Jan-Lukas Else

Thoughts of an IT expert

An SSD for the Pi

Published on 2021-10-04 in 💭 Thoughts

Short link: https://b.jlel.se/s/4ef

⚠️ This entry is already over one year old. It may no longer be up to date. Opinions may have changed.

So far I have been running my Raspberry Pi with an SD card. But since I don’t quite trust SD cards (I’ve heard that they wear out quickly when a lot is written to them), I’ve now equipped the Pi with an SSD.

I still had the 2.5-inch SATA SSD left over from my desktop computer, which I recently upgraded to a faster NVMe. First, I ordered a power supply that delivers 3.5 instead of 3 amps, and second, an adapter sleeve to connect the SSD to the Pi via USB.

First I tried to clone the SD card to the SSD, only to find that Ubuntu 20.04 still won’t boot from USB without problems. After updating the firmware and firmware settings again using the Raspberry Pi Imager, I played Ubuntu Server 21.04 directly onto the SSD. With that, the boot went smoothly.

The SSD now allows me to enable logging in AdGuard Home with a clear conscience and possibly install Home Assistant and a few smart thermostats in the apartment soon (so far I don’t have a smart home at all). But for that I need to learn more about the wireless standards (Z-Wave and ZigBee) and Home Assistant itself.

Tags: Raspberry Pi

Interactions & Comments

Jan-Lukas Else My first Smart Home steps I recently wrote about that my Raspberry Pi now has an SSD. With this, the Pi now runs quite fast and I also no longer have any concerns if I ever install something that also stores data. I even wrote in the last paragraph that I now want to get a bit involved with smart home.No sooner said than done. Immediately after publishing the post, I installed Home Assistant and tried it a bit. After integrating my router (a FRITZ!Box) and AdGuard Home with Home Assistant and getting a feel for integr…
- Mike Harley 🇺🇸 🏳️‍🌈 @en I was going to email but I couldn't find a published email address. :PFor me, I think there's some value in automating lights switching on/off with the time of day. For instance, at 8am my gf and I have both went to our offices tand we had a habit of leaving things on. I setup some automation to turn off everything in the kitchen, bedroom, living room, etc. 15 minutes before sunset, let's turn on the patio string lights and a couple lamps in the house.
- Mike Harley 🇺🇸 🏳️‍🌈 @en We're using Siri for now but could also do this with buttons, but then having a "let's go to sleep" routine is some piece of mind IMO. Set all the lights to the appropriate on/off position, turn on the bedroom ceiling fan.
- Mike Harley 🇺🇸 🏳️‍🌈 @en Overall, I do think less is more though. Plus, I never want to *have* to reach for my phone to do a thing. I always want the ability to push a button to turn a light on in a particular room.Anyhoo, my two cents. :D
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