The ULTIMATE Raspberry Pi 5 NAS
This YouTube video details building a low-cost, four-bay Network Attached Storage (NAS) device using a Raspberry Pi 5, a RADxa SATA hat, and readily available components. Key points include:
-
Cost-Effectiveness: The project aims to create a NAS for under $150, significantly less than commercial alternatives.
-
Raspberry Pi 5 Advantages: The Pi 5’s faster processor and PCI Express support are crucial for improved performance compared to previous Raspberry Pi NAS attempts.
-
SATA Hat and Components: The build utilizes a RADxa Penta SATA hat, a 12V power supply, a fan (essential for cooling), and a microSD card. The hat’s use of a PCIe Gen 3x2 controller, however, limits potential bandwidth.
-
Assembly Challenges: The video documents the assembly process, highlighting the delicate nature of the FFC (flat flexible circuit) cables connecting the Pi 5 to the SATA hat and the need for careful installation to avoid damage. The creator modifies the heatsink to accommodate the power connector.
-
Initial Bottlenecks: Early testing reveals that the NAS initially doesn’t recognize the hard drives due to a PCI Express setting that needs to be enabled manually. The SATA controller operates at PCIe Gen 2 speed initially, limiting bandwidth. Switching to PCIe Gen 3 improves performance, but doesn’t reach the full potential of the controller.
-
Performance Benchmarking: Benchmarks using fio show impressive sequential read/write speeds in RAID 0 (almost 900 MB/s), but random access is significantly slower. Testing with Samba reveals write speeds consistently around 110 MB/s, bottlenecked by the Pi’s internal bus, but read speeds are much higher, reaching nearly line speed. Significant differences in benchmark results are also noted between Mac OS and Windows, highlighting the importance of the benchmarking platform.
-
Thermal Management: The SATA controller gets quite hot during operation, necessitating active cooling (a fan is strongly recommended).
-
2.5 Gigabit Networking: To improve network speeds, a Pineberry Pi Hat Net 2.5G adapter is added, using a Hat Brick Commander to manage the Pi 5’s single PCIe lane. This setup achieves approximately 2 Gbps, boosting read speeds notably, but write speeds see only moderate improvements.
-
Open Media Vault (OMV): The creator installs OMV7, demonstrating its ease of use in managing the ZFS RAIDZ1 array. This setup proves power-efficient compared to pre-built NAS units.
-
Final Performance and Conclusion: Final results show that write speeds are significantly impacted by the system’s limitations, while read speeds achieve near-line speed performance. While the project’s performance isn’t as high as commercial NAS, the low cost and power efficiency are significant advantages. The creator highlights the importance of considering OS and benchmarking software for accurate performance evaluations.