diy - DIY & Electronics

Running a file server on a RPi is very slow because its USB and ethernet ports share their performance or something. At least I experienced ridiculous download speeds

cool project, i cant really help you though

>I haven't used a raspPi or GPIO before so I'm not sure they can do what I want them to.
>I think relays are the way to go, but I'm not certain.
uhm yeah i have not done it either but yes, you need some kind of relay that reacts to your GPIO-low-or-high-signal

>IDE
what the fuarrrk? is that still used?

what is the switchboard?

>>660
he plugs SATA HDDs into his raspi, OP picture related, so your argument is invalid

>>659
uhm op

>like the (Pi 1) Model B+, it also has:

> 4 USB ports
> 40 GPIO pins
> Full HDMI port
> Ethernet port
> Combined 3.5mm audio jack and composite video
> Camera interface (CSI)
> Display interface (DSI)
> Micro SD card slot
> VideoCore IV 3D graphics core
the raspi doesn't support SATA HDDs

there are alternatives that do though and don't cost much more

>>661
>RPI
>SATA
uhm, what?

>>663
yeah i just noticed. or are you plugging them into the usb ports or something? i'm confused

>>664
I guess USB would be the only option (and that'd be hella slow as I mentioned)

>>665
You'll go to hell if you do that. Trust me, I know about that.

>>660
That sucks, I'll look into it.

>>661
>what the fuarrrk? is that still used?
I have some laying around and want to use them for backups and whatnot.

>what is the switchboard?
A bunch of wall socket connectors where I can plug devices and use relays to control which of them get current.
I've made a similar thing, but using normal switches instead of relays.

>he plugs SATA HDDs into his raspi
That's meant to be done with a HDD carry, like those of external drives. Not an elegant solution, because voltage.
Sorry >>662 >>663 for not pointing that out.

>>666
I don't need a lot of speed, but was it al least usable?

>>667
it would be faster just downloading from the internet with most connections

I wanted to connect my external HDD over USB to RPi but it looks like the drive has not enough power to run. I hear it restarting continously. Could this be possible? Using 2A charger to RPi.

>>669
yep, the RPi is not suited for powering a hard drive. Especially older HHDs/controllers need more power to run (at least mine do)

>>667
hmm

banana pi seems like a nice alternative
http://www.davidhunt.ie/raid-pi-raspberry-pi-as-a-raid-file-server/

the way to go for the rasperry pi seems to be USB RAID controllers.. ugh, the search results are soykaf, i give up

>>670
is there any way to make it work?

>>672
if your hard drive has an additional power input simply plug it in, if not use a Y-cable and plug one wire into an USB power supply

I could use a netbook for the file server and an arduino for controlling the relays, but then I think I wouldn't be able to control the switchboard through SSH unless I get a PCDuino, but those are more expensive.

>>669
Can you power the drive externally?

>>671
>banana pi seems like a nice alternative
Yeah, seems better than a RPi for this, thanks.

>>673
I didn't think of that. Thanks for help. Maybe now I will be able to make this little FTP home server.

Relevant to the thread:
http://www.htpcguides.com/power-2-5-hard-drive-with-raspberry-pi-b/
>If you have a small portable 2.5″ hard drive that draws power from the USB port, you can make this work without the need for an external power supply with the Raspberry Pi Model B+. You will be modifying how the GPIO pins on the Pi work, specifically turning pin 38 on. This means you can double the current over the USB bus from 600mA to 1200mA so you can actually power external USB devices through the Raspberry Pi itself.

buy a beaglebone black. my Rpi couldn't serve files for longer than a day at a time. And now it won't even turn on. beaglebone keeps on tickin' tho.

I've come to think of this.
I buy a large HDD and a Banana Pi or Cubieboard and set them up like in this pic. Added a keyboard because I might be off the LAN when I'm connected to the internet with the laptop.
SSH or shortcut keys would control the relays to cut/send current to the switchboard's sockets, and play music from the hard drive.
The other drives can serve as cold storage for backups.

It still has two wall plugs, and I have to come up with some sort of case.

>>677
Seems to me that yours was under some heavy usage.
If both could do what I want, I'd choose the cubie over a RPi because the hardware is more open, IIRC the only binary blobs were for the GPU while the Pi has a binary bootup thing.
Source: FSF.

>>676
This is exactly what I've done with the RPi 2 Model B. I have it downloading torrents onto the external HDD and then serve them as a samba share. Over a wired link from computer->router->RPi I copy the files across at 10MB/s. It also mentions in the link you will need a 2A power supply.

>>678
A single HDD connected would definitely make things a lot easier. Whichever you decide to use, just make sure you can power the USB devices whether by USB, USB hub or for the HDD, a caddy.

Sounds like a cool project though. I'll keep it in mind for when I start renting my own place. Let us know how it goes.

>>679
>This is exactly what I've done with the RPi 2 Model B
>copy the files across at 10MB/s
Does powering the device from the Pi have something to do with transfer speed? Anyway, that's some good speed, maybe I won't need to get a Banana Pi if I use just one HDD.
Can you still use the other USB ports for other things?

>for the HDD, a caddy
Or this >>676, right?
Because I had some creepy experiences using ext powered caddies and USB hubs.

>Let us know how it goes.
Of course

>>680
>Does powering the device from the Pi have something to do with transfer speed?
No.
>Can you still use the other USB ports for other things?
Maybe? The ACTUAL power requirements still confuse the soykaf out of me.
https://www.raspberrypi.org/help/faqs/#powerReqs
https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/hardware/raspberrypi/usb/README.md#powerlimits
https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/hardware/raspberrypi/power/README.md

The documentation links haven't been updated since last year, so they might not represent the RPi 2. And it might not even be correct according to http://hackaday.com/2015/02/02/introducing-the-raspberry-pi-2/
And now I just learned why my HDD wouldn't work with my original 1A power supply. It would fail at spinning up the drive even though the spec says 500mA. Good to know.
http://superuser.com/questions/309088/power-related-limitations-of-a-usb-hard-drive-enclosure

At the very least, I have also had a keyboard and HDMI plugged in with this setup.

>>681
You can get a reader to measure your devices' real amperage and how well your cables support it. The values are usually worst than advertised.

I have yet to decide between USB-RPi and SATA-BPi, the latter is faster but less documented and the hardware is not open yet so I think I'd go for the RPi.
http://www.htpcguides.com/raspberry-pi-vs-pi-2-vs-banana-pi-pro-benchmarks/

Thanks for the links

>>659
I'm interested in making a machine to manage electricity and appliances in my house too OP, file-server would be separate in my case though.

If you figure out a way to adequately manage appliances, like relays, please post.

>>973
I stopped looking into it, but if you look around you'll find videos telling you how to manage relays using rPis or Arduinos.
Right now I'm using a diy thing I made out of electrical materials I had around, ditched the SSH part.
It consists of (from the wall) a meter of cable, then a box of four wall outlets (or sockets) (you can buy a plastic box to use them external to the wall), then two or three meters of cable and a second box that consists of two more outlets and a bunch of switches that can cut the energy to the four other sockets.

I sometimes have the paranormal experience of turning on or off the amp I use for music and causing my flash drives to go read-only until I change the mount point and my keyboard layout go back to default, on my computer that's also connected to this godforgotten device I made.
Has /diy/ gone too far?

>I think relays are the way to go, but I'm not certain.

You'd better be real, real certain.
>murca
120 volts at 60 cycles is lethal because the power company will happily deliver an infinite number of amps to your tender organs.

go to your library, pick up a book on basic AC wiring. buy a voltmeter.

invest in optic relays, quality enclosures and a firm understanding of how to terminate single-phase grounded mains circuits. optic relays isolate your pi but require relay power separate from the pi.

your switchboard needs to include a breaker circuit, lightning arrestor/surge protector/power conditioning if youre hooking anything but a fridge or a lightbulb to it.

TL;DR: ISHYGDDT.

a BETTER idea would be to buy relays with DC triggers that interface with EXISTING mains wiring. EG a plug that includes a trigger point for a DC +5 voltage. IP addressable surge protectors exist that can power on/off things too.