System on SATA / USB for OMV and Nextcloud

[metRo_]

Hi,

 

I'll install OpenMediaVault and Nextcloud on a tinkerboard and I would like to know if there is any advantage on run system on SATA / USB in this case and if it is possible to do this on tinkerboard since it was not clear for me on the docs.

 

Thank you

[xAda]

weird "bumping" this old question but here are some of my findings, just quick answer
(my tinkerboard runs on 2x USB-SATA HDD's, 1x 2TB, 1x 500gb, and 1x 1.5TB external hard drive)

1. flash firmware on your USB-SATA. it shuts down every 10 minutes or so, depending on the chip, but other firmware dont have those issues (eg, those HDD cloners). check your SATA-USB controller for reflashing. this is left as an exercise to the reader.

2. remember that tinkerboard isnt 4x usb but rather 2x USB device, 1 lane is reserved for the audio controller and the other lane is split to a Genesys 4USB hub controller. since this is USB2.0, you're stuck at 480Mbps, around 60MB/s transfer rates. since it's half-duplex, it's halved to 30MB/s on the hub alone. expect a max throughput of 30MB/s shared. real life performance may vary: i sometimes get full 30MB/s on one device, sometimes, all devices are just the slow. depends on your use case, 30MB/s is just *slow*

that's pretty much it about my experiences on the device. now i'm getting a used 500GB HDD running e2fsck. i hope it works well, for 2 days it seems okay. this is while one HDD runs tar while the other does downloading.

also be wary of power consumption: 3A on the whole device (take note without peripherals, tinkerboard runs at ~1A on idle and ~2.5A on full load) . go beyond that will cause instability (either boot issues, or in my case USB hub stops working.) i wont recommend using a hub (no issue in power, but slow-downs are a real pain in the butt) but instead those USB-Y splitters that split the device's power. use a separate USB power brick to power the devices alone (i taped my power lines going on the device's side, just to be safe.)

Edited January 26, 2023 by xAda