Port libreelec kodi to another Pi OS

1st Official Post

    Have been very happily using libreelec for a couple of years now on my small mediacenter run by a Pi 3. Was very happy so far.

    Just now I realized that I could use that Pi also as a file server, storing not only my music and videos, but all pics and documents, and make it available via WiFi to all my devices (right now depending on which device I happen to be, I need to grab an external HD and search for the doc, or store it locally and then copy it eventually).

    I wanted to do this with a mirror RAID. If I run this as a file server, then I need redundancy and backups right away.

    Unfortunately I realized I'll hit walls with libreelec here - can't install mdadm with apt-get, and also couldn't find any add-on.


    So currently I am thinking of installing some other OS on the Pi and set it up that way (hint: if someone has a suggestion on how to achieve my goal without reinstalling the OS and keeping libreelec, I am all ears).

    Is it possible to just backup the kodi configs and install them on the new OS afterwards and have a possibly smooth migration (I am anticipating version issue, but that's a different story)?

    • Official Post
    Quote from phonky

    I wanted to do this with a mirror RAID

    ...

    a suggestion on how to achieve my goal without reinstalling the OS and keeping libreelec, I am all ears

    LibreELEC does not support RAID setups, period. Also, an RPi3 with wifi would not my weapon of choice for a server setup. A RPi4 with proper gigabit connections has my preference. RAID using a RPi4 device is not impossible, but your wallet will be somewhat challenged.

    Thanks Klojum , in fact I had seen that tutorial.

    In my case redundancy of data is more important than speed, and even that guy had "a mac mini for years" as a NAS. I bet I can still have a reasonable performance by using a Pi3 and 2 external HDDs, like here (yes I know that is using a RPi4 too...).

    I will take your comment seriously though and try to place this close to the router, so that I'd be able to connect the Pi with the cable at least.

    I just found a somewhat different solution here though: It's just using `rsync` to make backups. This setup would allow me to keep the Pi as-is with libreelec I guess (can I assume that rsync IS available? Haven't checked yet but I should assume) - provided I can offer nfs and samba sharing through it. It's not ideal but in some ways involves less change. I will have to decide.

    • Official Post

    I might try that 2nd solution myself. It seems doable, even for me :cool:

    My Rpi4 is happy with a TP-Link Repeater/Accesspoint and does upto 40MB/s transfers through a single concrete wall with a 5Ghz connect. Still, as a NAS, I would go for the gigabit option.

    Rsync is in the system tools add-on somewhere I think. Just browse through LE's repository. LibreELEC has Samba onboard by default, NFS not so much. You could install Docker and do a NFS server setup, but again, the RPi4 is preferred because of better support. There is no proper LE10 for RPi3 available yet, personally I have doubts it will ever get there.

    • Official Post

    LE 10.0 added lvm2, luks (dm-crypt, veracrypt), mdraid, ext4 encryption <= sky42 images are focussed on encrypted drive support but as a result have all the bits you need for RAID. He doesn't build an image for RPi2/3 devices yet (likely as we have not released LE10 for RPi3 officially, but the sources are public so you could do that yourself (or ask nicely).

    RPi3 works fine with LE10 with the following exceptions: hardware deinterlace which is still being implemented, 3D which may be done in time but not in the short term, and software optimisation for HEVC playback which is unlikely to ever be reimplemented.

    • Official Post

    @phonky

    I got the mdraid-1 setup on a RPi4, but data transfers are a bit disappointing... It could be both USB/SATA cables on the two Crucial BX500 120GB SSDs, but so far I'm not getting above 26-30MB/s using the gigabit connection. And the Flirc case is warming up quite a bit too. So, hmmm... I'll try later to see what 5Ghz wifi does.