Pi as a file/media server, pros and cons....

So I just recently got the parts in my for Debian file server upgrade. 1 x 120GB SSD for Debian, and 2 x 4TB HDs for storage. One of the 4TB drives will primarily be used for backup copies of the main drive. I've got most of the main files copied over and am about ready to start firing up Plex, and install other services that I use. I am doing all this on old dual core PC. I'm sorta old school and just grew up with desktop PCs. And I'm all about repurposing old hardware if possible.

I've been curious about these Raspberry Pi devices and if I could use one of these to replace my server. Much smaller device, probably uses less electricity, and they seem pretty inexpensive. BUT, could they do all the things I do? Plex/miniDLNA, filestorage/NAS, SSH, FTP, Samba, and just whatever else I want to dabble with.

If I do take this venture, I don't want to have to buy much anything additional and try to use some of my existing new hardware.

For pros the PI 4 would use less power and there are lots of guides on how to configure it as a file/media server. It has 4G RAM and with the model 4, USB and Ethernet are on separate buses.

For cons the Pi only has USB for data storage and therefore any of the recently purchased parts not USB are wasted for this particular project. You would need a suitable power supply to provide power and separate USB drive power supply for multiple drives would be recommended which may or may not be a con.

As far as a server. No cons for me. However storage might be since it'd need a powered hub to run a regular harddrive via usb. One thing, they're cheap and if you find it doesn't work for you it'll make a great project

Thanks michaelk and Mill J...that's kinda what I was afraid of. I don't think I could even get the data transfer rates I am getting with my current setup. I may pick up one down the road to tinker with.

I think yes, RPi4 is ok for that. I would probably buy a second HDD to make an offline or remote backup, so RPi4 can work with a single device.

Originally Posted by Basslord1124 So I just recently got the parts in my for Debian file server upgrade. 1 x 120GB SSD for Debian, and 2 x 4TB HDs for storage. One of the 4TB drives will primarily be used for backup copies of the main drive. ... I've been curious about these Raspberry Pi devices and if I could use one of these to replace my server. Much smaller device, probably uses less electricity, and they seem pretty inexpensive. BUT, could they do all the things I do? Plex/miniDLNA, filestorage/NAS, SSH, FTP, Samba, and just whatever else I want to dabble with. If I do take this venture, I don't want to have to buy much anything additional and try to use some of my existing new hardware.

Well, if you're willing to buy a little extra hardware, there are kits that allow you to hang a SATA drive (or four) off a Pi now. (Up to five drives if you're not using a Pi4.) See this page for information. Pricing seems reasonable for a a homegrown NAS server (scroll down for details): ~$150 for the four-drive enclosure and a Pi4. Plus whatever disks you decide to use in it. My music service will have a new home in the (hopefully) not too distant future.

I can't speak to Samba but SSH, NFS, are all certainly available on Raspbian and other Pi-compatible distributions.

HTH...

Originally Posted by michaelk For cons the Pi only has USB for data storage ...

The model 4 B has PCIe support built in.

Originally Posted by Turbocapitalist The model 4 B has PCIe support built in.

Wow. Interesting but, IMHO, not for the faint-hearted. :^D

Originally Posted by rnturn Wow. Interesting but, IMHO, not for the faint-hearted. :^D

Indeed. :O

For most of us, it will be a USB to SATA adapter instead.

Originally Posted by Turbocapitalist The model 4 B has PCIe support built in.

looks like a joke for me. Probably the RPi5...

How cool...thanks for the links.

The PCIe thing is...well...interesting. Probably nothing I'd ever venture into.

Thinking I will keep my current set up for a while, then maybe down the road get the parts I need for this. I'll at least get the Pi first to see what all it can do.

I agree, surface mount soldering is probably not in the skill set of most members... there are other SBCs that do have sata ports like the odroid.

Well ended up getting one a little earlier than expected. Wife got me a Pi 4 2GB as an anniversary gift (anniversary today actually).

Thinking of using it as a media device for our upstairs TV...kinda like a Roku. Maybe put some old school games on it too. Been kinda looking at the projects people use these things for.

Happy anniversary!

May I ask how you connect storage to it, what kind of storage, and how storage is powered?

Originally Posted by Basslord1124 Well ended up getting one a little earlier than expected. Wife got me a Pi 4 2GB as an anniversary gift (anniversary today actually). Thinking of using it as a media device for our upstairs TV...kinda like a Roku. Maybe put some old school games on it too. Been kinda looking at the projects people use these things for.

Congrats! there's so many projects for the pi, it's almost endless. There are several distros to turn a pi into a media center or gaming console. There's quite a few tutorials online.

Personally I run raspbian headless with apache/php running some of my own php scripts for music, videos, pictures, etc. But the main usage is running Gogs. Gogs allows me to develop on different PC's and OS's seamlessly, with no internet connection.

Keep us posted on what distro/application you end up using.