One of the cornerstones of TrueNAS is how your data can be managed and manipulated. We believe that your data belongs to you, free from proprietary systems and vendor lock-in – part of our promise to what we call True Data Freedom.

While vendor lock-in can be deliberate and calculated on the part of the vendor, feeling locked-in to a storage ecosystem can often have more to do with simply fearing the time, effort, and pain of migrating the data to another vendor’s product, only to risk being stranded again in yet another different vendor’s ecosystem. While most vendors often provide tools to migrate to another one of their own products, they never make it simple to move to another vendor’s product.

To combat this, TrueNAS 23.10 introduced the Enterprise File Sync feature with Syncthing to enhance data mobility and simplify data migrations both onto – and off of – TrueNAS systems. TrueNAS 24.04 refined that feature set, and now TrueNAS 24.10 is poised to enhance it even further with the inclusion of SMB Alternate Data Stream (ADS) import. With the inclusion of SMB ADS migration, it will be easier than ever to migrate from a third-party NAS solution onto TrueNAS, or if you so please, off of TrueNAS onto something else.

With TrueNAS, the only way we want to lock you in is by providing an experience so good you don’t want to leave. And, if we can’t provide that, we provide the tools to help you do so.

What are Alternate Data Streams?

Have you ever downloaded a program or document from the internet, and received a warning message from your operating system that the file or some component was blocked because it was “untrusted” or “unsafe”?

This so-called “Mark of the Web” comes from the presence of an SMB Alternate Data Stream, in this case a flag attached to the file called “Zone.Identifier” that indicates the original URL of the file.

The Mark of the Web is just one of many Alternate Data Streams; with other applications choosing to store application data or metadata – ranging from simple timestamps to answer “when was this file last opened?” or more complex organization features such as MacOS file colors and tagging.

While TrueNAS has supported Alternate Data Streams when serving SMB shares for some time, Electric Eel now allows for the migration of these crucial pieces of metadata when importing data from third-party NAS solutions.

Migrate Data Easily From Any Compatible Third-Party NAS Solution

Using the Syncthing Enterprise application, TrueNAS 24.10 will have the ability to connect to a remote SMBv3 server directly from your TrueNAS installation. No plugin or service installation will be required on the source NAS server. A common identity service (such as Active Directory) must be used in order to synchronize security information and descriptors. If the two systems cannot use the same identity service, permissions will need to be updated after the migration. More information can be found on the TrueNAS Docs site under Third-Party Data Migration, and TrueNAS Enterprise customers with a valid support agreement can contact iXsystems for direct assistance.

Using two copies of Syncthing Enterprise, TrueNAS can ensure that file consistency is maintained during the migration process, while keeping the source data available for use. Any changes made on the third-party system are automatically reflected on TrueNAS. No more manually running scripts or batch jobs, no more “pivot” systems in the middle of the data flow – simply enjoy the power and simplicity of TrueNAS and Syncthing working together.

Learn More

As we draw closer to the full release of TrueNAS 24.10, stay tuned for additional updates on new features and functionality that will arrive later this year. If you’re just starting out with your journey, you can download the current version of TrueNAS SCALE, and upgrade to 24.10 later this year.

For supported, Enterprise-ready solutions, check out our full line of TrueNAS systems, from the energy-efficient, highly-available H-series edge system to the performance flagship all-NVMe F-series. For help selecting and right-sizing the systems for your particular need, contact us directly to arrange a chat with one of our experts to learn more about how TrueNAS can help your organization.