The long-awaited NAS operating system TOS 5.0 for NAS systems from TerraMaster, which was previously available in public beta, has now been released in its final version. The new operating system version shouldn't just be an iteration, but TerraMaster speaks full-bodiedly of a revolution.
Lots of new features and improvements
TerraMaster estimates the changes in TOS 5.0 to be over 50 new functions and more than 600 improvements that have been incorporated over the course of development. More than 300,000 lines of code came together for TOS 5. The memory structure and the data interaction mode were changed, and TerraMaster also promises a significantly improved reaction speed, security and user-friendliness. The web interface should react three times faster than before under TOS 4 and be better structured and easier to use.
Also new is the log center, which is intended to collect comprehensive system and service logs for system administrators, so that the status of the system and services can be viewed more easily and anomalies can be diagnosed and corrected more quickly.
In addition to one-time passwords (OTP) for 2FA, which can be generated via the new TNAS mobile app in version 5, the new version also offers faster RAID repairs and the option of encrypting USB drives. In addition, TerraMaster has expanded the backup options and with RAID, TerraMaster brings flexible array configurations, online migration and expansion, and redundancy strategies with increased storage space. File deduplication to reduce disk space is also supported with TOS 5.
TerraMaster TOS 5.0 Update requires reset
However, the switch from TOS 4 to TOS 5 is not as easy as hoped, because a simple update via the TOS 4 web interface is not possible. Instead, the user of the TerraMaster NAS must first reset the system to factory settings in order to then reconfigure it and select the TOS 5 update file provided by TerraMaster during setup. If the file is not selected manually, TOS 4 will be installed again on reset.
The data on the drives is not necessarily lost during a reset, but we strongly recommend backing up all data externally beforehand in order to be able to restore it after the update if necessary.
TOS 5.0 is only available for NAS systems with x86 architecture from the 220, 221, 420, 421, 422 and 423 series. To enable an update without data loss, at least TOS 4.2.32 must be installed.
ComputerBase has already installed TOS 5.0 on a first NAS from TerraMaster, the reset and reinstallation described above worked without any problems. After the update, the user is greeted by a security advisor who points out any vulnerabilities that should be closed by the user during further configuration.
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TerraMaster TOS 5.0
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TerraMaster TOS 5.0 
Security Advisor in TerraMaster TOS 5.0 figure>
To what extent the new system affects the speed of data transmission, ComputerBase will shortly examine in more detail. The web interface, which looks very similar to the predecessor, actually reacts much faster than before in a first test. It remains to be tested whether problems have been fixed that sometimes prevented, for example, the creation of a new shared folder with the same name as a previously deleted folder.
One Instructions and download links for TOS 5.0 and the updated programs can be found directly at TerraMaster.