The Most Affordable NAS Solution: Maopan + Black Synology Setup Guide

Maopan was established in 2017, focusing on providing intelligent storage products and services for individuals, families, and small businesses. Simply put, it is a private network storage service. However, many people used Maopan for cryptocurrency mining. After the mining crash, a large number of second-hand Maopan devices flooded the market. Xiaoz recently learned about Maopan and bought one on Xianyu to tinker with.

About Purchasing

Currently, the official website only sells the Maopan Plus, priced at 399 yuan. The official website address is: http://www.maopan.io/index.html

However, I feel it is unnecessary to buy from the official website. You can search on Xianyu yourself. When Xiaoz purchased one from Xianyu, the price was 100 yuan. It was the standard version, without a hard drive or packaging box. The condition looked a bit old, but it was fully functional.

About the Hard Drive

Most Maopan devices sold on Xianyu have had their hard drives removed, so you will receive it without a hard drive. You need to prepare a 2.5-inch SATA hard drive yourself. If you don't have one, you can buy a second-hand hard drive on Xianyu; generally, a 512GB hard drive can be bought for around 60 yuan, or you can use a hard drive removed from a laptop.

With a second-hand Maopan and a second-hand hard drive, the total cost is less than 200 yuan, and you can start tinkering.

Firmware Selection

Currently, the available firmwares for Maopan are: Official Original, X3P (Onespace), and Black Synology. I personally recommend flashing X3P or Black Synology.

Flashing X3P

The first step upon receiving the device is to prepare for flashing. Connect the network cable and power supply, then prepare to flash X3P, and subsequently flash Black Synology based on X3P.

Flashing Tool: https://cloud.189.cn/t/zeaINrJZrIbe (Access Code: 0gxz)

1. Find the Maopan's intranet IP address through your router.
2. Turn off the Windows Firewall (important) and antivirus software firewall.
3. Extract "Maopan One-Click Flasher V2.0" and run CatDrive_flasher.exe as an administrator.
4. Fill in the IP addresses correctly. The first six digits of the MAC address are fixed as 78C2C0. The last six digits should match the last six digits on your Maopan. For example, if your MAC last six digits are A1B2C3, the full MAC is 78C2C0A1B2C3. Fill in the Serial Number (SN) as well. Note that both MAC and SN must be in uppercase, as shown below:

Once successful, you can close the software. At this point, the Maopan indicator light will be solid red.

Unplug the Maopan power (do not move the network cable). While holding the reset button, plug the power back in. When the indicator light turns blue and flashes, release the reset button. The X3P system installation will proceed automatically. Wait patiently for about 5-10 minutes. When the indicator light turns solid red again, the flashing is complete.

Check the Maopan IP address from the router again. Enter the IP in your browser to see the Onespace interface. The default username is admin, and the password is 123456.

X3P has rich features and is sufficient for daily use. If you want to flash Black Synology, please continue reading below.

Flashing Black Synology

Use an SFTP tool to connect to the Maopan. Username: root, Password: Etech12. Upload the full.bin file from the flashing package to the /tmp directory.

Use an SSH tool to connect to the Maopan. Username: root, Password: Etech12. Enter the cd directory and execute the dd command to write the firmware:

# Enter the tmp directory
cd /tmp
# Execute the following commands one by one. Press Enter after each command and wait for the result before copying the next line
dd if="full.bin" of=/dev/mtdblock0 bs=1 skip=0 count=$((0xc8000)) 
dd if="full.bin" of=/dev/mtdblock1 bs=1 skip=$((0x000c8000)) count=$((0x00004000))
dd if="full.bin" of=/dev/mtdblock2 bs=1 skip=$((0x000cc000)) count=$((0x00434000)) 
dd if="full.bin" of=/dev/mtdblock3 bs=1 skip=$((0x00500000)) count=$((0x00300000)) 

After executing the 4 commands, type reboot to restart. Then, open find.synology.com/ in your browser and click "Search Devices." You will see that the Maopan is now recognized as a DS119J, displaying the device IP and other information. Click "Connect" and follow the prompts to complete the system installation.

At this point, the Black Synology flashing is complete. We first flash X3P, then flash Black Synology based on X3P. This method is simpler than the TTL flashing tutorials found online. However, note that after flashing Black Synology, the hard drive will be reformatted. Therefore, please back up the data on the hard drive first, then complete the Synology guidance as prompted. Here is a screenshot of Xiaoz's successfully flashed Black Synology:

Indicator Light Status

If the device cannot recognize the IP upon receipt or if the flashing fails, pay attention to the Maopan indicator light. There are generally 4 states:

1. Red: Normal.
2. Pale Yellow: Likely writing firmware. Please continue to wait 10-20 minutes.
3. Blue: This situation is relatively complex and requires a reset. The operation method is as follows: Observe the LED light color. If it is blue, check if the network port light is solid green or solid orange. If it is solid orange, you need to reset the machine (while the machine is not powered on, hold the reset button, then power it on. After 15 seconds of power-on, release the reset button. The status should be: Blue LED flashing, network port light solid green, indicating the reset has started. Wait about 20 minutes. When the LED turns red and the network port lights show both green and orange simultaneously, the machine reset is successful).
4. White: Reason unknown, may be damaged.

Precautions

• When purchasing, ask the seller if they have screws to fix the hard drive. Xiaoz's purchase did not include hard drive screws, making the hard drive loose and shaking. Finally, screws removed from a laptop were used to fix it.
• Consult the seller before purchasing whether the device can be flashed with Black Synology. It is said that some versions of Maopan cannot be flashed with Black Synology and can only be flashed with X3P (Onespace).
• The firmwares mentioned above are not the latest. After flashing, Synology may prompt for an upgrade. Xiaoz tested that it can upgrade normally.

Summary

• Pros: Maopan is cheap. A simple NAS solution can be completed for less than 200 yuan. It has low power consumption and runs very quietly.
• Cons: The ARM CPU performance is poor, and it only supports one drive. It is not recommended to store important data; otherwise, if the hard drive fails, the data is lost.

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Part of this article references:

• Maopan Flashing ONE SPACE and Synology Firmware Tutorial
• Solution for Not Getting IP on Newly Bought Maopan and Reset Guide