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PiBox Mini – Modular Raspberry Pi Storage Server

pibox.io

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Re: PiBox Mini – Modular Raspberry Pi Storage Server

#51

Post by erulabs »

sdenton4 wrote: post #45
anderspitman wrote: post #18

Interesting. Usually my critique for products like this is something along the lines of "great, but how are you going to access your data from the internet?" Typically the answer to that is you need some sort of tunneling service like ngrok to get around port forwarding, CGNAT, firewalls, etc. I maintain a list of solutions here[0]. The problem with most of these services is that they're targeted at developers and ar…

Well this makes it sound like it's targeted squarely at developers: "Finally, a NAS that lets you use a standard operating system that you’re used to, like Ubuntu or Raspberry Pi OS."

We're starting with technical users - if we can't get programmers to love home-hosting there isn't much hope for the average user. As we go, we're very focused on making sure people who have no idea what Debian is can make use of the product, but I'm sad to say we're not quite there yet.

Re: PiBox Mini – Modular Raspberry Pi Storage Server

#52

Post by funkaster »

normaler wrote: post #48
funkaster wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought a rockpro64 and a NAS case with space for 4 drives, I added a 4xSATA PCIe card. Right now it's a 4x4TB ZFS setup that has been running as my own home storage for over a year continuously. Very happy with it.

What kind oft write speeds do you get on zfs? I also have a rockpro64 with two 8tb WD red pro and in subvolumes with encryption i only get 70MB and in non encrypted 110MB. I already switched from aes256-gcm (the default) to aes256-ccm, since that is less taxing ob the CPU. I Start to get the feeling that zfs arm is not yet optimised enough.

how are you measuring it?

Re: PiBox Mini – Modular Raspberry Pi Storage Server

#53

Post by sxldier »

funkaster wrote: post #42
paranoidrobot wrote: post #39

I'm looking for something like this, but cheaper and for 3.5" drives. USD$250, plus shipping to Australia puts that just too high for what it offers. I own Synology NASs, but adding an expander for that is expensive. (AUD$800) The ODroid-HC4 looks promising, but their 'toaster' case design for it is awful, leaving the drives exposed and unable to put two atop each other. Ideally what I'd like is: - 1-2x 3.5" SATA dri…

I bought a rockpro64 and a NAS case with space for 4 drives, I added a 4xSATA PCIe card. Right now it's a 4x4TB ZFS setup that has been running as my own home storage for over a year continuously. Very happy with it.

Do you have a link or model for the NAS case?

Re: PiBox Mini – Modular Raspberry Pi Storage Server

#54

Post by revolvingocelot »

erulabs wrote: post #14

PiBox is built by us, KubeSail! We're a YC S19 company that focuses on home-hosting and shipping open-source software to customers. Happy to answer any questions!

Would you mind addressing this user's concerns [0] regarding the power supply? There's a serious allure to a NAS that actually runs a real OS and not some weird proprietary thing that's going to get pwned [1], and also isn't just a computer that I'm not using anymore.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28993970

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27713415

Re: PiBox Mini – Modular Raspberry Pi Storage Server

#55

Post by funkaster »

sxldier wrote: post #53
funkaster wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought a rockpro64 and a NAS case with space for 4 drives, I added a 4xSATA PCIe card. Right now it's a 4x4TB ZFS setup that has been running as my own home storage for over a year continuously. Very happy with it.

Do you have a link or model for the NAS case?

this is the case: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J353KH8/ - had to modify it a bit to fit the rockpro at the bottom, use an ethernet extension to connect the cable from the back and a hacky switch to turn it on. But it works now and it's pretty stable.

Re: PiBox Mini – Modular Raspberry Pi Storage Server

#56

Post by Fnoord »

shepherdjerred wrote: post #44
gonehome wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've heard good things about tailscale which does something magical I don't quite understand to get around NAT and allow access to your box in a secure way. I know (not so technical) people who have used it successfully.

I have no idea how Tailscale works, but it always does. I used to have a bastion host that I'd ssh into to access my home network. Now I just startup Tailscale and connect.

I just forward 51820 UDP on my router once, and use Wireguard. It always works.

Re: PiBox Mini – Modular Raspberry Pi Storage Server

#57

Post by pxeboot »

Aa9C4xPz43Gg7k6 wrote: post #49
pxeboot wrote: post #47

I was just looking for something like this, but I would prefer to use NVMe disks, which are now natively supported with the Compute Module 4.

Why? CM4 would still be externally accessible through 1Gbit/s.

Mostly size and power consumption. Four NVMe drives could almost fit in a traditional size Raspberry Pi case. It looks like it is also possible to do 2.5Gbit Ethernet on the CM4 [1].

[1] https://pipci.jeffgeerling.com/cards_network/rosewill-rc2000...

Re: PiBox Mini – Modular Raspberry Pi Storage Server

#58

Post by rlt »

anderspitman wrote: post #18

Interesting. Usually my critique for products like this is something along the lines of "great, but how are you going to access your data from the internet?" Typically the answer to that is you need some sort of tunneling service like ngrok to get around port forwarding, CGNAT, firewalls, etc. I maintain a list of solutions here[0]. The problem with most of these services is that they're targeted at developers and ar…

Maybe I’m paranoid, but I wouldn’t want to expose my NAS directly to the internet. At most via a VPN.

Re: PiBox Mini – Modular Raspberry Pi Storage Server

#59

Post by rlt »

gonehome wrote: post #40
anderspitman wrote: post #18

Interesting. Usually my critique for products like this is something along the lines of "great, but how are you going to access your data from the internet?" Typically the answer to that is you need some sort of tunneling service like ngrok to get around port forwarding, CGNAT, firewalls, etc. I maintain a list of solutions here[0]. The problem with most of these services is that they're targeted at developers and ar…

I've heard good things about tailscale which does something magical I don't quite understand to get around NAT and allow access to your box in a secure way. I know (not so technical) people who have used it successfully.

Tailscale tries a few things, from direct connection, to NAT traversal techniques, and as a last resort, relay servers run by Tailscale that both nodes can connect out to.

The “magic” is just that it’s all automatic works pretty much no matter what.

Re: PiBox Mini – Modular Raspberry Pi Storage Server

#60

Post by pastudan »

jagger27 wrote: post #17

I love everything about this except the included 15W power supply, which seems too low for a CM4, fan, display, two SSDs, and the SATA controller. The CM4 draws somewhere between 7 and 9 watts under peak load, and each SSD would be around 2W under load. That feels pretty tight already. I'm sure it would be totally fine at idle and low loads, but I just can't see it being enough juice at full load with two drives, esp…

We've done a lot of testing it doesn't get close to 15W of power, and also never trips the low voltage warning with the variety of 15W supplies I've used. We are including a 17.5W power supply with all boards to give it a little extra margin, just in case.
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