- System76 Meerkat is my workstation with pop-os, I have 2. a Beelink s13 that I have installed and configured fedora server headless with podman for a development lab, and for 3. My vision was a NAS Samba plus Jellyfin and Homeassistant device. NAS supports 2 ssd plugged directly into usb which host backup for Meerkat and s13.
For 3., I have tried unsuccessfully with a raspberry pi 5, not saying I have any skill whatsoever but I spent a significant amount of time and got so fucking close but it was not a sustainable system that I created in the end I moved on next to a GMK G3 plus which, out of the box, and immediately could not sustain connection to the ssd via usb, I methodically tested all the usb ports with both ssd devices and concluded that there was no fucking way this unit will sustain a connection to these usb ssd for any amount of time. So I am not using that device.
I have ordered and waiting to receive Beelink s12 and going to try that next for my 3. vision.
All that said, I am in the struggle and if anyone had kind words or advice, yes please.
Also, please shoot me straight: am I removed? Is this a recipe for failure? Is it unreasonable to run those services on s12? Is it foolish to think I can sustain two ssd via usb and backup via Samba with s12?
S13 and s12 are ethernet connected to router, Meerkat is wireless connected.
I genuinely appreciate any attention here, thank you for your time.
*Also wanted to add, earlier I got one of the refurbished servers, Lenovo I believe, off Amazon. It was advertised with 1 TB ssd. When it arrived, there was no ssd and the ribbon cable appeared damaged. Just adding that for the record here as well.
Hi. I am not sure I understand the issue correctly but I will try to help. I have two NucBox G3 and I never had issues with them, however I did had to understand something about USB ports. What is the maximum power in watts the g3 can provide to each USB 3 is 5W (source: their support after I emailed them). I was noticing that a nvme I had attached via usb to my g3/truenas was faiing constantly (https://sh.itjust.works/post/20409332) and in the end I realised this was due to power draw. I moved the "heavy consumption" nvme to the internal port and used the "low consumption" outside and I had no issue at all. I would also like to say that I had similar issues also on the PI4Bs (due to power consumption) and they too were hell to debug. I hope it helps and good luck.
Thank you, yes as this relates to my issues I have the concern about mini pcs being able to keep ssd mounted indefinitely via dedicated usb ports. The 5W figure is less than I hoped, I was hoping for 10. Will state again, the issue with the g3 was immediate and after testing I do believe it was a lemon. That said my experience here has opened my eyes to the limitations of these devices. Admitted that I am shooting for absolute minimum power consumption and using the cheapest shit I can find. Thank you for the data point on pi4bs, will be interesting to see what I get with s12. I can report back if it is of interest.