R-Pi 5 NAS Drive

[Chris Savage]

My first NAS drive was a WD unit that only had one drive. It just died one day, and at the time I had no backups (didn't have a spare USB drive that large. I lost videos of my daughters that are irreplaceable. So now, I have backups of everything. When it comes to NAS, I MUST have RAID 1 (Mirror). For a while that meant using smaller drives for cost reasons, but I am finally up to where I need to be for the media and files I need to backup.

[JKnightandKARR]

https://raspberrytips.com/nas-guide-raspberry-pi/
I saw this n didn't know if it would be helpful or not.

This looks like a good option for me. The mirrored (or any) RAID would be good, but I already have a five-, and an eight-terrabyte, external USB drive available, but no decent-sized NVMe drives - and those SSDs cost a bit too much. My NAS will be just for my personal use, and I will still have the 8 TB drive with all my movies, and TV shows, separate on my TV system, so I don't really need much in the way of speed, or power. Thinking about this, the 5 TB drive should be on my NAS, and the 8 TB should be as a backup drive - maybe on Spock, or maybe just plugged in to my main computer, as needed.

I will be using the two Pi computers that I purchased after our meetup (one Pi 4, and one Pi 5) for the two projects. One will be Spock (he was in charge of the library on the Enterprise) and will be the NAS. The other will be replacing Nyota (the Enterprise's Communications officer) who will be handling all of my Internet access - SSH server, VPN-in server (although that may be my router's job,) maybe web servers and anything else. After writing this down, it seems that Nyota will not be doing as much as I thought; so the Pi 4 will run Nyota, and the Pi 5 will run Spock.

Sounds good. I outta copy EVERYthing I got onto my 4TB drive and go over it alL, cause I know I got multiple copies of some stuff and copies of crap i don't need!

[Chris Savage]

I know I got multiple copies of some stuff and copies of crap i don't need!

Story of my life. 

EDIT: I solved my duplicate photos / images problems by having a photo dump folder. Whenever I transfer from my phone, files that exist cause that error and I can skip. If I've already moved them from that folder, they're caught in my sorted photos drive, since everything is sorted by date. Doesn't work with everything, but it does help with photos.

[JKnightandKARR]

I know I got multiple copies of some stuff and copies of crap i don't need!

Story of my life. 

EDIT: I solved my duplicate photos / images problems by having a photo dump folder. Whenever I transfer from my phone, files that exist cause that error and I can skip. If I've already moved them from that folder, they're caught in my sorted photos drive, since everything is sorted by date. Doesn't work with everything, but it does help with photos.

I know the feeling... NO idea how much I really have... but a whole lot of 2+ copies..

[granz]

It has now been about a week that I have been running Spock (my "library" computer.) It is not really a NAS, per se, but it does the same job. Plus, Spock is connected to my large-screen television, in my living room. This is where we watch TV (television shows, and movies.) I can connect to Spock from any of my other computers to either add to, or copy from, his 8-TB drive. This will also include from Nyota (the Communications Officer server,) when I get her replacement up, and running.

One of the Raspberry Pi systems that I bought after our meetup was slated to become Spock, but plans change. The original Nyota (a sixteen-year old Acer laptop that was originally my main computer) apparently put on a red shirt for an away mission, and bought the farm. She had served us well in her job as Communications Officer server, and will be remembered kindly.

Unfortunately, when I went to replace her with the Raspberry Pi 4, I noticed that the Pi only had a micro-HDMI socket - and the television has only a full-sized HDMI cable. So, I went into my office and got an older Raspberry Pi 3 to serve temporarily. That new Pi did fairly well, but it had the under-voltage warning in the upper-right corner of the screen In addition, some video files (but not all) were playing so jerky that they were unwatchable. So, I ordered an actual power supply, spec'd for the Pi 3, and that cleared the undervoltage warning, and the videos all run smoothly. It turns out that when the Pi senses an undervoltage condition, it drops the clock (some estimates are that it drops it by up to %50. )

So, the end setup (for now) is that the Pi 3 is Spock, and one of the newer Pi computers will be Nyota. The other newer Pi will be Monty (or should it be Montgomery - there are not enough references to Scotty's first name to decide which he would have preferred, ) our Chief Engineering Officer home-control server.

[Chris Savage]

It turns out that when the Pi senses an undervoltage condition, it drops the clock (some estimates are that it drops it by up to %50. )

Laptops change their clock speed depending on whether they're running on plug-in power or battery. When I render a DVD video file at home, it's done in 10 minutes. When on battery, it takes many times more that, to the point where the battery won't last long enough to complete the render. The joys of mobile processors...

...that said, the irony of you posting in this thread is that I am just getting ready to take the photos for this project and start updating the project. I got my light box set up and my bench is almost clear enough to start taking photos there as well. Plus, I am adding a shelf next to the workshop network switch so that I can connect both new R-Pi servers.

[granz]

Yeah, it does make sense, but the USB power supply that I was using on the Pi 3 was supposed to be a good solid +5VDC. Oh well, it is working well now.

[Chris Savage]

Yeah, it does make sense, but the USB power supply that I was using on the Pi 3 was supposed to be a good solid +5VDC. Oh well, it is working well now.

Each new generation or R-Pi seems to have higher power requirements than the previous. It used to be that you could use any generic USB charger to power them. But for the last three generations (3, 4 and 5) they've recommended specific power requirements. When I bought the R-Pi 4, the recommended P/S was 15W. The R-Pi 5 recommends nearly 30W, which is double the previous generation. People using them in NAS drives recommend 45W if the drives are SSD or being powered via the same supply.

[granz]

The power supply for my tablet (the P/S that I was using for the Pi 3) was supposed to be 45W! If I remember right it could go up to +15VDC. It did not work with the Pi, but a 15W (+5VDC @ 3.0A) P/S does. It must be something other than simply the voltage and current.

[Chris Savage]

You can see here one of the Raspberry Pi 4 kits that I bought, which includes a 15W P/S, as well as a Raspberry Pi 5 kit, which contains a 45W P/S.

[granz]

I didn't get kits for my Pi 4 & Pi 5, just the systems themselves, along with cases, power supplies, heat sinks, etc À La Carte. The down side was that MicroCenter did not have everything (I think that I missed one P/S and one case.) But with most of the stuff that I already have, it isn't much of a down side.

[Chris Savage]

I am hoping to work on this project this weekend, if nothing more than finally get the hardware built and photos done.

Both benches are covered in the stuff I am currently sorting an putting away. But I will make room by this weekend.

[granz]

I hope everything goes well for you.

[Chris Savage]

I hope everything goes well for you.

Thanks! I will admit that I got a bit confused when replying earlier. The hardware for the NAS has been finished for some time. The software is not finished. What I meant to say was that I need to get the hardware for the R-Pi 5 Computer System and the Binner Parts Tracker Server, then I can work on the software for them all at the same time.

[JKnightandKARR]

Can't wait.