What storage to buy for Rasplex

[matb]

Hello, I'm going to buy a Raspberry Pi for Rasplex and I want to make the best out of it with a small budget. I did use the search but didn't found a solid topic.

 

I want to have the best performance so I'm gonna install Rasplex on a USB-stick instead of a SDcard. But I've read I still need to have a SDcard to boot.

So what are the best specifications (storage/class/USB 3.0) for BOTH storages? Enough to make the best out of it, but no overkill.

 

Thanks for you advice.

[Snurre2010]

8GB SDHC card


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[dlanor]

Hello, I'm going to buy a Raspberry Pi for Rasplex and I want to make the best out of it with a small budget. I did use the search but didn't found a solid topic.
 
I want to have the best performance so I'm gonna install Rasplex on a USB-stick instead of a SDcard. But I've read I still need to have a SDcard to boot.
So what are the best specifications (storage/class/USB 3.0) for BOTH storages? Enough to make the best out of it, but no overkill.
 
Thanks for you advice.

When you'll be using a USB3 stick the SD card will only be used for the initial boot sequence, so its size is not very important.

Anything from 2 GB up is supposed to work fine with RasPlex anyway, though the new precaching methods increase the storage demand for those not using a USB3 stick, and especially if you have a large library with lots of Movies and TV shows, to increase precache size.

But when you use a USB3 stick that will be used for all main storage needs, so the SDcard storage space won't matter much.
And for the USB3 stick anything from 8GB and up should be able to handle a sizable library.
I've used both 8GB and 16GB sticks for my library, currently holding 1306 Movies and 857 TV shows.

The speed of the SD card does matter, and I'd never buy a card that is less than Class 10 (the top class).
The class is not just a matter of speeding up the boot, but also of protecting the card against corruption.
You'll also probably want to overclock your RPi, and that would make low-class cards prone to corruption.
(Access to low class cards can be unreliable if the access cycles become too short.)

As for the USB3 stick, any decent brand/model should do fine. The RPi won't be able to work at the max speed of the best drives anyway, so you won't gain anything by wasting money on the most expensive ones. But don't use any USB2 stick, as they will be slower than a Class 10 SD card.

Best regards: dlanor

[matb]

Thank you very much! Just bought both storages for 10 euro :) So definitely cheap for me!

[mj12albert]

As for the USB3 stick, any decent brand/model should do fine. The RPi won't be able to work at the max speed of the best drives anyway, so you won't gain anything by wasting money on the most expensive ones. But don't use any USB2 stick, as they will be slower than a Class 10 SD card.

I thought the RPi only supports USB 2.0?

I'm currently shopping for storage to put in a RPi for Rasplex.

[dlanor]

I thought the RPi only supports USB 2.0?

The USB interface of the RPi is USB 2.0, but all USB3 sticks are backwards compatible to the USB 2.0 interface.
And good USB3 sticks are much faster than USB2 sticks, even when used with a USB 2.0 interface.
USB2 sticks never even get close to the max capacity of such a USB 2.0 interface, but USB3 sticks can exceed it.
So with a good USB3 stick you will be using that interface at or near max capacity.

 

I'm currently shopping for storage to put in a RPi for Rasplex.

With the latest improvements to RasPlex 0.4.0-rc4 there is only a slight GUI speed gain to be had from using USB3 sticks, as compared to using the best SDHC cards with UHS-1 certification. And if you use such a card without a USB stick the installation procedure is much simpler. (No need for special tools to expand Ext4 partition, as you would need if using a USB stick.) I've stopped using USB3 for my own RasPlex setup, though I still use them for some compatibility tests, and with other non-RasPlex programs (mainly BerryBoot).

So in your place I would go for getting a top quality SDHC card. This means one having both the Class10 logo and the UHS-1 logo, and preferably an explicit high-speed guarantee for both reading and writing.

The Class10 logo looks like a capital C 'surrounding' the digits "10".
The UHS-1 logo looks like a capital U 'surrounding the digit "1"

Here is a scan I made of one of the cards I've used recently.
This shows the appearance of the two logos I mentioned, which should be similar on cards of other brands as well, even if their placement on those cards is different.

Just be careful to get SDHC cards, and not the newer SDXC cards, as those are most likely incompatible.

Best regards: dlanor

[mj12albert]

I ended up getting the exact same one but 32gb, works perfectly!

4USD difference between 16gb and 32gb out here in Hong Kong  :lol:

Here is a scan I made of one of the cards I've used recently.
SDcard.png

[BazingaBen]

The USB interface of the RPi is USB 2.0, but all USB3 sticks are backwards compatible to the USB 2.0 interface.
And good USB3 sticks are much faster than USB2 sticks, even when used with a USB 2.0 interface.
USB2 sticks never even get close to the max capacity of such a USB 2.0 interface, but USB3 sticks can exceed it.
So with a good USB3 stick you will be using that interface at or near max capacity.

 

With the latest improvements to RasPlex 0.4.0-rc4 there is only a slight GUI speed gain to be had from using USB3 sticks, as compared to using the best SDHC cards with UHS-1 certification. And if you use such a card without a USB stick the installation procedure is much simpler. (No need for special tools to expand Ext4 partition, as you would need if using a USB stick.) I've stopped using USB3 for my own RasPlex setup, though I still use them for some compatibility tests, and with other non-RasPlex programs (mainly BerryBoot).

So in your place I would go for getting a top quality SDHC card. This means one having both the Class10 logo and the UHS-1 logo, and preferably an explicit high-speed guarantee for both reading and writing.

The Class10 logo looks like a capital C 'surrounding' the digits "10".
The UHS-1 logo looks like a capital U 'surrounding the digit "1"

Here is a scan I made of one of the cards I've used recently.
SDcard.png
This shows the appearance of the two logos I mentioned, which should be similar on cards of other brands as well, even if their placement on those cards is different.

Just be careful to get SDHC cards, and not the newer SDXC cards, as those are most likely incompatible.

Best regards: dlanor

Thank you Dlanor puchased this exact card just now.