Building a DIY Cloud Platform with a Raspberry Pi and the Argon EON: How to Use Ubuntu's Logical Volume Management System for Maximum Storage Efficiency

In a previous post, I talked about the Argon EON, which is a device that allows you to connect four hard drives (two 3.5" drives and two 2.5" drives) to a Raspberry Pi. I've been using this device as a network-attached storage (NAS) to back up our main NAS at home, using Open Media Vault (OMV) for management.

OMV is a package that enables you to quickly set up and manage a home server. One of the benefits of OMV is that it offers plugins that allow you to customize the features of the server installation. I found the MergerFS plugin helpful to create a virtual file system that spans the different drives. However, I wasn't able to create a RAID, as the 3.5" drives were significantly larger than the 2.5" drives.

Since I wanted to use the Raspberry Pi in the Argon EON to try out some locally hosted cloud platforms, I wanted to make sure that I could use the collection of drives in the case for this installation. Unfortunately, I didn't find similar plugins to span multiple file systems in Nextcloud or OwnCloud. So I decided to manually create a logical volume with Ubuntu's Logical Volume Management (LVM) system.

Streamline Your Raspberry Pi Projects with DietPi: A Highly Efficient and Customizable Operating System

I was looking to start a new project for one of our Raspberry Pis.  The setup of these projects often requires installing an OS (for me, usually either Raspian or Ubuntu), and then downloading, installing and setting up the software for the project.  Before going through these steps again, I wanted to see if there was a way to make this setup easier, and I found DietPi.

DietPi is a lean, streamlined operating system that's been optimized specifically for single-board computers such as the Raspberry Pi and Odroid. It's an open-source project, which means it's free to use and modify, and it comes preloaded with a range of software that makes it easy to get started on your projects.

One of the great things about DietPi is how efficient it is. It's designed to work on hardware with limited resources, which makes it perfect for home automation, media centers, and network attached storage. This lean design also means that it requires minimal RAM and disk space to run, giving you more bang for your buck when it comes to using your hardware.

DIY Cloud Storage: A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up Nextcloud on Your Raspberry Pi

In this post, I'm going to walk you through the process of setting up Nextcloud on a Raspberry Pi using NextcloudPi. If you're looking for a secure and private file hosting platform, then Nextcloud is definitely worth checking out. And the best part is, you can host it on a Raspberry Pi, which is not only cheap but also powerful enough to handle Nextcloud. Let's dive in!

Materials Needed

• Raspberry Pi
• USB hard drive
• Ethernet cable
• MicroSD card
• Power supply for Raspberry Pi

Step 1: Install NextcloudPi

NextcloudPi is an image that contains everything you need to get started with Nextcloud, including Apache, PHP, and the Nextcloud software itself. Here's how you can install NextcloudPi on your Raspberry Pi:

1. Download the NextcloudPi image from the official website.
2. Use a tool like Etcher to flash the image onto an SD card.
3. Insert the SD card into your Raspberry Pi and boot it up.
4. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.