Migration from TrueNas Scale to HexOS

[Ryan_Haki]

Hi there,

I am currently using TrueNas Scale an I want a more simple UI but with all the Features, so HexOS  is perfekt! I also looked into CasaOS but it hasnt enough Features (e.g. mirroring Drives). But i wonder If it's possible to migrate the Pool and maybe even the settings easily to HexOS? I have one SSD in which TrueNas is on, two 3tb HDD drives which are mirrored and a single 6tb HDD. I guess the settings are on the OS Drive and cannot be transfered (?)

But the Pools stay the same or do I have to reformat all the Drives during HexOS-installation? Cause i want to keep my Files 😅

Is there a way or do I need to save the Files somewhere and Put them Back in the system wen it's installed?

[jzito]

I am wondering this too. I saw a thread on reddit saying that the ability to upgrade will come after full release but that does seem annoying that it isnt a part of the initial set of features. Hoping that there is some official answer here.

I imagine a lot of people like me would like to upgrade for the easy UI but don't want the hassle of migrating. I mean avoiding the hassle is basically why I bought it.

[Mawson]

Pool and whole server migration/adoption is something that is not supported right now, but that the team will be looking into in the future. They haven't promised the features though to my knowledge.

I expect pool adoption should be possible reasonably easily, server adoption though might be tougher. Either way those features are not likely to be included before 1.0

I'm not on the dev team though so don't take my thoughts as gospel truth. I'm just making a decently informed guess based on what I know of how TrueNAS and HexOS work lol

[elephant]

For people who visit this in the future, the hex team already answered this question on LTT forum. https://linustechtips.com/topic/1578373-install-hexos-over-an-existing-truenas-installation/?do=findComment&comment=16488046

[valek879]

1 hour ago, elephant said:

For people who visit this in the future, the hex team already answered this question on LTT forum. https://linustechtips.com/topic/1578373-install-hexos-over-an-existing-truenas-installation/?do=findComment&comment=16488046

Yeah that answer makes me extremely disappointed with my purchase.

Basically they think that I know what the hell I'm doing if I managed to follow walkthroughs that got jellyfin to work. I have no clue what I am doing. I don't know why but I can no longer add apps, I try to do docker stuff and it all gets fucky and wonky. I want to use my server more flexibly but I feel stuck with an admittedly awesome media server, but nothing else. Would this change with HexOS? I don't rightfully know but I was just looking at Unraid again and wished that I had just used that from the get go. Their answer, you already did the hard part, is just so lackluster. I don't understand what I did, what I broke, how to do anything more (like access my jellyfin server remotely without exposing it to the web at large), and I just want something easier and more beginner friendly or learning friendly. That is what I believed HexOS was. Guess I am wrong.

[Mobius]

4 hours ago, elephant said:

For people who visit this in the future, the hex team already answered this question on LTT forum. https://linustechtips.com/topic/1578373-install-hexos-over-an-existing-truenas-installation/?do=findComment&comment=16488046

this is a very dated answer and the team has since change their stance on this.
They realized that there are a lot more people that want to migrate from truenas to HexOS than they anticipated and plan to add migration in the future

[Josaft]

On 3/5/2025 at 4:10 AM, Mobius said:

this is a very dated answer and the team has since change their stance on this.
They realized that there are a lot more people that want to migrate from truenas to HexOS than they anticipated and plan to add migration in the future

Are there any news on this? Just wondering because I had trouble installing HexOS a while ago, couldn't get through the Setup and installed regular TrueNAS Scale. Now I have two licenses sitting idle instead of one (Buddy Backup ^^). TrueNAS Scale works and it is no pressing matter at all. Just curious if there any updates to the migration? To access the HexOS extra features.

[Mobius]

6 hours ago, Josaft said:

Are there any news on this? Just wondering because I had trouble installing HexOS a while ago, couldn't get through the Setup and installed regular TrueNAS Scale. Now I have two licenses sitting idle instead of one (Buddy Backup ^^). TrueNAS Scale works and it is no pressing matter at all. Just curious if there any updates to the migration? To access the HexOS extra features.

hmm its not something i've looked into for a while
let me check with someone else.

[Mobius]

On 10/20/2025 at 11:26 AM, Josaft said:

Are there any news on this? Just wondering because I had trouble installing HexOS a while ago, couldn't get through the Setup and installed regular TrueNAS Scale. Now I have two licenses sitting idle instead of one (Buddy Backup ^^). TrueNAS Scale works and it is no pressing matter at all. Just curious if there any updates to the migration? To access the HexOS extra features.

 

2 hours ago, jonp said:

Posted this comment on reddit earlier:

This will probably end up easier to support than previously thought, but implementation still has to be delayed until after we have core features delivered. That said, I can share a rough draft of how it will work. 

Our ISO is practically identical to TrueNAS itself. The only key difference is in the installer itself (slightly modified for simplicity) and the fact that upon first boot, the system reaches out to the Command Deck automatically for discovery and claiming. Because of that, adopting an existing SCALE system is more about ensuring compatibility with our platform than the underlying distribution. In theory, if you are running the same underlying version of TrueNAS as HexOS (currently Electric Eel 24.10), there is a path to adopt the system with HexOS. First, you need to backup your existing TrueNAS configuration (in the TrueNAS UI, go to system>general settings and in the top right click manage configuration and download file). This file should be stored on your PC. Next, reinstall HexOS over your TrueNAS setup. Login to the truenas UI and go to the same settings>general settings page and now upload that file to restore your settings. All of your pools and other OS configurations should be restored. Now you should be able to login to the command deck and claim your system via HexOS and when it gets to Storage Configuration, just click skip and your existing pools will be preserved. 

Caveats: do not do this if you are already running a newer version of TrueNAS than we support. If your pools are configured in a way we don't yet support (draid, raidz2/3, L2ARC, metadata drives, SLOG, etc), those won't display correctly in our UI. And also, we have done zero testing on this yet so it is "swim at your own risk". 

That said, if you run into problems, you can always reload the previous TrueNAS installation and load your configuration file. That's the beauty of TrueNAS!