Replacing Google Photos with a Raspberry Pi 5 NAS

Backing up all your files in the cloud seems like a great idea at first. It’s simple to do, you can access your data from anywhere, and you have protection against data loss. But over time, as the amount of data you have stored grows, the costs start to rack up. Then comes the realization that there is no off-ramp — you have to pay whatever fee the provider is asking every single month or you lose everything. Moreover, many people do not like the idea of storing their private information in a cloud environment where it could be exposed at any moment.

Cutting the cord

It can be very difficult to get out of this situation, but with the right solution, it is possible. Computer hardware is very expensive these days, but even so, Redditor Tiago_Resende believes a DIY NAS device will pay off in the long term. For this reason, Tiago_Resende recently built a Raspberry Pi-powered NAS. The upfront costs are on the high side, but they free you from perpetual monthly expenses.

The system is built around a Raspberry Pi 5 8GB single-board computer. A Radxa Penta SATA HAT was included in the build to allow multiple hard drives to be attached to the computer. These drives include a set of four 1TB SSDs and a single 10TB HDD.

The SSDs are arranged in a RAID 5 configuration, which provides for faster reads and the ability to lose a drive without losing any data. This does, however, cut the storage capacity down to 3TB. The 10TB HDD is primarily used for weekly backups of the RAID array, but there is also some additional space left over that is used as a network drive.

The Raspberry Pi runs OpenMediaVault, which simplifies the setup and administration of a NAS. Immich, which is an alternative to Google Photos, was also installed on the system. With the help of WireGuard and Duck DNS, the drives can be safely accessed remotely.

Digital freedom for all

Tests show that the NAS performs quite well. Tiago_Resende noted that writes occur at nearly 300 MB/s, while reads top out at over 440 MB/s.

There is no build guide at this time, but the software used to create this NAS is well documented. It would take time to reproduce the project, but it wouldn’t be too terribly difficult to do if you’d like to create your own.