. It's probably just level of complexity to install that separated them for me. NextCloud was easier to install but for all but beginners, that isn't really a big deal. Since I don't have much faith in securing either app I just added a few add-ons then stopped them both for a future re-evaluation.

And that is what I did which is why I asked in the first place! Don't assume your consumers are not both inquisitive and intuitive. Just because you didn't think someone would try that doesn't NOBODY will.

Just out of curiosity, did you click on the link? There is nothing I could see that says existing customers only. While other places in the forum seem to say that, you would think the place you make the purchase would be the most clearly marked with any restrictions. Sorry you missed the first offer because I think this product will make a lot of entry and mid level NAS admin wannabe's successful. But Eshtek has a lot of maturing to do to go to the next level and this is one small example. They will get a marketing person who looks at the releases from a standpoint other than a developer and a customer service person who thinks like a buyer not a developer who worked on the product. When they announce the monthly cost they have mentioned before, it may fit your budget better. Yes, it will eventually rise over the $99 but not immediately. And you will be in a position to see if you really even want the product. Though I can't imagine this really happening, but if I decide that HexOS is to dependent on me going into TrueNAS and not what I want, I'm still in fro $198. I'm sure there is more to come but when they went from $99 to $199, it really tied their hands. And it would be a real mess to change that now.

I did an uninstall, remove all datasets, reinstall and reload the data. I would guess the deleting of the old datasets purged all my data but I have backups.

I did a couple times actually. I screwed the first reinstall when I messed with the install script. The second was a standard curated install. I didn't follow any guide. I just uninstalled, deleted the old datasets then reinstalled. No idea why this is so complicated because it couldn't have been easier for me.

Perhaps but Linus and his circle of friends are no fools. If he sees there is any sign of a sinking ship, he will not mince words. And from reading the forums regularly, I wonder if the team underestimated the effort they were undertaking. While unexpected change happens, that have certainly gotten more than their share.

By simple blind luck, I got in at the first sale. That sale, in my opinion, was to fund the current work. While the option to allow existing customers to purchase a second license seemed odd at first, I think it is there to give us options for a backup server or the ability to try new things on a virtual machine leaving our "production machine" unaffected. The buddy backup idea certainly blew up into a big discussion but only because we saw a interesting opportunity that was being taken away as fast as we were recognizing it. As for the $199 new user license price, I guess that is within Eshtek's right since HexOS is their product. As I have said, I am a paying customer who has asked a lot of questions and called people to task because I think this product can be everything I have wanted since a friend built me a NAS that I can't really administrate myself. I don't know enough about TrueNAS to really be comfortable with the product but most of the experience has been pretty simple. Had I missed the LTT video I wouldn't have been part of that initial group of investors/testers/buyers. Like you, $199 is enough to make me pause and think f this is really where I want to spend my money. My only thoughts that would be in Eshtek's defense (if they really need a defense) are that they took a chance on a new product. Because of this they have a company that is working on a product with a staff payroll both in developers today but also support staff, customer service representatives a full development staff working on new options or improving existing ones and a ton of marketing costs. I won't pretend that I know that cost but I don't want this product to be abandoned in five years if the money dries up. There has been discussion of a month by month cost but that has been quiet for a while. The forums have several entries about future pricing and Eshtek has held to their word from the one time initial investment to eventually going to $299 as the new starting price. And because they probably have people who bought in at $99 and $199, they can't really lower that price without angering their community. This is a community not only including folks like me who seem to jump on every unclear statement but also content creators who enjoy criticising business decisions they don't like and have millions of followers. At the end of the day when the smoke clears HexOSS is a business and to ensure survival it needs to be treated that way. You choosing to spend your money elsewhere is your right and I don't think anyone directly linked to Eshtek would ever say anything different. You must do what's right for you. If HexOS doesn't fit your budget now, maybe it will when it matures some more. Who knows.

When I go to that link and it offers me a $99 option is that because I am already an existing license/account/customer? If that is true then the two license option would have to be $198 not $298. Or I guess you could have decided in the spirit of goodwill and such, to reinstate the original BF sale price. I'm not questioning your decisions and choices nor you right to price your intellectual property however you wish. I am, however, asking for more clarity in future communication coming from admins and moderators so that you don't directly conflict with prior message unless you are clear that is your intent. If we are back to a $99 license for first time buyers then say it clearly.

I think we are mostly on the same page with your response so let me throw out some scenarios to make sure we are all clear. 1) I was not a lifetime owner. I bought the $199 because I want to own a NAS and am joining the Beta though pretty late. I am now the proud owner of a HexOS NAS. and have built a machine and loaded the product. 1 license on 1 account and 1 server. 2) I see the two server option $298 option. That is equal to the original $99 deal plus the $199 current and long standing post black friday 2024 advertised price. I have 2 licenses on 1 account and up to 2 servers either physical or virtual including a mix of the two. If I don't know about the original black friday sale I simply see a (currently) full price license and a packaged reduced option for a second. 3) I bought in at the original black friday price and want a second license for another server. I am also 2 licenses on 1 account because there was no way to buy a second $99 black friday license on any account but the original. 4) People with vision (not me) who bought multiple licenses. Not sure I will get this right so please strike out what is incorrect. Those folks would have 2 licenses on 1 account. 5) Same as four except they bought multiple licenses on multiple accounts. For simplicity let's call it 2 licenses on 2 account. Assuming all these are valid (and someone exercised the options) it appears the buddy backup definition is really the hangup. I only see one reference to the buddy backup on the HexOS.com website (and no folks, I did not do an exhaustive search looking for more information). The site says "Buddy backups and replication Easily transfer data between two HexOS systems. Backup your data to a friend’s remote server using a secure connection". Since it only says systems and not licenses or accounts, I think that is a little confusing when held up against your above statement "The additional licenses is for users that want to setup multiple systems of their own, not for buddy backups.". I am guessing the confusion may simply be how will the buddy backup be executed. I believe TrueNAS already has ways to do backups. As well there are lots of apps that will do it if I say I don't like the way TrueNAS does it. So going out on a limb here I hope this backup is seup in the dashboard by identifying the second system. I hope it is along the line of I list the second license I want to backup to and when built (of course) I do the same in reverse order listing license 1 to connect to. I am setting aside encryption and size allocation because that is secondary to me but it must be managed somewhere. If it's account and license in that crosslinking process that will complicate or possibly eliminate the backup buddy option. I believe that is what we loyal but extremely ambitious are trying to understand. Is backup buddy system to system, license to license or account to account. Oh and for clarity I am thinking my userid or email represents my account and something else is my license. The statements that the second $99 license is not for backup buddy but you can be your own backup buddy (as sad as that sounds) might just need clarification in the future like before the sale ends for those just seeing this conversation and thinking I didn't think about being my own backup buddy. Way more than enough said and I will bow out now.

Let's let Eshtek sort that out before we make to many assumptions. I think lots of people had that thought but may not have jumped on it. I had the same thought but was to cheap. Have you activated both licenses?

So If I am understanding this, if the second server is in a relatives house it is not their independent account but rather is is another server under the same login. So I don't think we can use the term "buddy backup" unless you are saying each server can allocate an encrypted space on the other that can't be accessed. I think that will be the terminology sticking point. I must say when I first saw the option to buy a second $99 NAS server I myself thought I could setup up a buddy backup as well at a relatives home but wasn't sure it could be used as a full independent server by that relative because they are not going to want to go down the NAS path. I am guessing a lot of people will have that same thought and if i am still being honest I think Eshtek realized that would be the reason many folks would go for that option. So, let's be clear and careful about the use of the term "buddy backup". Can it be a remote backup? Yes. You have already told me above that it can. But can it be a buddy backup? It sounds like no, not really as defined in the sales materials. Now, as for that person who bought two accounts during the original black friday sale. I can see them having a legit issue because I believe I have seen them say that is why they got the two accounts in other forum posts a while back. If this is true it should have been stated then that multiple servers on one account can't be true buddy backups. I don't really have a horse in this race because I want another server that will be my 'media available outside my home' through Plex or Jellyfin and Immich.

I use FeedFlow on my android phone. I see TrueNAS has some alternatives as well though I have no experience with them so that's next after the ARR series of apps.

While not a buddy backup I hope the second license can be used to build a "regular" backup NAS system. I've already got two backups on external HDD media but they are so SLOW.

Did this go anywhere? Now that infor is coming fast and furious I like to use a RSS reader to keep up.

I wonder if Eshtek is ready to have an app store separate of TrueNAS. This would require them to have a much larger responsibility in situation where an apps author make a move like the Immich issue. This doesn't seem to be likely because what does Eshtek get for this immense extra effort? Just more work and responsibility it seems.

Hmm. It sure seems it took a long time to come to this. And along the way many have already rejected this uninstall/reinstall approach assuming you would eventually have to fix this. Since this is a situation that we are most likely to encounter again do you have a plan to get the Eshtek response out before the forums are reduced to a dozen large arguments? You may not know what issues are coming but you do know months of silence has proven o be a bad situation.

I would guess it's so Windows can map a network drive. Well maybe not just windows but if it wasn't that way I would not be able to load my photos, movies or general videos. If that's not the reason, don't tell me. I don't want to know.

Can guides like this be converted to custom install scripts or it that just to much work?

Have you decided uninstall/reinstall is not an option?

I was watching this video and the speaker talked about ZFS options in TrueNAS. I don't really know enough about this so I will just ask my question this way. Will HexOS have any control over scrubs or snapshots or is this something we will have to go to TrueNAS for?

So the difference between this and say the core Nextcloud or Opencloud is Paperless ngx isn't just storing documents. It's also scanning them and allowing filtering based on filters? Or do I have to scan a document first so each file is a single page?

Is the RSS feed supposed to have this blog post? I only see five entries and the last on is May. Also, only the Q! status update is listed. I'm wondering if I have the right one.

I think if we are honest almost everyone would say they were disappointed in how this startup has gone including Eshtek. I don't think all of our disappointment is justified because it has nothing to actually do with HexOS. However, you have hit on two points that are hard to argue with. Why are we paying up to $200 to test this application? And TrueNAS what? As for the paying to test question, I guess I am starting to do the same (well kind of) as you because I have set it aside to wait for go live. Plex and Immich are the only current curated apps I would ever use and until the serious discussions on how to secure the NAS start my machine is just a giant backup drive. And as for the current absolute requirement to use TrueNAS to do ALMOST anything including troubleshooting curated app failures. Well, if I am going to have to hire TrueNAS support to properly setup all non curated and some curated apps, I'm probably better off buying beer for my current Unraid support buddy. Like many others, I saw the LTT video and thought "Holly crap, someone finally built a system I can manage myself. I got in at the Black Friday price so HexOS on a mostly recycles server is still cheaper that a Synology or Ugreen prebuilt server. Storage seems to be the biggest cost but I have to pay that either way. I'm sure I will keep checking in and looking at the officially curated apps to see if anything looks interesting but unless there is a solid security option, it's all pretty irrelevant to me. My problem is that if I had to pay $299 what would I need to pull the trigger? That may be a tough uphill struggle for Eshtek if they want to attract people who are not at least serviceable in TrueNAS. So instead of looking at an the app we have today and deciding what it must be going to look like in 1, 2 and 5 years, we can wait and see what 1.0 looks like. I doubt though it will ever just be point and click.