Yes. USB gives me a theoretical max of 480 MB/.A comparison HDD gives me about 8 more TB, but then I have to worry about the drives failing and a power supply.

Less power draw, more stable, so much faster…yeah, the only real advantage to actual platters now is capacity, but at these capacities you’re likely dealing with very large files, so the convenience of an SSD is worth paying for imo

Not yet, but if I encounter anything I’ll try to come back and let you know. I’ve not used it extensively yet. I’ll admit I’m ignorant to different video transcoding formats too. I think I’ve used AV1, HEV, and x264 so far. If that makes sense? I may be able to answer you better if you walk me through what you mean, but I think it’s been pretty stable all around.

Look man…I finally got it fully configured around midnight last night and was excited to share lol.

• $30 Le Potato
• €5/mo for Mullvad VPN
• Optional $180 for a 4TB Crucial SS
• Some amount of $ to power the Le Potato
• Like 50-60 hours of configuration hell because I am/was a fucking moron when it comes to Linux and networking. So whatever my free time costs in shitty labor conversion.

Well, $180 at Best Buy for a 4TB Crucial SSD. My family is splitting the cost with me though, so really it’s like $30.

I know you’re just busting my balls, but some people will unironically bring that up as a point of contention. If I really wanted to, I could have just kept using the 64 GB flash drive I had laying around and just had a rotating library, but then it would limit how much time my family would have to watch shows before I had to roll them out for something else. And I didn’t like that personally.

Yeah, it was a fun hobby over the course of the last couple months and I learned a ton about linux, networking, server infrastructure (kinda), and troubleshooting!

I don’t like to be reliant on someone else’s software or hardware either, so that played a part as well. The library part is good as well because my family is much more likely to give a TV show or movie a try if they see that I added it and we can talk about it when I visit.

Thanks man! I think I’m going to let this setup sit for awhile before I do anything else to upgrade.

My hobbyist interests follow my fire making skills. I find a new and interesting hobby (kindling), then I do a little bit of research (stack twigs around the kindling), get started on this new hobby (use a match to light the kindling), discover just how deep the hobby can go(limbs and split logs), explore the advanced portions of this new hobby(toss the best looking wood onto my small fire in no semblance of order), be pleasantly surprised with my results(let the fire burn and go start a new one).

The next step is usually come back to a smoldering pit of ash and half-burned firewood, be annoyed, put the unburned wood in a pile, pour some diesel fuel over it, and flick a match onto it lol.

Make them

I appreciate the help, I’ll think on it a little more to decide if I should try to get a second SBC. Just from my little experience shopping for them, I can tell they’re tough to get for MSRP. So I don’t really want to deprive someone if I really don’t need it.