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Why you shouldn’t use a Raspberry Pi as a NAS server

The Raspberry Pi is one of the cheapest and most interesting devices to carry out multiple projects in the world of computing. The latest versions of this device incorporate clearly more powerful hardware than the first versions, in addition, we can have a RAM memory of even 8GB capacity, so we can use most complete operating systems and manage a large number of processes without memory problems. However, it is not highly recommended to use a Raspberry Pi as if it were a NAS, today at RedesZone we are going to explain why you should not use it for this.

Reasons not to use a Raspberry Pi as a NAS

If we want to have a low-cost NAS in our home, the first option that comes to mind is to use a Raspberry Pi, specifically the latest Raspberry Pi 4 version, either in its 4GB or 8GB version of RAM, a device that is quite powerful for basic tasks, so in principle, it should work quite well. In addition, we must bear in mind that we can connect different hard drives via USB to have the storage that we want. Of course, it has a Gigabit Ethernet port to have high transfer rates through the local network.

However, although on paper it may be a good idea, below we are going to explain why it would not be advisable to use it for NAS.

Storage, the most important

The storage part is the most important thing when we talk about a NAS, and that is that we need storage that guarantees that our data is safe under any circumstance.

The first thing we need to keep in mind is that the operating system should be installed on an SSD drive, for the best performance in read, write, and IOPS. Although the Raspberry Pi allows the installation of the operating system on a micro SD card or on a disk via USB, it will always be slower than an SSD connected to a SATA3 port. In fact, there are NAS models that are not very expensive and have NVMe ports for better performance.

Installing Kingston NVMe SSD on QNAP TS-364 Server

Another aspect that we must take into account is the storage with hard drives, while in a NAS we have them connected with a SATA3 interface, in a Raspberry we have to connect it via USB, so the performance is clearly lower, especially for tasks that require a lot of bandwidth. Of course, at the software level, it is highly recommended to form a RAID 1 or RAID 5, to be sure that if a hard drive breaks, the information remains on the server without any problem. This can be done either through commands if you’re using a Debian-based operating system, or using NAS-oriented operating systems like OpenMediaVault, but the main problem is that the performance won’t be all that great.

Processor and temperature

Although the Raspberry Pi 4 processor works quite well and is very powerful, not comparable to the latest Intel processors for NAS low-medium range, which are clearly more powerful and with x86 architecture. In addition, another very important aspect is the temperature that it will reach with our use, while in the NAS we have passive heatsinks and even with fans to adequately cool the components, in the Raspberry we do not have this, and we will have to buy it if we want to keep the temperature low. control.

It is critical that our Raspberry has a passive heatsink, and even that a fan is used to further improve cooling. If we don’t do this, we may experience random crashes and even slow down the performance of the processor to protect itself.

connectivity

Many home users today have a Multigigabit network at home, with the goal of transferring data at speeds greater than 1Gbps. In this case we do not have a Multigigabit Ethernet port for the LAN, but it only works at 1Gbps. If you have a Gigabit network, this will not affect you, but if tomorrow you buy a Multigigabit switch that are already quite cheap, you will miss that additional speed that you could get.

Currently many entry-level models have a 2.5G Multigigabit port, and some even have 2 Gigabit ports or 2 Multigigabit ports, so we will have greater versatility in the case of NAS.

As you have seen, there are many points against if you are going to use a Raspberry Pi as a NAS server, especially when it comes to storage, which is the most critical part.

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