Can I downgrade QuTS hero from h5.3 (or later) to h5.2 (or earlier)?
Last modified date:
2025-06-26
Applicable Products
- QuTS hero h5.3.0 or later
- High Availability Manager
Details
Starting from version h5.3.0, QuTS hero supports high availability (HA) through the application High Availability Manager. HA relies on a new system architecture and core components that were introduced in version h5.3.0.
The ability to downgrade to h5.2.x or earlier and the associated risks depend on whether your NAS is in an HA environment.
HA Environments
When your NAS is in an HA cluster, downgrading to h5.2.x or earlier is strictly prohibited. To ensure cluster stability and data safety, the system will block any attempts to downgrade to h5.2.x or earlier.
Non-HA Environments
When HA is disabled, while you can technically downgrade to h5.2.x or earlier, we highly discourage doing so, because you risk the following situations:
- Incompatible storage structure
Storage structures created or modified in h5.3.0 or later may be incompatible in h5.2.x or earlier, potentially leading to data inaccessibility. - Lost or unsupported settings
System configurations (such as network, applications, or user permissions) created or modified in h5.3.0 or later may be lost or unsupported after downgrading to h5.2.x or earlier.
Important
- If you downgrade from h5.3.0 or later and then upgrade back to h5.3.0 or later, any settings configured during the downgraded period will not be retained.
- If you wish to preserve any settings configured during the downgraded period, you must first reinitialize the system before you configure the settings.
For example, after downgrading from h5.3.0 to h5.2.4, first reinitialize the system, then (re)configure desired settings, and then upgrade to h5.3.0 again.
- If you wish to preserve any settings configured during the downgraded period, you must first reinitialize the system before you configure the settings.
- If you have already downgraded your firmware and encountered any missing settings or abnormal behavior, please contact QNAP technical support for assistance.
