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My TS-451 dies unexpectedly. Can't access BIOS so I think LPC problem. I could do the resistor fix but even if that worked no telling how long it would keep working so looking at replacing it. Use case is to store movies, home video, ebooks, audio books, lectures, etc. Only for my family access so 0-4 users (mostly just me) for plex. Also stores personal files for family members too large for OneDrive. I used your NAS Builder tool and one of the options it shows is the TS-453E. Looks good to me. Can I just insert my existing drives into it? I know from the QNAP website that I could migrate but from what if my old TS-451 is dead?
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Thanks for the detailed message — and sorry to hear about your TS-451. Sadly, the LPC issue you mentioned is a known weak point on some older QNAP models, and even with the resistor fix, long-term stability is a gamble at best.
The TS-453E is a very solid upgrade. It has a much more capable Intel processor, 8GB RAM by default, and it’s fanless and compact — perfect for Plex and light family backup without going over budget. Since your usage is under 4 users and you’re storing around 25–30TB, it’s a great fit.
As for drive migration — yes, QNAP supports direct system migration from one NAS to another as long as both units use the same file system (typically ext4) and you were using a supported RAID config (RAID 1, 5, etc.).
In your case, even though the TS-451 is dead, you can still:
• Power down the TS-453E
• Insert the drives in the same order as they were in the TS-451
• Boot the new NAS
• The system should detect the drives and prompt you to “import” or “recover” the existing volume
It’s not 100% guaranteed if the old system was mid-failure, but it works in most cases where the drives are healthy and the original volume wasn’t corrupted.
A few tips:
• Don’t initialize or format the drives when prompted — always choose the migrate/import option
• Have backups if you can, or clone the drives before attempting if the data is absolutely critical
