Hi everyone,

I’m planning to migrate my Unraid setup from an older server to a new 45Homelab X15, and I’d like to ask for advice on the best way to do it safely.

My current server runs Unraid from a USB boot device, while the X15 already has Unraid 7.3 installed on its internal boot drive. I’m moving over my ZFS pools as well:

• 6 HDDs in one pool

• 2 NVMe drives in another pool

I’d like to keep my Docker containers, VMs, user scripts, shares, and settings as intact as possible.

What would be the recommended migration path in this situation? Should I restore my old config, copy only specific parts of it, or start fresh and reconfigure everything manually?

Any advice from people who have migrated to new hardware or to internal-boot Unraid would be really appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

If you move the storage over, you can boot from the flash drive and recreate the boot pool with the current config, just make sure you save or have access to the X15 key before doing it, and then reinstall it.

On 5/28/2026 at 2:55 AM, JorgeB said:

If you move the storage over, you can boot from the flash drive and recreate the boot pool with the current config, just make sure you save or have access to the X15 key before doing it, and then reinstall it.

Thank for your help.

I received this procedure on a other forum, very helpful.

Step-by-Step Migration Approach

1. Prepare and License the New X15 First

Before moving any physical drives or data, boot up the new X15. Ensure that Unraid 7.3 is running correctly on the internal boot drive and that its new license is successfully registered and active.

2. Backup the Old Configuration

On the old server, stop the array. Take the USB drive out, plug it into a separate computer, and copy the entire config folder to your desktop. This is the master backup.

3. Copy the Config (With Exceptions)

You will need to transfer the contents of your old config folder to the /config directory on the X15’s internal boot drive. However, you must exclude the following files from the transfer:

• The Old License File (.key file): Do not copy your old USB license key over to the new system. The X15 already has its own license tied to its internal hardware. Overwriting this will cause an immediate license mismatch error.

• Network Configurations (network.cfg and network-rules.cfg): These files contain the MAC addresses of the old server’s network interface cards (NICs). Because the X15 has completely different networking hardware, copying these files will likely break your network access. Let the new X15 generate its own network files, and then you can manually reassign your static IP if necessary.

4. Move the Physical Drives

Once the cleaned-up config files are copied to the X15’s boot drive, power everything down. Physically move the 6 HDDs and the 2 NVMe drives into the X15.

5. Boot and Verify

Boot the X15. Because ZFS stores its pool metadata directly on the disks, Unraid will read the newly transferred configuration and automatically recognize your ZFS pools.

• Crucial Step: Do not start the array immediately. Go to the “Main” tab and double-check that every drive is assigned to the exact same slot/pool it was in previously.

• Once you verify the assignments are correct, start the array.

Because all of your Docker application data (appdata) and VM domains live on those ZFS pools, and your /config folder is providing the exact same share paths and templates, your containers and VMs should light up perfectly as if nothing ever changed.