New build question about external storage for HAOS

Installation
1

I’m new to HA thanks to a Span Panel plugin that I’ve been searching for an found here. Anyway, currently I have a VM running HAOS that I’ve been experimenting with and adding sensors and such with MQTT and rtl_433 on another rPi.

I know I’m just barely scratching the surface on what HA can do and I’m intending to migrate completely from HomeBridge to HA/HomeKit completely. In making this a permanent part of my home, I’m going to build an install running HAOS on an rPi 4 (4GB RAM + PoE HAT) with a 256GB microSD card.

The question is, would I benefit from attaching a 1TB USB SSD as well?

I’m asking because while I get that I’m only scratching the surface of what HA can do, I already have the SSD and SATA-USB cable handy. I have network storage available but local SSDs would be faster if there is a need for it.

2

Hey, I’m also pretty new to Home Assistant but have been using Raspberry Pis for a few years. I’ve read a lot about the lifespan of using microSD cards as the primary OS drive. Personally I’ve used a SATA USB adapter and SSDs on any Pi project as soon as support was available for it. If you’re going to make this a permanent part of your home I’d use the SSD only, for reliability.

3

Genius! I had completely forgotten about that option, old habits die hard. I’m running a clean install on the SSD only now, no microSD.

Thank you. :slight_smile:

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