[mythtv-users] mythtv-users] Old Mac Mini vs RPI as frontend/backend

[Mike Bibbings]

On 26/10/2019 15:23, jam at tigger.ws wrote:
>
>> On 26 Oct 2019, at 8:00 pm, mythtv-users-request at mythtv.org wrote:
>>
>> I have a 2009 Macmini running Ubuntu serving as both a front and back
>> end for Myth, with a very large USB drive for the media. As far as the
>> backend it runs well despite having accumulated years of database
>> entries, and the frontend works well because of the Nvidia 9400M. It
>> also has 8GB of ram
>>
>> However, the internal drive does have some bad blocks, and I'm thinking
>> its time to move on. I also hate jumping through hoops with refind and
>> its booting scheme to work around Old mac firmware.
>>
>> Would an RPI 4 be an adequate substitute?
>>
>> The maximum 4GB of Ram seems like it could be a problem for the backend
>> functions, like mythcommflag, running concurrently with the frontend. I
>> also don't know how the Myth GPU support for RPI stacks up against
>> Nvidia 9400M/VDPAU
> I found it quite easy to replace the HD with a 1T SSD. Like a new one it was.
> Ive not investigated yet but my rapi on usb3 ssd (where it did 500M io) trashed an ext4 SSD after a week or so. ;-(. I’ve ordered and will play with a rock pi 4M. It does 1200M to a nvme m2
>
> James
> _______________________________________________


There is an issue with some USB 3 to SATA converters on Pi4 which can 
result in disk corruption and/or terrible read/write speeds see 
https://forum.mythtv.org/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=3221&start=15#p15760

I also thought it might have damaged the disk, but a full reformat 
restored the disk for me.

There is a utility which will give a whole load of data about the disk, 
available for linux 32/64 bit and arm architectures see 
https://www.hdsentinel.com/hard_disk_sentinel_linux.php


Mike