Accessing TerraMaster volumes after UnRaid install

[Enquiries]

Just completed installing Unraid (USB flash drive, and have activated 30 day trial key. So far, so good. Thanks for the guide. How do I safely access my hard drives and the media files on them? A bit scared of wiping things. Thanks.

[ed]

Good to hear the Unraid setup went smoothly — that’s the hardest part done. When it comes to accessing your existing TerraMaster (TOS) volumes, you’ll need to be careful before mounting anything directly in Unraid, since its array setup process can overwrite drives if added incorrectly.

Here’s what to do:
1. Do not add your old TerraMaster drives to the Unraid array yet.
When Unraid formats or adds a disk to its array or parity system, it wipes the contents.
2. Access the old drives safely using the Unassigned Devices plugin.
• In Unraid, open the Apps tab (Community Applications) and install Unassigned Devices.
• This allows you to connect and mount drives outside of the main array in read-only mode if needed.
• Once installed, plug in your old TOS drives one by one, and go to the Main tab. You should see them listed under “Unassigned Devices.”
3. Check file system type.
TerraMaster TOS typically uses EXT4 or Btrfs, both of which can be read by Unraid via the Unassigned Devices plugin. If it shows as mountable, click Mount (Read Only) to explore files safely via /mnt/disks/.
4. Copy your media to a new share.
Once confirmed the drives mount and files are visible, create new Unraid shares and copy data across (either through SMB or Midnight Commander in the Unraid terminal using mc).
5. Only after copying everything should you add the drives to the Unraid array and format them for parity use.

In short, Unraid can read the old drives just fine, but don’t assign them to the array or cache pool until all data has been backed up or moved.