/ / / TrueNAS CORE vs TrueNAS SCALE

*** TrueNAS CORE is EOL ***

TrueNAS SCALE is currently still available as a download, but will probably be replaced by the TrueNAS COMMUNITY EDITION in the long term.

As of: Spring 2025

TrueNAS CORE vs TrueNAS SCALE

Zu den Unterschieden und Stärken der beiden TrueNAS Hauptversionen sowie der Migrationsoption.

TrueNAS, the open source NAS operating system for storing, backing up and managing data, is available in three main versions: TrueNAS CORE, TrueNAS SCALE and TrueNAS ENTERPRISE.

TrueNAS CORE and TrueNAS SCALE are open source and free to use. TrueNAS CORE is based on FreeBSD and offers classic NAS functions. TrueNAS SCALE, on the other hand, is based on Debian Linux and is characterized by advanced features such as integrated virtualization using KVM and support for Linux containers.

This modern architecture enables greater flexibility and scalability, making TrueNAS SCALE particularly suitable for current and future requirements.

Vergleich von TrueNAS CORE und TrueNAS SCALE
Functionality TrueNAS CORE TrueNAS SCALE
Operating system basis FreeBSD Debian Linux
File system ZFS (OpenZFS) ZFS (OpenZFS)
Supported hardware FreeBSD compatible third-party hardware Debian compatible third-party hardware
Enclosure management IPMI Remote Management IPMI Remote Management
Deployment services Self / Starline Self / Starline
Network protocols SMB, AFP, NFS, iSCSI, WebDAV SMB, AFP, NFS, iSCSI, WebDAV, S3
Object protocols / S3-kompatible API, Minio-Clustering, Multitenancy, Cloud Sync
Virtualization containers Jails (BSD-based),limited Docker support via plugins Built-in KVM, Docker
Storage pool management Extensive ZFS options, snapshots Extensive ZFS options, snapshots
Community support TrueNAS CORE Forum TrueNAS SCALE Forum
Support In-house In-house
Use cases Traditional NAS, media server, backup NAS with containerization, virtualization and scale-out for applications

How to upgrade TrueNAS CORE to TrueNAS SCALE

Please note: Migration from TrueNAS CORE to TrueNAS SCALE is a non-reversible process.

Update your CORE system to the latest publicly available version before attempting to migrate from CORE to SCALE. See Software Releases for the current recommended update paths.

 

  1. In the TrueNAS GUI, click System / Update
  2. Select TrueNAS-13.0-STABLE
TrueNAS Screen Update Scale

3. follow the instructions on the screen.

You can find further help on migration in the Documentation Hub. 

TrueNAS Screen Update Scale2

Further TrueNAS topics

Any questions?

Our open source team will be happy to help!

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Enterprise Storage Solutions Team
Technik

Our experts are of course also experts in Linux, Ceph and ZFS