Raspberry Pi or banana pi for a simple NAS or Media server?

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Vrokxx

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#226354 3-Jan-2018 21:27

Hello,

I am trying to decide between getting a Raspberry Pi or a Banana Pi to use as a foundation for a small NAS machine or as a Music streaming board. I am leaning more towards the Raspberry Pi Zero W because it has Wifi and BT meaning all I need is power hooked up but in $NZD it isnt really that cheap (unless anyone here knows a cheaper way to get it other than on the Raspberry Foundations stores). The banana Pi is also a strong contender except it doesnt perform aswell as the Rasp Pi and it is around the same price. I dont really want to spend more than $25-$30 on a Pi so if someone can help me decide that would be great. :)

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meow
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#1928713 3-Jan-2018 22:02

It'll be slow. I wouldn't go for a Banana Pi or a Raspberry Pi for a NAS. I personally use an Odroid XU-4 as my home NAS and performance is great but this is a little outside your budget. Go with a more powerful single board computer...

Take a look at this: http://www.hardkernel.com/main/main.php

Also, take a look at the Odroid HC1: http://www.hardkernel.com/main/products/prdt_info.php?g_code=G150229074080

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Vrokxx

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#1928717 3-Jan-2018 22:08

They are a little out of my budget but I will keep those in mind. I was wanting a Pi so I could experiment with setting up a simple storage system and then reuse it when ive finished with it and its got a small footprint so I could hide it in anything and turn anything into something cool... just the price tag thats holding me off buying one

blakamin

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#1928744 3-Jan-2018 22:22

Pi Zero W tend to struggle just with a full version of raspian on them... They work, but with a desktop and VNC'ing in, you're already running the cpu over 50%.

Probably OK for something that you're SSHing into, or something basic.

I still haven't found anything "cool" to do with mine.

One day I might find something.

And I couldn't even sell it to you because postage would cost too much.

richms

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#1928746 3-Jan-2018 22:41

blakamin:

Pi Zero W tend to struggle just with a full version of raspian on them... They work, but with a desktop and VNC'ing in, you're already running the cpu over 50%.

Probably OK for something that you're SSHing into, or something basic.

I still haven't found anything "cool" to do with mine.

Retro gaming on really old arcade games is about it for them. So slow.

For nas stuff, an old pogo plug off ebay got me thru for a while.

Richard rich.ms

neb

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#1928788 4-Jan-2018 03:44

michaelmurfy:
It'll be slow. I wouldn't go for a Banana Pi or a Raspberry Pi for a NAS. I personally use an Odroid XU-4 as my home NAS and performance is great but this is a little outside your budget. Go with a more powerful single board computer...

Take a look at this: http://www.hardkernel.com/main/main.php

Also, take a look at the Odroid HC1: http://www.hardkernel.com/main/products/prdt_info.php?g_code=G150229074080

+1. A Raspberry Pi or equivalent is an educational toy, not something you'd want to use in production (despite vast amounts of IoT junk being built from it). It's underpowered, has a USB-based network interface, poor storage management, and many other problems that aren't an issue when it's being used as a teaching toy, but are going to cause all sorts of issues if you try and use it in production. I'd also go with an Odroid, or an Alix APU if you can afford it.

michaelmurfy

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#1928789 4-Jan-2018 05:01

@vrokxx you'll struggle with the Raspberry Pi W, it is so slow. There is an Odroid there that is almost the same price as the Raspberry Pi 3 and also quite a bit faster, has gigabit Ethernet etc. You get what you pay for.

It is well worth splashing out just that little more on a better SBC.

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PANiCnz

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#1928809 4-Jan-2018 07:47

Another option would be the Marvell ESPRESSObin. Even has a SATA interface.

Resnick

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#1928828 4-Jan-2018 08:21

Another nudge for an odroid from me. In addition to gigabit ethernet on the odroid, the usb and ethernet ports on the Rasperry pi3 effectively share the same bus. I found this to be quite noticeable.

lchiu7

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#1928839 4-Jan-2018 09:01

I use my Pi's a Plex clients (with a Windows Plex server) and they work well for that (over ethernet). The sharing of ethernet and USB is not an issue for me since the Plex client only uses the USB port for a keyboard emulator. I also use one to run OpenHAB which again isn't too taxing.

Just for kicks I installed the Logitech Media Server on a Pi accessing my Windows based media shares using SAMBA. That also worked okay. But given what I have learnt about the Pi using the same port for ethernet and USB using it as a NAS or Plex Server might be a bridge too far for it.

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timmmay

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#1928879 4-Jan-2018 10:06

Pi2 is fine as a client running Kodi inc 1080p videos. I wonder if a Pi3 might have the power to run a NAS. They don't have to do that much, mostly grab files from storage and put them onto the network. Gigabit networking would be nice to necessary, which I don't think the Pi's have.

hellonearthisman

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#1928969 4-Jan-2018 12:09

I would go with an oDroid USB3.0 and Gigabit network. But if you are on a budget.
An Orange Pi (with 8GB emmc storage] and a NAS expansion card
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Orange-Pi-PC-Plus-ubuntu-linux-and-android-mini-PC-Beyond-Raspberry-Pi-2/32668618847.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Orange-Pi-Zero-NAS-Expansion-board-Interface-board-Development-board-beyond-Raspberry-Pi/32789632568.html

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lchiu7

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#1928972 4-Jan-2018 12:24

timmmay:

Pi2 is fine as a client running Kodi inc 1080p videos. I wonder if a Pi3 might have the power to run a NAS. They don't have to do that much, mostly grab files from storage and put them onto the network. Gigabit networking would be nice to necessary, which I don't think the Pi's have.

Pi2 is fine as a client but every now and then I can see some stuttering on HD 1080P content with HD audio. I also have a Pi3 similarly configured so will try that out.

The Pi has one advantage over the Popcorn hour I currently use which it is has a nice Plex client. But it won't handle lossless audio like DTS MA or Dolby TrueHD while the Popcorn Hour will. I also have a Samsung UHD player with a decent Plex client but it observes Cineavia copy protection which can be a nuisance :-)

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

timmmay

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#1929006 4-Jan-2018 12:36

Yes the Pi2 does stutter occasionally on 1080p. I think the 100Mbps network is limiting at times as well.

lookout

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#1929160 4-Jan-2018 16:19

I have used a Pi 3 running OpenMediaVault as a NAS. It works okay - transfer speeds aren't great and it can't really handle more than 1 read/write job at once. Worked well as a Samba share for Infuse and Kodi.

PANiCnz

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#1929166 4-Jan-2018 16:33

IF cheap is the name of the game, something like the NanoPi NEO Core2 would be a better option than the Raspberry Pi. It at least has Gigabit Ethernet and its not sharing the USB bus like the RPi. There's also NAS kit for it like the Orange Pi referenced above.

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