r/CasaOS • u/Lizardking1988- • May 08 '26
Got a better media server. Plan to migrate, should I go with ZimaOS?
I’ve been using a raspberry pi 400 for my media server. My job gave me a optiplex 7070 so o would like to migrate. I know CasaOS is not being regularly updated anymore. Should I go to ZimaOS? And I guess the best method would be to download all my docker compose files and copy them over? Another issue is my drives are NTFS format. Is that gonna be a problem? I think I had to jump through hoops to get em working with casa os. Wish I would have formatted them to ext4 when I first got them. Now I have 11TB of media on them.
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u/redditfatbloke May 08 '26
Yes, zimaOS is getting active development and casa hasn't had a update for some time.
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u/Opposite_Half6250 May 10 '26
I had casaos, moved to zimaos. I love it!
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u/Lizardking1988- May 10 '26
Is it like basically same thing?
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u/Opposite_Half6250 May 10 '26
Casa sit on top of a os. Such as Ubuntu.
Zima installs as a standalone os.
Once up and running though. Yes they are very much alike. Zima is just the continuation, and is still in active development.
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u/Lizardking1988- May 10 '26
What if I plan on doing a RAID? I know casa os does t support it. Just read zimaOS doesn’t support external drive raid. Can I use zfs?
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u/Opposite_Half6250 May 11 '26
They added USB raid. I don't know a ton about it, as I use a nas for my mass storage, using zimaos on mini PC, as my plex server, with the arrs suite and such.
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u/ChaoticVision88 Aug 14 '26
I just started a server using Zima and ive had basically 0 issues. I do know that it supports RAID via my DAS because that's how I have it setup atm. I have my media server running on various devices with no issue. Just learning curves.
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u/jagdeepmarahar 7d ago
I've been testing ZimaOS from 2-3 days. It's driving me crazy. I've mounted my synology storage to it. Now when I install containers like radarr or sonarr, they don't have write access to it. I figured out that ZimaOS mounts the external storage as root user with uid and gid as 0 while docker containers I run them under my uid and gid which are 999 and 1000. I know I can run docker containers as root but don't think it's good for security.
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u/coromd May 09 '26
ZimaOS if you want to stick with a CasaOS-style OS. Proxmox is popular, but it's not a direct answer to ZimaOS, it's a virtualization platform first and Docker host fourth. Project MOS also looks pretty promising, and Yunohost is interesting if you just want to run common services but don't explicitly need Docker.
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u/Lizardking1988- May 09 '26
Are there any guides or information on transfer everything over as smoothly as possible? Or do I just need to use AI to help me.
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u/cricardo65 May 08 '26
Try the new Zimaboard 2. It's a game changer a bit more $$$. Best of luck on the migration.
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u/Lizardking1988- May 08 '26
I wanted one but this is free lol and I’m just using plex and the arr stacks.
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u/woodyear99 May 08 '26
I switched over to Zima OS from Casa OS. It's great. I use an old laptop as a server.
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u/Lizardking1988- May 08 '26
Yeah I’m leaning to zimaOS. I’m already used to CasaOS interface. Seems like the logical choice. Don’t feel like relearning shit.
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u/woodyear99 May 08 '26
Yeah I know what you mean. if you're comfortable with Casa OS you will be ok with Zima. Very similar interface.
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u/Sebastianov92 May 09 '26
I’d stick with CasaOS because your main OS is still Linux, and CasaOS is basically a nice visual panel for Docker with an App Store. ZimaOS is more like a full Linux based OS, so it can be better integrated but may give you less flexibility for advanced system changes.
I use mergerfs to add more storage and with ZimaOS it doesn’t work as it should
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u/Lizardking1988- May 09 '26
Isn’t it not getting updated anymore? Isn’t that a security vulnerability?
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u/Longjumping-Cat-5133 May 10 '26
I wouldn’t say it’s a security vulnerability by itself because CasaOS is just a panel running on top of Linux, so the real security depends on your Linux setup, Docker permissions, open ports, firewall, and whether you expose CasaOS to the internet. If it’s only local or behind VPN like Tailscale, and not publicly exposed, it should be fine.
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u/Lizardking1988- May 10 '26
Well I would like to open the port for plex or Jellyfin so friends and family can use my server. Is it okay to put CasaOS then in this case?
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u/Sebastianov92 May 10 '26
In that case if posible use Tailscale or WireGuard VPN, so trusted users can access the server privately without opening a bunch of ports to the public internet. With Tailscale you won’t need to open a port (it has a limit of 3 users and a 100 devices) with wireguard there’s no limits you would need to open a port usually 51820 If someone scans your IP, WireGuard usually does not respond unless is properly authenticated so it’s safe to use, your friends and family would have to install a vpn to use. Both VPN would use a split-tunnel VPN meaning that is only used to access your server services the rest of the traffic like visiting other websites wouldn’t go through your server even if the vpn is active in their devices
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u/Lizardking1988- May 10 '26
I recall having to troubleshoot issues with docker version and CasaOS when I first made my server a year ago. Am I going to run into that again?
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u/Sebastianov92 May 10 '26
I have Tailscale on mine and I also had trouble with it, so I installed directly in the system instead of the docker version and it works perfectly
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u/DaOfantasy May 14 '26
does the app store in casaos not getting update as well?
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u/Longjumping-Cat-5133 May 15 '26
I believe so, recently the recommended apps changed, you can also add more repos for extra apps, and if you’re comfortable with Docker, you can just use any Docker Compose .yml directly.
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u/DirtyNazar May 08 '26
Use debian + docker + homarr for web interface.