I don't really know how to use the quote and link tools, not really the best with HTML but I will try and answer/reply to both of you in this one post.
To "rpdom"
I did not think STRICTLY using it as a NAS would stress anything too much, which is why I'm conflicted between the Pi 3 B+ and Pi 4.
The 4B having true 1GB ethernet may be useful if I decides to add video files to my NAS, but my use case is comic files (.cbr or .cbz) that are usually between 25mb-60mb. I mean obviously that's per comic. Let's say I was trying to download an entire run to my tablet from the NAS, say the latest Captain America Run, Issues 001-014, your looking at a folder with 9 files that is 346MB. So with the 3B+ USB2 shared connection of roughly 180Mb/s your still talking a pretty fast download.
The 3 B+ comes with 1GB, so based on what your telling me it seems even the 4B with 1GB would be better simply for the USB3 support and true 1GB ethernet. Again, I can cobble together a power supply, I have TONS of Micro SD cards, ethernet cords.
I have a bunch of older 2TB eternal drives I had been using, but after almost filling 2 I decided I needed 1 large drive to accommodate everything I have plus at least some extra TBs for future proofing. As of now I am at just under 2TB of used storage on this 6TB drive. I'm assuming there is no way for either Pi to play nice with a 6TB NTFS drive.
You mention formatting it as ext4 unless I need to plug it into a Windows PC. If this NAS actually works the hope is I won't have to keep this drive plugged into my Windows laptop. Is there a file format besides ext4 that works with both? I'm familiar with NTFS, ex-fat, Fat32, and that's basically it. I do not mess with Linux much.
Does the microSD card need to be large? I have plenty of 64GB-512GB SD cards that would work fine, but does it even need to be that large? Would 64GB suffice. The SD card should only being holding the OS and NAS code correct? I'm not using it to store any of my actual files.
My 6TB drive has it's own power supply. I also have a pricey powered USB Hub I could use. I wouldn't try and run such a large drive powered just off the Pi. This drive won't even work when plugged into my powered Hub without it's own power connector plugged in. There's definitely going to have to be a power strip running all this stuff with the Pi-NAS.
To "thagrol"
I do know the zero boards are cheaper, my worry was that they wouldn't do what I need out of the box, either due to lack of ports the larger models have.
So clearly your opinion is to buy the Pi 4 for some of the same reasons "rpdom" stated above. Lack of full use of drive and network speed on the 3B+.
The question of how much RAM I need is really what it comes down to then I guess. Would the Pi 4 2GB be solid enough, and allow me to save a few bucks, or would the 2 extra GB of RAM really be worth the extra investment.
How many active clients? Me, literally just me, BUT on a wide variety of devices. Right now this drive is located in my office attached to my main work laptop and it's a pain to have to sit here just to organize the 2TB of files I have. That's one of the reasons I am looking for remote access so that I can organize these files.
My wife gets real mad when I don't make it to bed because I was in the office all night until 6am organizing my comic collection. Right now it is 1.73TB, consisting of 25,104 files in 4,345 unorganized folders. I'd like to be able to use my tablet or second laptop, sit in bed, access the drive, and be able to organize it. Eventually I'd like to somehow access it remotely so I can read my comics on the go without constantly transferring what I want to the obnoxious flash drive sticking out of my tablet.
Depending on the week and what comics get released I add ~1GB to ~5GB of new semi-organized data to the drive. Then I have to prioritize what will fit on my tablet OTG flash drive and move stuff around. It's constant and annoying.
Right now the use case is just files, no streaming video. Would the 2GB Pi 4 handle video streaming if that's even possible?
Streaming movies and shows to my tablet sounds cool in theory, but I do not have a large video collection besides a 25GB folder of all ~24 seasons of South Park, and a maybe 5 or 6 random movies.
You recommend keeping the OS and the NAS on separate physical devices, and I'm assuming you mean that some people run the OS off their drive or other USB drive instead of the micro SD card. I don't plan on doing that. I plan on using the SD card and running the OS that way.
Don't worry about your shameless self promoting. I'm sure there are a million guides, but the difference is you wrote that guide and I can clarify with you if I have questions.
I apologize to both of you for the scatterbrained thoughts. Looking forward to the replies.
To "rpdom"
I did not think STRICTLY using it as a NAS would stress anything too much, which is why I'm conflicted between the Pi 3 B+ and Pi 4.
The 4B having true 1GB ethernet may be useful if I decides to add video files to my NAS, but my use case is comic files (.cbr or .cbz) that are usually between 25mb-60mb. I mean obviously that's per comic. Let's say I was trying to download an entire run to my tablet from the NAS, say the latest Captain America Run, Issues 001-014, your looking at a folder with 9 files that is 346MB. So with the 3B+ USB2 shared connection of roughly 180Mb/s your still talking a pretty fast download.
The 3 B+ comes with 1GB, so based on what your telling me it seems even the 4B with 1GB would be better simply for the USB3 support and true 1GB ethernet. Again, I can cobble together a power supply, I have TONS of Micro SD cards, ethernet cords.
I have a bunch of older 2TB eternal drives I had been using, but after almost filling 2 I decided I needed 1 large drive to accommodate everything I have plus at least some extra TBs for future proofing. As of now I am at just under 2TB of used storage on this 6TB drive. I'm assuming there is no way for either Pi to play nice with a 6TB NTFS drive.
You mention formatting it as ext4 unless I need to plug it into a Windows PC. If this NAS actually works the hope is I won't have to keep this drive plugged into my Windows laptop. Is there a file format besides ext4 that works with both? I'm familiar with NTFS, ex-fat, Fat32, and that's basically it. I do not mess with Linux much.
Does the microSD card need to be large? I have plenty of 64GB-512GB SD cards that would work fine, but does it even need to be that large? Would 64GB suffice. The SD card should only being holding the OS and NAS code correct? I'm not using it to store any of my actual files.
My 6TB drive has it's own power supply. I also have a pricey powered USB Hub I could use. I wouldn't try and run such a large drive powered just off the Pi. This drive won't even work when plugged into my powered Hub without it's own power connector plugged in. There's definitely going to have to be a power strip running all this stuff with the Pi-NAS.
So basically I would need to do this on the Pi or use a Live boot USB of Ubuntu or something to accomplish this correct? I doubt I can format to ext4 while running Windows.You should be able to useg parted to shrink the existing NTFS filesystem and create a new ext4 partition. You can then copy the files from one to the other, then use gparted to delete the NTFS one and move and resize the ext4 one - this will take a while! Using exfat or ntfs for your final filesystem would be a bad idea performance wise. It's best to use a native Linus filesystem.
To "thagrol"
I do know the zero boards are cheaper, my worry was that they wouldn't do what I need out of the box, either due to lack of ports the larger models have.
So clearly your opinion is to buy the Pi 4 for some of the same reasons "rpdom" stated above. Lack of full use of drive and network speed on the 3B+.
The question of how much RAM I need is really what it comes down to then I guess. Would the Pi 4 2GB be solid enough, and allow me to save a few bucks, or would the 2 extra GB of RAM really be worth the extra investment.
How many active clients? Me, literally just me, BUT on a wide variety of devices. Right now this drive is located in my office attached to my main work laptop and it's a pain to have to sit here just to organize the 2TB of files I have. That's one of the reasons I am looking for remote access so that I can organize these files.
My wife gets real mad when I don't make it to bed because I was in the office all night until 6am organizing my comic collection. Right now it is 1.73TB, consisting of 25,104 files in 4,345 unorganized folders. I'd like to be able to use my tablet or second laptop, sit in bed, access the drive, and be able to organize it. Eventually I'd like to somehow access it remotely so I can read my comics on the go without constantly transferring what I want to the obnoxious flash drive sticking out of my tablet.
Depending on the week and what comics get released I add ~1GB to ~5GB of new semi-organized data to the drive. Then I have to prioritize what will fit on my tablet OTG flash drive and move stuff around. It's constant and annoying.
Right now the use case is just files, no streaming video. Would the 2GB Pi 4 handle video streaming if that's even possible?
Streaming movies and shows to my tablet sounds cool in theory, but I do not have a large video collection besides a 25GB folder of all ~24 seasons of South Park, and a maybe 5 or 6 random movies.
You recommend keeping the OS and the NAS on separate physical devices, and I'm assuming you mean that some people run the OS off their drive or other USB drive instead of the micro SD card. I don't plan on doing that. I plan on using the SD card and running the OS that way.
Don't worry about your shameless self promoting. I'm sure there are a million guides, but the difference is you wrote that guide and I can clarify with you if I have questions.
I apologize to both of you for the scatterbrained thoughts. Looking forward to the replies.
Statistics: Posted by thehehulk92 — Sun Apr 14, 2024 5:08 pm