Raspberry Pi Forums

Hello everybody, I'm a noob in Raspberry Pi and I never owned one.
I currently use a home server for hosting all kind of things and doing all kind of things. Is an old P4 with 2Gb Ram and 500Hdd running Ubuntu. I was wondering if I can replace this system with a raspberry pi 3.
I watched the specs but I'm not too convinced about it. Did anybody use it like a home server? ..or should I say as a server?
I've seen it has a card slot but I want to use a HDD because we all know cards are not very reliable. However the only documentation I found was using SATA to USB cables but this solution is not that great. USB speed is slow compared to SATA . Is there any other way to connect a SATA (notebook let's say HDD) to the raspberry pi 3 and benefit from full speed?
Also, what other accessories I should get? A case is a must, a power supply... I'm not sure which one because I rather build one myself for reliability. I don't trust those Notebook type adapters made in China. I need to be stable.
Another question.. how about heat dissipation? Do I need coolers? I should use coolers.. I think.
What kind of OS should I use? I know nothing about the OS's for Raspberry but as far I can see there are small versions of Linux distros and Windows 10. Of course I need Linux but it has all the modules I need to make a proper home server?
Please be understanding and don't throw eggs and tomatoes at me, I just want to know if this device could be a good replacement for my Pentium 4 home server or I will rather spend the money from Pi to electricity. That was my first thing in mind, reducing the power consumption. however I doubt the reliability or the hardware of this small computer.

Wow, that was a big block of text. To try and answer some of the points you asked.

The biggest issue with that type of setup on a Pi is the IO on the processor. On the Pi3 there are 3 relatively high speed buses, 2 SDIO channels one going to the SD card and one for the Wifi and then a single USB port. This USB port goes via a hub chip that provides the 10/100 network interface and 4x USB sockets on the board.

Currently the advised method to run the Pi is with it doing the initial boot from an SD card, for an easy setup you can have the rootfs on the SD card and then have a separate USB hard drive for data. Alternatively you can put the rootfs on the hard drive and just leave the firmware and kernel on the SD card (The Pi3 can also do the complete boot from a USB hard drive but that's still experimental so may be best to stay away from for now).

The question you need to determine is whether those IO limits are really an issue for you or not. If you're running an old P4 and 500GB hard drive I suspect it might not be a major limitation.

In terms of cooling the Pi doesn't need any extra cooling, if the Soc gets too hot (80C) it'll start to throttle the speed down. Depending on the CPU load you may benefit from a heatsink on the SoC and possible a small fan depending on the case. For the power supply I'd recommend the official PSU which is rated at 5.1V and 2.5A.

In terms of OS the majority use raspbian which is based on debian (as is Ubuntu) so the environment will be similar to what you're used to. Other Linux distros exist and will also work although they may have bugs that have been fixed in raspbian. Windows 10 on the Pi is an IOT version so very different to what you're used to on the desktop.

As for whether it's a good fit for what you want that really depends on what your P4 system is doing. However the Pi is relatively cheap (even with a case, PSU and SD card) and will use a fraction of the power of your P4 (and any PC replacement) so is potentially worth a try first. If it doesn't fit your server requirements it'll be useful for various other things (learning programming, learning electronics, or just connect to the TV as a media center)

Thank you my friend. You answer has been quite comprehensive. My server is running 24/24 7/7 but the worst problem for me it seems the sd card boot. I think I would buy one and check the capabilities of the system, but reading your answer and also reading more about it I doubt a little.
I see this small computer (as you said) better for automations, robotics and converting a tv in a media center but as long I already own a pretty smart 4K tv, I think is not the case for me.
Also my concern are the bugs you mentioned as for overheating I think I could build myself a powerful radiator with a fan on it, but I guess this would exclude the case.
I really don't know..
The power consumption sounds good as I use a lot of electrical equipment and the prices nowadays are not cheap. Made some economies by replacing classic bulb with led ones but still I need to cut out.
Thank you for your advice and promptitude.

Regards Hardware, a Raspberry Pi 3B and the Official Power Supply.

Regards Storage a USB 2.5" Hard Drive (not one cobbled together with adaptors) and setup the Operating System to boot from MSD:

https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/pi-3-b ... orage-boot


.

Samyaza wrote:Thank you my friend. You answer has been quite comprehensive. My server is running 24/24 7/7 but the worst problem for me it seems the sd card boot. I think I would buy one and check the capabilities of the system, but reading your answer and also reading more about it I doubt a little.

Why do you see SD card boot as being a problem, with a good SD card there shouldn't be many issues. By placing the OS on the SD card and having a separate USB hard drive (look at the WD Pi labs drives) for data also get the option to do quick upgrades (swap out the SD card with one running a new image) without losing your data.

As has been mentioned it is also possible to boot from a USB drive on the Pi3B although this is relatively new so may still be some issues to deal with.

Samyaza wrote:Also my concern are the bugs you mentioned as for overheating I think I could build myself a powerful radiator with a fan on it, but I guess this would exclude the case.

You've not said what this home server is supposed to be doing so it's not really possible to comment on this. Depending on the sorts of tasks it's running you may find that overheating isn't an issue or at most you just need a small passive heat sink.