I want to start by saying i can always upgrade things like heatsinks, fans, cases etc later. I'm looking for the cheapest possible way to get my 6TB WD Elements drive accessible as a NAS in my house and hopefully remotely.
I am looking for the cheapest way to connect a 6TB external drive to my PI, connect my Pi to my router via ethernet (or wireless is possible/necessary) and use it as a NAS. I should be able to do this with a PI out the box correct?
I am looking at buying from CanaKit. They have 2 options and I can't decide between the two. I don't really know if I need a Pi 4, or if a 3 B+ will be enough. I have to pinch those pennies where I can.
Is the Pi 4 1/2/4GB overkill for my application. I want the cheapest way, but also a reliable way.
The Pi 3 B+ kit is $55 and comes with the B+, a power supply, and some heatsinks.
They have a Pi 3 B+ Starter Kit, but I have basically everything it comes with and i personally don't think it's worth the $70 upcharge.
The Pi 4 BOARD Only is $55.
I can afford up to the 4GB Pi 4, but just the board only. I already have SD card and reader, I would just need a power supply (which i probably can find one around here) and a micro HDMI adapter.
Again, hoping I can set this up as a NAS out of the box, setup the software side, and just plug in my drive. I'm not sure if I HAVE to buy anything else for the Pi besides the absolute basic to do what I want to do.
Yes it is 6TB of files but most files are 25mb-60mb, that are being written or read one at a time, so i am not super concerned about speed. I'm also assuming this only makes this NAS available to the local network. Basically its a 6TB drive with 2TB of comics on it that I would like to access from my tablet without using a flash drive and constantly to move files to the drive, have a 3" stick sticking out of my tablet, and I would like to be able to access this drive for organization reasons from my other PC.
I found a guide online (I'm sure there are a million) for turning a Pi into a NAS and besides the formatting, it used just the bare basics i.e the board, power supply, SD card with Raspberry Pi OS Lite, and obviously the external drive.
The guide also wants me to format the drive as part of the setup. Is it possible to make my Pi-NAS a NAS without formatting the drive first? or am i in a bad spot because the drive is formatted NTFS. I've used less than 2TB, maybe i can make a 3TB partition in ex-fat or fat32 or whatever it needs, move the files, then delete the NTFS partition etc. to make it the full 6TB in whatever file system needed.
I could get a Pi 3 B+ or I could get a Pi 4 1/2/4GB. I'm sure the best option is the Pi 4 4GB, but is that overkill for my situation?
I just want the cheapest way to access this 6TB drive from my tablet and other PC. I was told a NAS was the way to go, but I do not have the money for a diskless NAS from Amazon just to buy more drives etc., The cheapest 2TB NAS i could find was $129 from Buffalo on Amazon.
It will take me forever to use up all 6TB, as I rarely add new files and i have 3TB free. I could also just use a powered hub with other large TB drives I have lying around. I was told the Pi-NAS would solve my problem for the least amount of money.
Sorry for the sporadic thoughts, I did my best to make this cohesive and understandable. My only experience with the Pi was the original Pi board and I only got as far as getting it to the desktop of the original Pi OS. Never messed with it or did any projects, so let's say I know nothing.
I am looking for the cheapest way to connect a 6TB external drive to my PI, connect my Pi to my router via ethernet (or wireless is possible/necessary) and use it as a NAS. I should be able to do this with a PI out the box correct?
I am looking at buying from CanaKit. They have 2 options and I can't decide between the two. I don't really know if I need a Pi 4, or if a 3 B+ will be enough. I have to pinch those pennies where I can.
Is the Pi 4 1/2/4GB overkill for my application. I want the cheapest way, but also a reliable way.
The Pi 3 B+ kit is $55 and comes with the B+, a power supply, and some heatsinks.
They have a Pi 3 B+ Starter Kit, but I have basically everything it comes with and i personally don't think it's worth the $70 upcharge.
The Pi 4 BOARD Only is $55.
I can afford up to the 4GB Pi 4, but just the board only. I already have SD card and reader, I would just need a power supply (which i probably can find one around here) and a micro HDMI adapter.
Again, hoping I can set this up as a NAS out of the box, setup the software side, and just plug in my drive. I'm not sure if I HAVE to buy anything else for the Pi besides the absolute basic to do what I want to do.
Yes it is 6TB of files but most files are 25mb-60mb, that are being written or read one at a time, so i am not super concerned about speed. I'm also assuming this only makes this NAS available to the local network. Basically its a 6TB drive with 2TB of comics on it that I would like to access from my tablet without using a flash drive and constantly to move files to the drive, have a 3" stick sticking out of my tablet, and I would like to be able to access this drive for organization reasons from my other PC.
I found a guide online (I'm sure there are a million) for turning a Pi into a NAS and besides the formatting, it used just the bare basics i.e the board, power supply, SD card with Raspberry Pi OS Lite, and obviously the external drive.
The guide also wants me to format the drive as part of the setup. Is it possible to make my Pi-NAS a NAS without formatting the drive first? or am i in a bad spot because the drive is formatted NTFS. I've used less than 2TB, maybe i can make a 3TB partition in ex-fat or fat32 or whatever it needs, move the files, then delete the NTFS partition etc. to make it the full 6TB in whatever file system needed.
I could get a Pi 3 B+ or I could get a Pi 4 1/2/4GB. I'm sure the best option is the Pi 4 4GB, but is that overkill for my situation?
I just want the cheapest way to access this 6TB drive from my tablet and other PC. I was told a NAS was the way to go, but I do not have the money for a diskless NAS from Amazon just to buy more drives etc., The cheapest 2TB NAS i could find was $129 from Buffalo on Amazon.
It will take me forever to use up all 6TB, as I rarely add new files and i have 3TB free. I could also just use a powered hub with other large TB drives I have lying around. I was told the Pi-NAS would solve my problem for the least amount of money.
Sorry for the sporadic thoughts, I did my best to make this cohesive and understandable. My only experience with the Pi was the original Pi board and I only got as far as getting it to the desktop of the original Pi OS. Never messed with it or did any projects, so let's say I know nothing.
Statistics: Posted by thehehulk92 — Sun Apr 14, 2024 2:52 am