What size SD card do I really need?

Help with Raspberry Pi Foundation Boards (Raspberry Pi, Pi Zero, Pi Zero W, Pi A, Pi B, Pi B+, Pi2 B, Pi3 B, Pi 3 B+)
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G4CTP
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Joined: Sat Feb 27, 2021 4:49 pm

What size SD card do I really need?

Post by G4CTP »

When I built my pi-star configuration (on a Pi Zero W), I grabbed the first SD card I could lay my hands on, which happened to be 2 GB.

I now realise that 8 GB is recommended... but the thing is, it seems to be working fine.

Should I be worried?
KG6RUT
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Re: What size SD card do I really need?

Post by KG6RUT »

it will be difficult to do some updates/upgrades on a 2GB card, at least thats what I found when using one. Since it was to tight, I now have both a 4GB and an 8GB. Since they are so cheap, just get something bigger.
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MW0MWZ
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Re: What size SD card do I really need?

Post by MW0MWZ »

Pi-Star will run on anything the Pi you are using will support, from 2GB and up, honestly its getting hard to keep it in 2GB these days, I recommend a 4GB card, anything more than that will be wasted.

I personally use SanDisk cards and rate them well, beware of fakes tho, make sure you buy from a reputable seller.

Card quality matters more than getting anything larger than 4GB, that said I think the sweet spot price wise is about 16GB at the moment (depends where you are in the world).
Andy

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G4CTP
Posts: 13
Joined: Sat Feb 27, 2021 4:49 pm

Re: What size SD card do I really need?

Post by G4CTP »

Thanks for the responses. Looks like I'll need to expand.

Assumedly the best process is to back up my current pi-star config, then build a fresh image onto the new SD, then restore the config.
G4CTP
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Re: What size SD card do I really need?

Post by G4CTP »

Rummaging around a bit deeper into the drawer... and I came up with a 32 Gbyte SD. That should do the trick. :D

Upgraded successfully.
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G8SEZ
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Re: What size SD card do I really need?

Post by G8SEZ »

G4CTP wrote: Sat Mar 13, 2021 3:40 pm Rummaging around a bit deeper into the drawer... and I came up with a 32 Gbyte SD. That should do the trick. :D
Extra logging space...
--

Brian G8SEZ
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G8SEZ
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Re: What size SD card do I really need?

Post by G8SEZ »

KE7FNS wrote: Sat Mar 13, 2021 6:16 pm
G8SEZ wrote: Sat Mar 13, 2021 4:41 pm Extra logging space...
Logging space is limited to 64MB, and when it gets filled up completely all hell breaks loose and weird things start to happen.

Code: Select all

Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
tmpfs            64M  5.3M   59M   9% /var/log
Needs something to move this to non-tmpfs storage then, I had not thought about this limit before.
--

Brian G8SEZ
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