Prepare a Raspberry-Pi-4 for Information/Media Central Store

Preparing a Raspberry Pi 4 for a DIY low cost home network attached photos/media storage archive.

I have tried different commercially available NAS (Network Attached Storage) solutions in the past. They make it easy to have a backup of photos and documents locally. This time I managed to build such a device myself. Being a DIY, I know what software/hardware components are in it, and gives me full access for any level of customization.

It does a handful of different functions. Primarily this is a photo & document backup solution. As a secondary benefit it’s also a PiHole (a network wide DSN based ad-blocker), Wireguard server (a virtual private network/VPN) gateway, a DDNS(Dynamic Domain Name System) client, and Plex media server for my local media.

This post covers setup of Raspberry Pi 4. Next post will cover installing specific applications.

Hardware

I picked a Raspberry Pi 4 8GB as the computer. It is small yet powerful enough for this purpose. It comsumes low energy of <5W, for an always on computer this is important. It is fanless, noiseless, has great open source software support, runs Linux, and has fast enough IO ports. Along with that I used a compatible power supply, a powered USB3.0 hub to connect all the drives, an external 2.5” HDD, an external 2.5” SSD, and an Ethernet connection.

Overview of the process

1. Install Ubuntu
2. Install Docker
3. Setup External SSD
4. Setup Applications

Install Ubuntu

This is a standard process. You can follow instructions on official Raspberry Pi site to install Ubuntu Desktop 21.10 64-bit. For the OS installation I chose an external 2.5” HDD. It can be more reliable and faster compared to an SD card. Installation may need attaching a display and keyboard/mouse to the Raspberry Pi. While they are still attached remember to install/configure sshd for remote access.

Install Docker

Installing docker is again running a few commands to add the respository to apt and installing a few packages. Follow the official guide from Docker website. Nothing special here.

Setup External SSD

I planned to use an SSD for storing all the data I backup, and for hosting various software components dealing with my photos and data. An SSD gives higher performance, consumers less power, and is more resilient for mechanical vibrations. I setup the SSD with LUKS encryption. See my other post on how to setup a USB SSD with LUKS.

Applications

In the next post we will cover installing applications for all the required functionalities.