Recently I bought a Synology DS216j to replace my Synology DS214se. The DS214se is a good entry-level NAS for personal use, but it was struggling to keep up with my 3 HD IP-cameras as well as acting as a Mail Server, mainly because of the single-core CPU. Since I didn’t want to lose my data, I had to perform a migration from the DS214se to the DS216j in order to retain the data. A quick Google search lead me into this Synology knowledge base article: https://www.synology.com/en-us/knowledgebase/DSM/tutorial/General/How_to_migrate_between_Synology_NAS_DSM_5_0_and_later

The title of the knowledge article above says that it’s intended for Synology NAS running DSM 5.0 and later. At the point of writing, DSM 6.1 is the latest available DSM version, so I had a suspicion that the knowledge base article might be out of date. Because my NAS models were not identical to each other, I had to follow section 2.2. of the article linked above; Migrating between different Synology NAS models. After doing so, I can confirm that my suspicions were right; the knowledge base article is out of date, the migration process between two Synology NAS just got easier!

Here’s a small writeup about what has changed in migrating between Synology NAS between DSM 5.0 and DSM 6.0:

Section 2.2. Migrating between different Synology NAS models starts with a word of caution, telling you that all packages on the target Synology NAS (i.e. your new NAS) will have to be reinstalled, which results into in losing the following data (…) Mail Server and Mail Station settings & Surveillance Station settings. This was applicable to my Synology NAS, as I had these packages installed and were actively used. However, after performing the migration to my new NAS as described in Section 2.2. (which basically comes down to update your old NAS to the latest DSM, switch it off, swap the drives to the new NAS and turn it on) my new Synology said the packages had to be repaired instead of being reinstalled. After clicking the repair button, all my packages came back to life on the new NAS, without any data loss; all my settings and files, including from Mail Server, Mail Station and Surveillance Station (emails as well as recordings), were still there! Needless to say, it’s still good practice to backup you data before performing the migration, as described in section 1 of the knowledge base article linked above.

However, what did change was the IP address of my NAS. I assumed that my new NAS would be using the same IP as my old NAS, as Synology instructs you to turn off your old NAS before powering up your new NAS, but that was not the case. So after the migration, use the Synology finder to find the new IP of your NAS and change it to your old IP after the migration, which can be in the Control Panel à Network.

Also, lastly, I had to re-register my DDNS hostname by re-logging into my Synology account, which can be done in the Control Panel à External Access.

That’s all folks!

PS. Should you have bought any additional Surveillance Station license keys in the past, don’t forget them down and to deactivate them on your old NAS before the migration, since the license keys can only be active on one Synology product at a time. Also, as an FYI, each license key can only be migrated just once.