Hello, it’s me again. I read a lot about how unreliable micro SD cards are if you use your RPi to selfhost some stuff. Now I wanted to ask if some of you might have recommendations for cheap but reliable external SSDs. I did some research on Amazon but there are some brands I never heard before (Intenso, SSK, Netac, etc.) and don’t know if they can be trusted.
Log2ram is a service which keeps your log files in RAM, avoids the constant writes to disk and really helps with SDcard longevity. Probably helps with SSDs too.
You can just Google it and check out the github page, no need for LLM accuracy lottery
what it’s log2ram
Log2Ram is a utility designed to extend the lifespan of storage devices, particularly SD cards in Raspberry Pi systems, by reducing write operations[1][4]. Here’s an overview:
How it works
Log2Ram redirects log files from being written directly to storage (/var/log) to being written to RAM instead[1]. It creates a mount point in RAM for /var/log, so all logs are written to temporary memory (tmpfs) rather than the physical disk[2].
Benefits
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Extended storage life: By reducing write operations to SD cards or SSDs, Log2Ram helps prolong their lifespan[1][4].
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Improved performance: Writing to RAM is faster than writing to disk, enhancing system responsiveness[4].
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Transparency: Applications continue to write logs to /var/log as usual, unaware that it’s now in RAM[1].
Key features
- Configurable RAM allocation for logs (default 40M)[2]
- Daily synchronization of RAM logs to disk via a cron job[1]
- Synchronization on system shutdown to preserve logs[1]
- Optional use of rsync for synchronization[2]
- Compatibility with zram for space-efficient log storage[3]
While Log2Ram offers significant benefits, it’s important to note that logs may be lost in case of unexpected power loss or system crashes before synchronization occurs[3].
Citations: [1] How log2ram works. | The World’s Linux Journal https://linuxfun.org/en/2021/01/01/what-log2ram-does-en/ [2] Log2Ram https://nimno.net/dev/linux/log2ram/ [3] Extend The Lifespan of Your Raspberry Pi’s SD Card with log2ram https://ikarus.sg/extend-sd-card-lifespan-with-log2ram/ [4] Optimizing Performance with Raspberry Pi Log2Ram https://fleetstack.io/blog/raspberry-pi-log2ram-guide [5] Using Log2RAM on the Raspberry Pi - Pi My Life Up https://pimylifeup.com/raspberry-pi-log2ram/ [6] How To Write Log Files In RAM Using Log2ram In Linux - OSTechNix https://ostechnix.com/how-to-write-log-files-in-ram-using-log2ram-in-linux/ [7] Extend your Pi’s SD Card Life with Log2Ram! - YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrRGa7kAhQo [8] How to extend the lifespan of memory cards on the Raspberry Pi with Log2Ram https://www.geekbitzone.com/posts/2020/log2ram/log2ram-raspberry-pi/
