Installing RetroNAS on a Raspberry Pi 4

[@Grus0]

I've been running this for several weeks now on a Pi 4. "Game changer" is not hyperbole. My retro machines are DOS, 9x and XP. I'm running Samba, EtherDFS, ProFTPd, Telnet, GOGrepo and finally Cockpit to manage it all from a web browser on my main PC. Now even swapping a CF card between systems feels archaic. Dan has put together a fantastic set of tools here.

[@RetroTechUSA]

This walkthrough is great, I am doing this now with a R Pi I have laying around doing nothing!

[@nickdaniels5892]

You can do all those password change, name change, enable ssh things in the Raspberry Pi Imager by pressing Ctrl+Shift+X.

[@sixtyfps]

I almost choked on my beer after I caught the joke on your desktop

[@odaddy47]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@kubev]

I love the fact that this uses symlinks. Everything with the capability of storing game roms/isos should have this sort of functionality. There're so many rom packs that could be far less bloated with the implementation of symlinks, and it'd improve usability a lot, as well.

[@jnackmclain]

I got this setup last night due to your intro video. Open Playstation loader JUST WORKING, even after I started testing on the micro sd and then moved to usb HDD? Color me impressed. I am highly excited to see where this project goes

[@Pask___]

Really enjoying this very much. Been using it around a month now. A few teething problems but I put that down to me doing a lot of new things at once. Just got this set up on my RGH Xbox360 and it's a game changer. No more clunky time consuming transfers. Just game and go. It's amazing. Got a 10TB hdd and I'm already looking at changing out for a larger HDD due to me finally compiling all my files from multiple places into one neat system.

[@chefsolidOriginal]

Video quality is on point Bob 👏

[@YellowandBlack]

Have a Raspberry Pi 4 here on order here in Australia now ive seen this look forward to using it to install RetroNAS

[@digitalmatrixio]

Skip the entire hook up to KB & Monitor step and enable SSH from the start by pressing ‘Ctrl-Shift-X’ when in Ras Pi Imager.

[@ToddsNerdCave]

I have a Pi4 that I was planning to convert to a a NAS so this is perfect. Thanks Bob!

[@RetroRGB]

I love repurposing stuff I already own! Good call.

[@splugereport]

Wonderful, thanks for everything!

[@OsX86H3AvY]

hey man - great video - however you do NOT need to erase the drive or even use EXT4 (though, you prob should and def do if the drive is new)...if you look up how to edit the FSTAB file (file system table) you can have basically any drive mounted at boot with the existing files already on it simply by determining what drive it is either by using the UUID or by using the /dev/sdX nomencalture and then add it to the fstab. i do this everytime I reinstall my home server...the advantage is no need to copy back and forth files AND you could even take an existing NTFS drive and make it work - in fact my server has 21TB of files on 5 seperate different WD drives all formatted to NTFS - the idea being (dumb, but) that if i have a failure of some sort I can always plug it back into a USB board like what youre leftover with after shucking a drive for instance and i can then plug it into a Windows PC and without hassle get the data off of it.....i shouldve used EXT4 as NTFS dos come with challenges on linux but it still works incredibly well - my system has been up and running for over 5 years now, not a single drive failure, ive reinstalled 4 or 5 times now trying out dif distros and config....anyways checkout how to edit the fstab it really isn't "pro" and anyone can do it - you can use cockpit for it as well either though the terminal emulator at the bottom of the left hand column there using vim or nano.....OR....instead of using cockpit (or even alongside it as i do) you can use webmin which has terminal, a text editor, AND a section for mouting drives which edits the fstab without touching a text file or terminal - you can use webmin instead of cockpit as it has much more to it afaic.....sry for the long post but this is just something thats made my life sooooo much easier

[@OsX86H3AvY]

i will say though be careful - screwup the fstab and youll brick the system - but it isn;t tough to get right really

[@enricodangelo1665]

I follow everything and it seems to work but when I try to access the pi from my browser I get "This site can’t be reached". I have enabled SSH so not sure what's going on

[@bretlinden8248]

I am interested in RetroNAS, but almost everything I see out there, tuts, vids, wiki, whatever, is over two years old. Has this been abandoned or something?

[@RetroRGB]

Nope, it just released stable, so there was no need for extensive follow-up videos :)

[@bretlinden8248]

@@RetroRGB Do you still find that a pi4 is sufficient to run RetroNAS?

[@austematicthatragic4352]

when I tried to connect to my retronas SMB server, it keeps giving me error access is denied

[@Screamer26]

I can't manage to run games, because reading speed, is almost 0, how to fix this please?

[@MADmardigan138]

Anyone find a pi4 case that's not flashy(rgb lights all over) that can also house a couple hdds or ssds?

[@MRJ810]

May be a good idea to dedicate a section where you set up a static IP for the Pi or Debian installation so the device always keeps the same IP.

[@RetroRGB]

Definitely. The launch stuff was focused on beginners and the concepts of what we're trying to do...but we'll follow up with other stuff later.

[@MRJ810]

@@RetroRGB Thanks Bob. Appreciate your work here.

[@kubev]

Do you need a static IP address for that device if simply typing 'retronas' should get you there? Just curious.

[@RetroRGB]

@Kevin B. Depends on the device. PS2 needs an IP, but most other things don't. It's good knowledge to know though.

[@ransworlder]

When I run "chmod a+x ./install_retronas.sh", I get "cannot access ' ./install_retronas.sh' : No such file or directory". It seems as though the previous "curl" command does not download anything... I'm connected via Ethernet. Have I missed something?

[@ransworlder]

Never mind... "curl -O" is the letter "o", not a zero!

[@trexslapfight]

I have a very large server that is windows based that has a dedicated section of storage for roms/retro gaming. Could I run this virtually somehow within windows?

[@RetroRGB]

You'd have to use a VM and create a Debian image, then map a folder on your Windows server. Someone made some pre-configured images if you'd like to save some time: retro.ramonddevrede.nl/retronas/

[@Tr1ppi]

can you make updated version of this video😊

[@RetroRGB]

It would be basically the same. Not much has changed from an installation point of view.

[@EmSixTeen]

Really hope they can sort this out to work with some sort of package on Synology NASs.

[@RDJ134]

You got me enthousiastic for this too :) I have a few TB SAS Sata drives and RPI3's lying around here that i want to use for a NAS, but i have no idea on how build it. If people know a way to help me out on this or can point me in a direction, please let me know :)

[@RetroRGB]

Start with the installation video and the largest drive. If you like it, then decide where to go: Build an UnRAID server? Keep the Pi setup, but move to a 4? Basically, just start messing with it, then a few months from now decide what the best setup for you is.

[@rogerpanepinto6054]

Hey. Is the Pi4 2GB RAM Good enough. Or should it be 4 or 8GB RAM? Thanks

[@RetroRGB]

Any of the 4's should be fine for this. Good question though!

[@torrencerogers8656]

Torrence Rogers 0 seconds ago I have followed your install videos and I am having trouble creating the partition on my brand new 18TB WD Elements external hd. When I hit the create a partition I get “error creating partition on /dev/Ada: Failed to read partition table on device ‘/dev/ads’ (end of file while reading /dev/sda) I have tried several times and always the same error. Please help.

[@RetroRGB]

It did the same to me with my 12TB. I rebooted, started again and created the partition. After the error, I rebooted again and it was there. I thought I was crazy, as other testers used 18TB's and it worked perfect. Not sure what the problem is...but it's definitely working for me now and claiming to read the full HDD.

[@torrencerogers8656]

I asked Dan about it and he says other users with larger WD drives have reported the same issue. He is trying to come up with a work-around.

[@torrencerogers8656]

I temp mounted the drive with exfat and not using the retronas partition. I ran the mister install package several times getting the same errors: generic rom dir and mister cigs - build layout. When I access retronas via smd the mister folder is empty (no file structure).

[@Pask___]

For some reason I get to the copy rom stage and I'm not seeing the retrosmb in my network section. Any solutions?

[@RetroRGB]

Hmmm...maybe try accessing via the IP address? Or double check all the steps, like installing SMB?

[@Pask___]

@@RetroRGB just ended up doing a clean install and everything became good. Unsure exactly what caused it but resolved now. Thanks as always Bob

[@Stintendo]

I get to the point where I can use smb from my explorer, but when I try to access the retronas folder within retrosmb, I am denied access. It asks me username and password when I type retrosmb, and I get through fine, but it asks again when I click retronas and I just cannot seem to get past this prompt. Any suggestions?

[@RetroRGB]

Try resetting the passwords in the retronas settings menu

[@Stintendo]

@@RetroRGB Thank you for the suggestion. I wish that were the case , but i have done that a few times. I have ended up using WinSCP to ftp into it and that's working fine for me. To be honest i think something is wonky with my PC, but I don't know. I'll try accessing it from a different computer through smb and see if that helps.

[@MrRcrehan]

Hi, @@Stintendo did you ever figure this out? I am running into the same issue. Folder appears on both Win10 and Win98 machines, but tells me the password is incorrect when I attempt to access, \ etrosmb etronas

[@RetroFrito]

Has anyone else run into an issue installing? I get all the way up to the part where I have entered the github URL and it runs some lines (looks different in this video). At the bottom it tells me I'm now ready to run the command that starts with OPT, but that doesn't work. I try to strictly stick to the instructions on the wiki, but I keep getting an error that the command doesn't exist. Anyone else having this issue?

[@RetroRGB]

Are you using a Pi, or a Debian install on a different PC?

[@RetroFrito]

@@RetroRGB On a Pi

[@RetroRGB]

You might not be logged in as root.

[@RetroFrito]

@@RetroRGB thank you. I am logged in as root, I had to enter the password that was created for that account. I'll keep trying different things but I appreciate the effort

[@rapmetalandmovies]

@@RetroFrito ran into the same problem. Couldn't figure out how to fix it.

[@versatile5925]

Does cockpit not work on 64bit bullseye?

[@RetroRGB]

I haven't tested the new 64-bit OS yet.

[@tehfreezerburn]

In the thumbnail for the video, what case is that on the right? Is it for a raspberry pi?

[@RetroRGB]

It's the first thing that came up when I did a google image search for "NAS" :) ...and that's a Synology NAS, which is currently not supported. Some people are looking into creating a docker for it though!

[@tehfreezerburn]

@@RetroRGB thanks

[@jeroenoerlemans2688]

Hi, thanks for this really great piece of software. With my PS3 is running just fine and stable. However I also have the problem with accessing the retrosmb network share (i am using windows 12). Resetting the network settings doesn't do the trick for me but ok. Unplugging the drive and transferring files isn't a huge issue. I do have another question. Is it possible to hook up multiple drives and have them also accesable. I mean for example. 1 hard drive for ps3 files and another for my ps2? just curious if this could work.

[@jeff15]

Wouldn't it be safe to set up at least a Raid 1 setup ? I've lost several hard drive due to failure and I wouldn't want to loose all my data. These external drives aren't reliable as they used to. Awesome video !!! Thank you 😊 😎🤓🤛👊

[@RetroRGB]

I've been thinking about this. I think people should choose whatever's easiest for them. For me personally, I'm running it as a VM on an UnRAID server....and that server takes care of parity. I'm a nerd though, so I imagine other people might just back up their RetroNAS by copying the share to another drive. So many cool options though!

[@sixtyfps]

@@RetroRGB This may end up being my first VM. I tried looking for a RetroNAS extension for unraid but I came up empty. Granted I didn't look a long time

[@revengenerd1]

A few questions, I currently use a Pi4 and just samba share the device and have pihole alongside it, could I run pihole alongside this? Second, I was going to downgrade to just a pi Zero or Zero 2 with a usb ethernet/usb hub would the base Zero work ok or is at least a 3 advisable (or the Zero 2) Finally I already have a NTFS formatted drive full of things so would I be required to still format it or will I just mount it in the software?

[@alextirrellRI]

I think there's a good chance you could run PiHole at the same time, though you'd need to hope that there are no conflicting ports. A Pi Zero is going to be pretty underpowered for all of this. A Zero 2 should be okay, but a 4 will have better performance, especially doing double duty. But you could always switch it out later. You'd definitely need to reformat an NTFS drive.

[@rjlarussa4136]

Anyone know if I could run a pi running retronas straight into my ps2 via ethernet for opl? As opposed to connecting it to my network and then connecting my ps2 to the network

[@RetroRGB]

Won't work. For that setup, it's better to just use a hard drive in the PS2.

[@samsonspubllc8592]

Thanks for the video. I took the plunge and got this setup last night. For some reason I had to install retronas twice to get the file structure setup correctly (I'm a linux noob, so I wasn't surprised to hit a bump along the way), but once I did it was up and good to go. So cool to be able to unplug the multiple hard drives I had on my multiple Mister setups. I've been limited to running only certain roms on each Mister due to SD card and USB hard drive limitations...but no more. The best part though, having to only manage one repository for my roms and avoiding the tedium of SSH and physically moving USB drives around. I'm only using Retronas for Mister, but I look forward to seeing where this super awesome project inevitably goes.

[@RetroRGB]

So glad it's working for you. LOL and I had to install it from scratch about 10 times before I got it to a place I was comfortable writing documentation...getting it in two is a win :)

[@samsonspubllc8592]

@@RetroRGB Your video definitely took the intimidation factor down a few notches. Can't wait to see your follow up videos for Retronas. BTW, it was great seeing you at RetroWorld Expo this year. Hope to see you again next year.

[@RetroFrito]

Just curious: as far as this project is concerned, what is the benefit of a Pi4 over a Pi3? Thanks

[@RetroRGB]

Gigabit ethernet and USB 3.0. Please check out the launch video for more information.

[@veridor7522]

Since the Raspberry Pi OS 64-bit version just came out of beta, is it worth using that over the 32-bit version for RetroNAS?

[@RetroRGB]

Not sure yet. Good question though!

[@danmons7446]

RetroNAS runs fine on both 32bit and 64bit RPiOS. If you have the option, I would choose 64bit.

[@veridor7522]

@@danmons7446 I wound up using 64 bit OS and yes, RetroNAS runs great, can confirm.

[@cajungoat]

Anyone know if it's possible to get this running directly on a Qnap NAS?

[@RetroRGB]

Not yet, but people are looking into dockers for it.

[@cajungoat]

@@RetroRGB Thanks for the reply, as it happens it looks like mine is starting to die so I'll be building an unraid server now.

[@chrismann5766]

This is cool. One thing though. Inflation never goes down.. These prices are not going down..

[@RetroRGB]

They already have. Hard Drives are the best example at the moment, but you'll see it on most things over the next year. Including the Pi's in May.

[@jeffreyplum5259]

I am a retro computer person. I know some linux, so I would a few things differently. One community who may really use this is the emulated computer folks. You can use it old style services to hook up your (Emulated) Vax,, Pdp-11 PDPP-10 or perhaps even an IBM 370 emulator. One thing to watch out for. The protocols and services used for older computers do not have modern security features. Be careful exposing this system to the internet. This NAS is a good starting point for NAS builders in general;. One feature I strongly suggest is a way to backup the Storage folder, in case of drive failure. It takes someone with more Linux Fu than I have to backup the complex structure RetroNAS uses. Sim Links save lots of space, but a backup program needs to understand them. Good luck, this is clearly a great project

[@YellowandBlack]

Im still trying to install im following the video step by step when I get to chmod a+x ./install_retronas.sh says it can't find the file does not exist

[@RetroRGB]

Did the download complete properly? Is your RPi connected via an ethernet cable?

[@YellowandBlack]

@@RetroRGB Now all up & Running the chmod was something to do with the server was not downloading Just gave it its 1st Test run and works with no issues

[@Verins_PaleRose]

retronas does it work on qnap nas?