[RndTbl] Raspberry Pi for network storage?

Trevor Cordes trevor at tecnopolis.ca
Wed Apr 26 01:54:17 CDT 2017


On 2017-04-25 John Lange wrote:
> I want to get a _very_ light weight "computer" to act as a controller
> for some local storage. Basically a DIY Network Attached Storage that
> burns very little power.
> 
> Is Raspberry Pi still a good option, or has there been other
[...]
> I'm also thinking just a cheap tablet might be a good choice? Best

The problem with Pi / tablets is you don't get SATA (or even IDE) so
the "massiest" you can get with mass storage is what SDHC/USB gives you.
Not exactly cheap $/GB.

You probably want for a file server something with SATA ports, which
means some sort of "real" mini computer, probably X86-compat.

I brought a little system I bought for a similar purpose (I needed
SATA/IDE for native CD drives) to a MUUG BYOD meeting in December.  I
think I can still order them from my supplier (I am a reseller).

http://www.eprom.com/home/VIA/ARTiGO/index.html
http://www.eprom.com/home/VIA/ARTiGO/artigo_images.html

Hah, I never noticed but they actually have a pic of using it with a
SATA CD drive. Cool, I'm not the only wacky one.

The builtin PS *might* have enough juice to power 1 3.5" spinning-rust
HDD, *maybe*.  If not, you just need another external wart to HDD
molex.  The mobo supports 1 SATA drive or 1 IDE port which can probably
do 2 drives (master/slave), and could possibly convert one/both of
those into SATA!  I think you can run IDE+SATA simultaneously so for
sure you could get 2, maybe 3 drives running at once.

I'm sure power usage specs are somewhere on the net.  Won't be nearly
as low as a SBC, but should be waaay less than a normal PC.  And it has
VGA and DVI out for video.

I'm sure there's other computers like this out there, as Rob says.  If
my supplier still has this one, I think the price was around $100 (no
RAM, no HDD).


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