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Cheap, homemade NAS with Raspberry Pi
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<h1>Cheap, homemade NAS with Raspberry Pi</h1>
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<div id="article-date">2024-05-21</div>
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<p class="tags">
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<a href="/index/hardware.html" class="tag">hardware</a>
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<a href="/index/server.html" class="tag">server</a>
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<a href="/index/networking.html" class="tag">networking</a>
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<a href="/index/raspberry pi.html" class="tag">raspberry pi</a>
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<a href="/index/nas.html" class="tag">nas</a>
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<a href="/index/gnu/linux.html" class="tag">gnu/linux</a>
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<p>This is a very simple, cheap and quick way to get networked storage at home. It should not cost
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more than €120 for all the components (assuming you've got a network you can plug it into). It also
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offers more flexibility than a commercial NAS, because you can install any software you want on it.
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And if you already use the Raspberry Pi for something else, you can just add this to it and not
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worry about an extra device you need power, networking, space and maintenance for.
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</p><p>A Raspberry Pi is already 4-bay since it has 4 USB ports. You can use a hub for more drives,
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since no HDD will use the full potential of USB 3.0. Just keep in mind you need an adapter for each.
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</p><p>However, for large-scale use, this method should be done with a different type of computer, not
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a Raspberry Pi.
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</p><p>I assume you know some things about GNU/Linux, SSH, and networking. This guide is not for that;
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if you don't know these things read some material when you need it.
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</p><p>If you think this is for you, keep reading.
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</p><h2>Materials</h2><ul><li><p>Raspberry Pi, or another small computer that can run GNU/Linux, has a network and USB. I'm using
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the Pi 4 with 8GB of RAM, but you can use any model.
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</p></li><li><p>microSD card of at least 16GB (this won't be your primary storage but a boot device)
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</p></li><li><p>SATA drive(s), or USB drives - SATA drives are cheaper. Format the drive on your own computer;
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it's easier that way. Choose ext4 as the filesystem.
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</p></li><li><p>Suitable adapter(s) for the SATA drive(s).
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</p><ul><li><p>For Raspberry Pi 5 you could get a SATA HAT as it has PCIe, which is more efficient.
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</p></li><li><p>If your other kind of small computer has SATA, you can use that.
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</p></li><li><p>Otherwise get a USB to SATA adapter, one per drive. For older Raspberry Pis, don't get a
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SATA HAT, as they use USB as well but cost more for some reason. Please make sure to get one
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that can take power from a separate source if you're going to use 3.5" drives.
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</p></li></ul></li><li><p>A power supply for your computer. For Raspberry Pi, a phone charger of 5V and 3A (marketed
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as fast charging) is enough.
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</p></li><li><p>If you're using 3.5" SATA drives, a power supply for the adapter(s) if they don't come with one.
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</p><ol><li><p>5" drives need more power than USB can provide.
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</p></li></ol></li><li><p>If you want to use wired networking, a cable. If you want to use wireless networking and your
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computer doesn't have Wi-Fi, some Wi-Fi adapter.
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</p></li><li><p>If you have an SBC you should have a case, but it's not required. You can also use lego.
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</p></li><li><p>Some other computer. An Android phone is fine; just install <a href="https://termux.com/">Termux</a>.
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</p></li></ul><h3>My setup</h3><ul><li><p>Raspberry Pi 4 with 8GB of RAM (€80)
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</p></li><li><p>No-name 3.5" SATA to USB adapter with power supply (€18)
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</p></li><li><p>One Toshiba P300 4TB 3.5" SATA drive (€90). No RAID, but I copy important files to my own PC.
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</p></li><li><p>Raspberry Pi 15W power adapter (€9)
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</p></li><li><p>A 1.5m Cat6 cable (€3)
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</p></li><li><p>SanDisk Extreme 128GB microSD card (€15)
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</p></li><li><p>Official case (€6). Don't judge me, it's just a piece of plastic, and it's cheap. Don't forget
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Raspberry Pi is not Apple.
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</p></li></ul><p>Total: €221. Now, this is not the cheapest setup. I use that Pi for other things as well. You can
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certainly have a cheaper setup:
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</p><h3>Low-cost setup</h3><ul><li><p>Raspberry Pi 4 with 1GB of RAM (€40). I'd insist on getting a big Pi, as the Zero doesn't
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have wired networking, only one USB port, and too little RAM.
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</p></li><li><p>Cheaper no-name 3.5" SATA to USB adapter with power supply (€10)
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</p></li><li><p>One Toshiba P300 1TB 3.5" SATA drive (€50)
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</p></li><li><p>Phone charger (€6, if not already owned)
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</p></li><li><p>No cable, use Wi-Fi (I assume you have Wi-Fi)
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</p></li><li><p>SanDisk Ultra 32GB microSD card (€7)
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</p></li><li><p>No case
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</p></li></ul><p>Total: €113, with drive included!
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</p><p>What about a "real" NAS?
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</p><p>Cheapest NAS I could find is €180! It is 1-bay and has 1GB of RAM. It doesn't do anything else,
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it doesn't use standard protocols, it runs a proprietary OS, it's bulkier and much more expensive.
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(The brand is Synology.)
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</p><p>No, it doesn't come with drives. Using the same drive as above, it would reach €230.
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</p><p>Well, it's plug-and-play but that makes it much more restricted. Also, it does have a warranty
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and professional support. However, it's not the kind of NAS a business would use either.
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</p><h2>Setup (skip if you already have the computer set up)</h2><ol><li><p>Flash your microSD card. Raspberry Pi recommends <a href="https://www.raspberrypi.org/software/">their own (free) software</a>,
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but there are other methods as well. Choose an OS without a GUI: Raspberry Pi OS Lite, Ubuntu
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Server or plain Debian. Make sure to enable SSH and preset the Wi-Fi settings if you're going
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to use Wi-Fi.
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</p></li><li><p>Put the card in the computer, plug in the network and start it.
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</p></li><li><p>Find out the IP address of the computer. You can use your router's web interface, or a network
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scanner. Now is a good time to set up a static IP address for the computer, forward its ports
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and get dynamic DNS if you want to access it from the internet. <a href="https://ydns.io/">YDNS</a> is a
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really simple and free service for that. Their official client is also free software.
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</p></li><li><p>Connect to your server via SSH. On GNU/Linux or Macintosh you can use the preinstalled <code>ssh</code>
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client. On Windows, you can use <a href="https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/latest.html">PuTTY</a>.
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</p></li><li><p>Set a root password with <code>sudo passwd</code>. Then <code>su</code>.
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</p></li><li><p>Update the system with <code>apt update && apt -y upgrade</code>.
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</p></li></ol><h2>Set up the drives</h2><p>You must edit the <code>/etc/fstab</code> to automatically mount the drives on boot. If you know how to do
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this, you can do it yourself. For the rest of the tutorial the mount point will be <code>/storage</code>.
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</p><ol><li><p>Turn off the computer and plug in the drive(s).
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</p></li><li><p>Turn on the computer.
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</p></li><li><p><code>lsblk</code> to find the drive(s). They should be <code>/dev/sd</code> followed by a letter. For now we'll
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only take car of one drive, but you can do the same for multiple drives.
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</p></li><li><p>Find the drive's UUID with <code>blkid /dev/sdX1</code>.
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</p></li><li><p>Add the drive to the <code>/etc/fstab</code> as such:
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</p><pre data-language="">UUID=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000 /storage ext4 defaults 0 2
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</pre></li></ol><p>Replace the UUID with the one you found and, if you want, the mount point (<code>/storage</code> in this
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case) with another one, and the filesystem to match the one you formatted the drive with. Change
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the last column to <code>0</code> to disable fsck for that drive.
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</p><ol><li><p><code>mkdir /storage</code> to create the mount point.
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</p></li><li><p>Reboot.
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</p></li></ol><h2>Give each user their private directory</h2><p>We'll mirror the home layout. However, we won't move the existing home directories, because then
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users can't use the SD card, and you may have some other apps to run on the server that you want
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to be separate from the mass storage.
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</p><p>Write a systemd service to create the directories on boot. Give it a name inside <code>/etc/systemd/system/</code>,
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like <code>/etc/systemd/system/setup_storage_dirs.service</code>
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</p><pre data-language="ini">[Unit]
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Description=Update private user storage spaces
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[Service]
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Type=oneshot
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ExecStart=/usr/bin/python3 /usr/local/bin/setup_storage_dirs.py
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[Install]
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WantedBy=multi-user.target
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</pre><p>And the script <code>/usr/local/bin/setup_storage_dirs.py</code>:
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</p><pre data-language="python">#!/bin/python3
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import os
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import subprocess
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from pathlib import Path
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homes = Path("/home").glob("*")
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storage_path = Path("/storage") # change this if you changed the mount point
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for home in homes:
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if home.is_dir():
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user = home.name
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storage = storage_path/user
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bound = home/"Storage" # change this if you'd like a different name
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if not storage.exists():
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os.makedirs(storage)
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os.chown(storage, home.stat().st_uid, home.stat().st_gid)
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os.chmod(storage, 0o700)
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if not bound.is_dir():
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os.makedirs(bound)
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os.chown(bound, home.stat().st_uid, home.stat().st_gid)
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os.chmod(bound, 0o700)
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# Using bind mounts; some file managers don't like symlinks
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subprocess.run(["mount", "--bind", str(storage), str(bound)])
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</pre><p>Reboot. Now each user has a private directory on your drive at <code>~/Storage</code>. You can add more
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users; each will get their own directory only they can access.
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</p><h2>Using the server</h2><p>This guide does not cover setting up sharing protocols. However, we will use SFTP (FTP over SSH)
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because it's plug-and-play, the speed difference is negligible, it integrates with system users,
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it's native (works in the system file manager, no web needed) and, last but not least, it's encrypted.
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</p><p>Since you set up the OS to use SSH, you can use SFTP. All file managers can connect to SFTP
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servers, except for Windows Explorer, in which case you can use WinSCP. This is not my problem,
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it's Microsoft's problem. Even the preinstalled file manager on Samsung phones can use an SFTP
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add-on. Not like Next"cloud"¹ is more integrated.
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</p><p>If you want to mount it there is the <code>sshfs</code> program as well. This is useful if you don't like
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GUI file managers or want easier access to the files.
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</p><h3>SFTP in the terminal</h3><pre data-language="sh">sftp -oPort=22 user@server
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</pre><p>If you use port 22, you can omit the oPort option. The commands are identical to the ones in the
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classic <code>ftp</code> client.
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</p><h3>SSHFS</h3><pre data-language="sh">sshfs user@server:/storage/user ~/server
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</pre><p>Second argument is the "mount point". If you want to unmount it:
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</p><pre data-language="sh">fusermount -u ~/server
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</pre><h3>SFTP in the file manager</h3><p>Graphically, you can access SFTP by typing <code>sftp://user@server</code> in the address bar (works in most
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cases) or by finding an option to connect to a server.
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</p><h4>Nemo (GNU/Linux)</h4><p>File > Connect to server > select type <code>SSH</code>
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</p><h4>Material Files (Android)</h4><p>Menu > Add storage > SFTP server
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</p><h4>Amaze (Android)</h4><p>Plus button > Cloud connection > SCP/SFTP Connection
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</p><h4>Windows</h4><p>Windows Explorer doesn't natively support SFTP. WinSCP is a good client for it, and it's free
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software.
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</p><h4>Samsung phone file manager (Android)</h4><p>Storage space section > Network storage space > Update the app when prompted > Plus > SFTP server
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</p>
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