Is is necessary to upgrade?

[Alice]

I have NAS4Free version 9.3.0.2 which has been working without any problems.
I can see that this version is no longer available to download.
Is it really necessary to upgrade to ARM versions?

[crowi]

The 9.3. has reached end of live the current version is 10.3.xx so, yes for safety measures you should upgrade sooner or later.

Is it really necessary to upgrade to ARM versions?

It depends on your system, if you have an ARM platform (Raspberry Pi, Banana Pi, etc), yes

[Alice]

Thank you, I don't have an ARM platform. But I will upgrade if you think it is better for
safety measures.
I have one or two questions. I prefer to do full install on HDD. Do I install from scratch or
upgrade from 9.3.02? Also, If I du full install from scratch, I am confused which option I
should go for - there are two options for full install on HDD with GPT or MBR? I can't
find a satisfactory explanation or documentation for this issue?

[crowi]

Why do you need the full?
Please read here:
http://wiki.nas4free.org/doku.php?id=faq:0073

[armandh]

I am running old ver. on 2 of 3
the newer replaced older hardware that was retired.
if either of the older two breaks I will upgrade then.
unless there is a specific need I prefer later to sooner.
much like a bios upgrade.

I am sure that there are all sorts of reasons why I should do it sooner
but it is working just fine, and I left a DVD inside the box just in case.

that said;
the different types within the ver are hardware related.
is there some specific reason you need the full install?
+1 http://wiki.nas4free.org/doku.php?id=faq:0073 !

every thing fails sooner or later. for me it is the spinning stuff,
most often fans and disks, so I spin down the disks, when not in use

[Alice]

Thank you both for your replies. As for full install, I always used
this approach which served me well - unlike the embedded one.
In any case, I am running 3 out of 3. They are all working fine.
I use two of them for file sharing. The third one is for backups.
I intend to upgrade the third one to see how it will perform, leaving
the other two as they are for now. I would very much like to know
how I should do the upgrade: should I just go for upgrade
or do the installation from scratch?
The other question I have is this: we have a choice of doing the install
with OS/GPT or OS/MBR. I can't find any explanation which one to go
for and why.
Looking forward to hearing from you.

[crowi]

MBR / GPT explained e.g. here
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/233 ... difference

Read the relaese note:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/nas4fr ... .0.3.2964/
"Upgrading NAS4Free "Embedded" or "Full" from any version below 9.3.0.2.1310 by webgui or from LiveCD/USB is problematic, due a new size of boot partition & partition layout. Please download and save your NAS4Free config and backup all files from second partition if you do use the boot disk as your data disk too. INSTALL FROM SCRATCH IS THAN THE ONLY WAY!"

If you have 9.3.0.2.1310 or higher you can upgrade if you have lower you need to install freshly

[Alice]

Sorry for the late reply. I have now successfully upgraded from 9.3.0.2 (1681) to 10.3.0.3 (3105).
Everything looks fine to me.
Just one more question: I backed up the configuration file before the upgrade. Do I have
to restore it - or does the upgrade update the configuration file automatically?

Thank you.

[kenZ71]

If your settings - shares, users, etc are still the defaults then yes a config restore might be needed

[Alice]

Thanks - my shares and users are the same as I set them
up before the upgrade - so that means I won't have to do a config restore
if this is what it is for, ie. restoring users and shares if they get lost?