RPi (or similar) with SATA or M2 drive? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: awallin
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 05, 2020, 03:32:32 pm
content: Hi all,We have a number of RPis running raspbian on an SD-card at work and they all seem to die after 6-12 months because the SD card fails.Is there a way to run a RPi completely from a SATA or M2 SSD? or another similar (cheap, low-power) single-board computer that can do this?For home-server use I need the BLE radio to monitor wireless temp-sensors - othwerwise no special peripherals needed.thanks.

author: dr.diesel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 05, 2020, 03:44:27 pm
content: I've had the same issue with SD cards, all mainstream brands are just not reliable. If your Pi's don't require much storage space the easiest solution is probably to switch to SLC SD cards which offer much higher reliability. Otherwise USB booting the Pi's from an SSD, which can now also be done on the Pi4s.I was really hoping the Pi4 would include an M.2 slot, perhaps someday.Other boards are out there, but their support is usually horrible.

author: bingo600
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 05, 2020, 05:03:16 pm
content: I have some Raspi3 , that i boot of tftp (Pxe)And then have the Root-FS via NFSYou could boot of SD (standalone) or TFTP , and have your Root-FS on an USB attached device (SSD or)That way SD would have minimal wear.But i also have some PI's running of SanDisk Ultra 16/32 GB SD's , they have been running for 3+ years.One is my backup DNS/DHCP server @homeFor heavy diskwriting i'd go USB or NFS@Dr. Diesel , can a PI4 Boot from USB wo. help from PXE or SD ?/Bingo

author: ralphrmartin
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 05, 2020, 05:11:26 pm
content: I leave the /boot filesystem on an SD card, put the / root fs on a USB SSD drive (a Sandisk Extreme 1TB), and the whole lot is powered by a Pi PoE hat. Works a treat as my webserver and samba server, as well as logging environmental readings from some ESP8266 boards..

author: dr.diesel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 05, 2020, 05:34:21 pm
content: Quote from: bingo600 on July 05, 2020, 05:03:16 pmI believe so yes, although I've not personally tested it yet. New FW was just recently released that offers this functionality.

author: MosherIV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 10, 2020, 11:20:56 pm
content: 2 options1. Create ram disk. Set all logs to be written to ram drive, this will stop the sd card being worn out.2. Use Raspberry Pi 3 and enable them to boot from usb, use usb external hdd

author: RenThraysk
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 24, 2020, 09:16:25 pm
content: There is this SATA HAT, seems to be a SATA to USB3 thing for 2/4 drives.https://shop.allnetchina.cn/collections/sata-hat/products/dual-sata-hat-open-frame-for-raspberry-pi-4Edit:Maybe a M.2 to USB enclosure would be simpler.

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 25, 2020, 11:50:50 am
content: You might wish to take a look atOdroid HC2, with a SATA connector (through a USB3 bus internally); it needs a 12VDC regulated supply.I have the previous HC1 version, which is very similar, but takes 5VDC – the HC2 has an onboard 12V to 5V DC-DC converter – and the problem is the high current needed at 5VDC, but otherwise it is a very nice little board. I especially love the HUGE heatsink.The HC1 and HC2 are essentially *headless* variants of the XU4 (Exynos 5422 octa-core, with four Cortex-A15 and four Cortex-A7 cores), with just a different set of connectors. Note, there is no display connector.If you want a unit with a display connector, then XU4 with a JMS567 -based USB3-SATA bridge is a known working solution.Another option is LoverPi'sLa Fritewith anEMMC. (Details)The Amlogic AML-S805X-AC has a pretty good support in mainline Linux kernels, so you're definitely not restricted to any particular Linux distribution, or vendor patches/binaries; there are ready images for libreELEC, Armbian, Debian, and Ubuntu. It is a low-power one, running nicely on R'Pi 5V supplies, consuming less than 1A when decoding 1080p video. The downside is that only EMMC modules from LoverPi work on it.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 26, 2020, 04:37:13 pm
content: You can also refer to this:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/softbank-considering-selling-arm/msg3157122/#msg3157122