install story

Hello.

Preface.
I've downloaded and installed Open-E DSS v6 trial version. Installation
was completed successfully and I was very glad. WebUI's usability is
also very high, so primary settings was set during some hours.
Excellent! Then I started data copying. Copying of ~300 Gb data over the
network took about 15 hours. Well, when I came to my workplace next day,
everything was done. Next step was creating users, groups, access
permissions and everything else that a usual administrator does in his
miserable life. I've spent for it about three hours. At the end I felt
to be God after creating of a human.

The Phantom Menace.
Well, the trial version is so trial. I was about buying full version of
DSS with no time limits. I've opened my browser, I've typed
http://open-e.com in address bar.
>"In order to evaluate free product, licensed for 2TB of storage simply
register and download at our portal and get up to 10 versions at a time!"
Sounds cool! My RAID is exactly 2TB, hence free version is enough for my
requirements! Downloading, installation, booting up...

ZOMG TEH DRAMA!!!11111
When the updated system was booted up, all the settings and file system
was destroyed. OH SHI~!!111 Two work-days are wasted. More over, since
the OS is closed there is no way to access file system from another *nix
OS. Well, I don't know how your OS is built, but I'm sure that there is
a way to upgrade the system without total annihilation of file system
and settings.

Questions.
1. Does every update destroys everything on hard drives?
2. Is there a way to mount your file system from any *nix OS?
3. Now my system is activated, is it possible that activation will
expire? In this case will data saved and how long is downtime?
4. Is it possible to migrate from DSS to another *nix system, e.g.
OpenFiler?

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Thanking in Advance,
Jean.