XPost: comp.os.linux.misc

On Fri, 17 Jan 2025 10:32:07 +0100, D wrote:

I wonder if it would be possible to build a PB storage system for
archive use cases on a bunch of Pi 5? =) Does it have any good ways to
connect disks, or is it still only USB? I wonder how many disks per
system it could handle with confidence?

On Fri, 17 Jan 2025, rbowman wrote:

https://smist08.wordpress.com/2024/05/24/raspberry-pi-5-with-ssd/

The Pi 5 has a PCIe port and there are Raspberry and third party NMVe
solutions.

On 2025-01-18, D <nospam@example.net> wrote:

Interesting! Thank you for the link. This could be a fun hobby project. I wonder if it would be possible, over time, to get it to such a state that someone might actually consider using it in production environments? With sounds and strong redundancy, maybe!

I have a shelf with IDE/PATA and SATA drives from 200GB and up, that I have
not had the heart to throw out. Would it be worth the trouble to find an enclosure and build a NAS out of them? Probably not. The enclosures that
can hold 4-6 drives seem to cost twice what a 4 TB USB-3 archive drive
costs, so a Pi-4, a USB-3 hub, and two of those wrapped up with rubber
bands in a shoebox would be cheaper.

Would anyone like a couple of smaller (say 200 MB) drives for repairing
antique systems that can't handle more than 32 bits worth of space?

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

On Sat, 18 Jan 2025, Lars Poulsen wrote:

On Fri, 17 Jan 2025 10:32:07 +0100, D wrote:

I wonder if it would be possible to build a PB storage system for
archive use cases on a bunch of Pi 5? =) Does it have any good ways to >>>> connect disks, or is it still only USB? I wonder how many disks per
system it could handle with confidence?

On Fri, 17 Jan 2025, rbowman wrote:

https://smist08.wordpress.com/2024/05/24/raspberry-pi-5-with-ssd/

The Pi 5 has a PCIe port and there are Raspberry and third party NMVe
solutions.

On 2025-01-18, D <nospam@example.net> wrote:

Interesting! Thank you for the link. This could be a fun hobby project. I
wonder if it would be possible, over time, to get it to such a state that
someone might actually consider using it in production environments? With
sounds and strong redundancy, maybe!

I have a shelf with IDE/PATA and SATA drives from 200GB and up, that I have not had the heart to throw out. Would it be worth the trouble to find an enclosure and build a NAS out of them? Probably not. The enclosures that
can hold 4-6 drives seem to cost twice what a 4 TB USB-3 archive drive
costs, so a Pi-4, a USB-3 hub, and two of those wrapped up with rubber
bands in a shoebox would be cheaper.

This works. I've had similar setups at one point of another. These days I
stick with 2 x 4 TB drives in a Zyxel NAS (great!) and 2 x 4 TB drives in
a Dlink (horrible!) NAS, and that's worked for about 10 years or so.

I had a look today for fun at Pi 5 LSI controllers and I wonder how many spinning SAS disks a single Pi 5 can drive without power problems?

Would anyone like a couple of smaller (say 200 MB) drives for repairing antique systems that can't handle more than 32 bits worth of space?

Somewhere in a dark corner of my attic storage space, there is a quantum bigfoot with a copy of my old BBS. I always wonder if it is beyond repair and/or restore? Would be fun to see the "elite haxor" stuff from my
childhood! =)

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

On Sat, 18 Jan 2025 14:57:44 -0000 (UTC), Lars Poulsen wrote:

Would anyone like a couple of smaller (say 200 MB) drives for repairing antique systems that can't handle more than 32 bits worth of space?

They're worth their weight in gold :) Years ago I went looking for small drives and found they were extremely expensive compared to the current offerings. I went around to the local repair shops and asked if they had
any old, small drives. 'No, we throw those in the dumptster. They're not
good for anything'.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

On 2025-01-18, rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:

On Sat, 18 Jan 2025 14:57:44 -0000 (UTC), Lars Poulsen wrote:

Would anyone like a couple of smaller (say 200 MB) drives for repairing
antique systems that can't handle more than 32 bits worth of space?

They're worth their weight in gold :) Years ago I went looking for small drives and found they were extremely expensive compared to the current offerings. I went around to the local repair shops and asked if they had
any old, small drives. 'No, we throw those in the dumptster. They're not
good for anything'.

Maybe it would be worthwhile to re-format them and put them on eBay.
I looked, but searching for 200MB only got me newer drives with 200MB
of cache!

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

On 18/01/2025 14:57, Lars Poulsen wrote:

I have a shelf with IDE/PATA and SATA drives from 200GB and up, that I have not had the heart to throw out. Would it be worth the trouble to find an enclosure and build a NAS out of them? Probably not. The enclosures that
can hold 4-6 drives seem to cost twice what a 4 TB USB-3 archive drive
costs, so a Pi-4, a USB-3 hub, and two of those wrapped up with rubber
bands in a shoebox would be cheaper.

Cardboard, Ugh....

An old PC case will have plenty of decent air flow, and be able to hold
a proper PSU and if tall enough, many drives. Available for free, if you
look around. Obviously big, but so are shoeboxes...

With one of these drives, why not install a Pi at a trusted friend's
place for your off-site backup, and do one vice versa for his backups. CrashPlan is such as system.

Or have a trailing USB cable permanently attached, so that once in a
while you can plug in either a mobile phone or a camera, and have the
contents of that device backed up (while also charging the battery?)

Anytime I'm seeing folks on YouTube messing with PATA IDE/SCSI Retro
hardware, they seem to be adding modern adaptors to plug- in SD memory
cards, so maybe that ship has sailed ...

--
Adrian C

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

On 1/18/25 9:57 AM, Lars Poulsen wrote:

On Fri, 17 Jan 2025 10:32:07 +0100, D wrote:

I wonder if it would be possible to build a PB storage system for
archive use cases on a bunch of Pi 5? =) Does it have any good ways to >>>> connect disks, or is it still only USB? I wonder how many disks per
system it could handle with confidence?

On Fri, 17 Jan 2025, rbowman wrote:

https://smist08.wordpress.com/2024/05/24/raspberry-pi-5-with-ssd/

The Pi 5 has a PCIe port and there are Raspberry and third party NMVe
solutions.

On 2025-01-18, D <nospam@example.net> wrote:

Interesting! Thank you for the link. This could be a fun hobby project. I
wonder if it would be possible, over time, to get it to such a state that
someone might actually consider using it in production environments? With
sounds and strong redundancy, maybe!

I have a shelf with IDE/PATA and SATA drives from 200GB and up, that I have not had the heart to throw out. Would it be worth the trouble to find an enclosure and build a NAS out of them? Probably not. The enclosures that
can hold 4-6 drives seem to cost twice what a 4 TB USB-3 archive drive
costs, so a Pi-4, a USB-3 hub, and two of those wrapped up with rubber
bands in a shoebox would be cheaper.

Would anyone like a couple of smaller (say 200 MB) drives for repairing antique systems that can't handle more than 32 bits worth of space?

I recently ordered a 5-drive hat for a Pi5. Dunno
if OpenMediaVault (a distro) will boot on the thing
(likely not) but if not I'll fake something using NFS
or Samba and have my compact NAS :-)

When the thing comes in an I have a chance to fool
around with it I'll post something.

The Samsung Pro SATA SSDs ought to be about perfect.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)