Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Always on low power home server

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 139 posts

Re: Ask HN: Always on low power home server

#11

Post by bayindirh »

viraptor wrote: post #10
bayindirh wrote: post #7

I'd again recommend a Raspberry Pi (ideally 4 with 4GB+ RAM), but with some modifications. - You can choose an high endurance MicroSD card to maximize its life. - You can delegate big file storage to something external (a HDD or SSD w/USB 3.0 connection). If you want something small, SanDisk Extreme Pro USB stick is a real SSD with USB-SATA bridge inside and 400MB/sec throughput. - Armbian writes logs and swap to RAM…

> You can choose an high endurance MicroSD card to maximize its life. You can also use whatever cheap card just for bootup, then immediately change root to a `/` mounted from an SSD.

That's another choice, of course. I'm in my lazy era. I don't tune/fix anything up unless it's broken :)

Since Armbian doesn't write to the SD card too much anyway, keeping the box compact is the more attractive option for me, for now.

High Endurance SD cards are not exactly expensive anyway. With the rise of dash cams and Go Pros, every major manufacturer has clearly labeled HE SD cards.

Re: Ask HN: Always on low power home server

#13

Post by jrudolph »

I run a Ubiquiti UDM Pro as the router for my home network and slapping a few additional containers (it uses podman) on top like pi hole is doable e.g. using https://github.com/boostchicken/udm-utilities

I use it for pi hole and rclone backups.

It’s not exactly great as a home server if you want total freedom/control but it has a decent ARM SoC, a swappable 3.5“ drive bay and even though it’s got a fan I can’t hear it .

I only use it because it’s obviously running anyway and that was the least expensive way to add some things I wanted to my local network.

Re: Ask HN: Always on low power home server

#14

Post by Raed667 »

I'm using the cheapest Synology NAS (DS119j) paired with an SSD. It runs between 10-5 watts.

However it might be a bit limited in terms of computing power to run Kodi and all the other uses you want in parallel.

It has a fan but I have never heard it make any noise.

So depending on your needs it could be an easy "setup and forget" kind of box.

Re: Ask HN: Always on low power home server

#17

Post by ysleepy »

colinhb wrote: post #15

My favorite platform is PC Engines APU 2. Consider something like the apu2e4 with its aluminum case and a msata card. I turn them into routers, media servers, Bitcoin nodes, etc. More expensive than Pies but I’ve had great success with them. https://www.pcengines.ch/apu2.htm

I deployed one, it is good hardware, but the performance is pretty low, behind an rpi3.

The advantages of x86 aren't really realized because you only have serial port and run of the mill installers aren't all handling it well.

I'd only go for it for router purposes. no way you can run a re-encoder on it for media use.

Re: Ask HN: Always on low power home server

#19

Post by kawsper »

jrudolph wrote: post #13

I run a Ubiquiti UDM Pro as the router for my home network and slapping a few additional containers (it uses podman) on top like pi hole is doable e.g. using https://github.com/boostchicken/udm-utilities I use it for pi hole and rclone backups. It’s not exactly great as a home server if you want total freedom/control but it has a decent ARM SoC, a swappable 3.5“ drive bay and even though it’s got a fan I can’t hear i…

Oh nice! It works on the non-pro dream-machine as well.

Re: Ask HN: Always on low power home server

#20

Post by harperlee »

I’m also interested! It would also be great if knowledgeable people comment on cheapest options. RPi options typically end up around $100. There once was the CHIP computer for $10 that included storage, wifi (but not ethernet), for example, but not anymore. Quantity has a quality of its own and all that...
Post reply on HN