Trouble migrating app datasets to a new pool (confused between datasets and folders)

TrueNAS General
1

Hi everyone,

I’m running TrueNAS SCALE with three pools:

  • One for system (boot),
  • One for application data (pool_apps),
  • And one for user data.

The SSD I used for apps was a Verbatim (I know… big mistake trying to save money), and it’s now degraded. I’ve already installed a new Samsung 870 EVO and created a new pool.

Here’s where I’m stuck:

I’m trying to migrate all app-related datasets from the old pool to the new one. I used a replication task, but it didn’t recreate the full structure of nested child datasets (which is required by apps like Immich). It seems to just create folders, not actual datasets.

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Also, I’m unsure if replication transfers the container configurations for the apps. When I try to “Restore Replication Task”, it creates some folders but doesn’t bring over the original dataset structure, so apps don’t recognize the data.

At this point, I feel completely lost and I think I’m confusing folders with datasets. Do I need to manually recreate all the same datasets in the new pool and then copy the data?

Is there a simpler way to clone a dataset recursively and move it to a new pool, keeping its structure and all sub-datasets intact?

Thanks a lot for any help. I’m not even sure I’m approaching the problem the right way.

2

Hi everyone,

Just closing the loop on this — I ended up doing a clean reinstall of all applications instead of trying to restore them automatically.

  • The old SSD (pool_apps) for apps degraded. I created a new pool (pool_app) on a Samsung 870 EVO.
  • I used ZFS send/recv to copy the foto_app dataset (where Immich stores photos, thumbnails, etc.):

sudo zfs send -R pool_apps/foto_app@snapshot_name | sudo zfs recv -F pool_app/foto_app


 This preserved the full dataset structure (including child datasets like `video`, `upload`, etc.).

* For each app (Zigbee2MQTT, Home Assistant, Syncthing, etc.), I:
  * **Did a clean reinstall** using the catalog.
  * **Copied back their configuration directories** from the old pool using `rsync`.
  * **Adjusted ownership with `chown`**,  `568:568`.

Example for Zigbee2MQTT: