Or is this a bad idea?
Reading through !selfhosted, I think I have found a new hobby. I have an old laptop HP ProBook 450 G5 4WU81ES.
16gb ram, solid CPU, shitty integrated gpu, and only 256gb ssd. Barely enough for system and some apps. Battery life maybe 30min unplugged so I take it as an UPS.
So the question again is, can I have permanently plugged external hdd to use as extension for this purpose?
People host stuff on Raspberry Pis, so why not a laptop. One limit you might have is USB speeds, especially if you want to add more drives.
There are certainly better ways to do it, but lots of people use external disks. I would put anything that needs speed on the SSD (so like a database or whatever) and anything else (media, isos, etc) on the external drive. It’s probably also worth thinking about a backup strategy, at least for anything there that matters.
Can do but be aware that the drive will eventually die, so backup backup backup
No reason why it wouldn’t work! Worst case the drive is pretty slow, but you do have an internal SSD so you can put OS and databases on the SSD and use the external drive for bulk storage.
I had a RPi set up that way for a couple years, worked fine as a simple NAS and Kodi for the TV!
256 GB is plenty. I start most of my servers at 30 GB and add space as necessary. Less for Linux.
I guess it shows what a noob am I, planning to use Windows lmao. Never used Linux tbh but I get it in these cases
Choosing linux is way more important than choosing the right server. Linux and docker compose is the way to go. With that, if you want to migrate to a new server it’s super easy.
It will work really well, but the difference between a laptop and a server is operational longevity. Laptops are meant to work for workloads for a few hours, whereas dedicated servers can work 24/7 for years sometimes because of how they are made and tested.
However, if the intensity of workload is light, a laptop can also run for a few months provided temps are well maintained. My tiny RPi ran for a few months till I manually shut it down.
Also, backups and backups.
My tiny RPi ran for a few months till I manually shut it down.
…for a couple months? Huh, I’ve got a rpi 4 and the little bastard has been running “almost nonstop” for 3 years and a half. And he is still kicking.
Just for fun I thought I’d check the uptime of the server I’m logged into at work. 1391 days.
That sounds like a security nightmare.
well, yes and no. It’s definitely behind on updates, but it’s running linux and isn’t web facing. Security is outsourced to the firewalls/IDS etc. If someone is trying to hack it, they’re already past the firewalls so we’re fucked by default even if the server is 100% secure.