How to Set Up a NAS on Raspberry Pi for Home or Office Storage - Raspberry Pi BD

Raspberry Pi is not just for DIY projects, coding, and learning; it can also serve as a powerful and cost-effective solution for creating your own NAS (Network Attached Storage) server. A NAS allows you to store and share files, media, and backups on your home or office network, making it accessible to all devices connected to the same network.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to set up a NAS on your Raspberry Pi using free software and some basic hardware. Whether you want a personal cloud storage system or a file server for your media library, this project is a great solution.

🔧 What You’ll Need

• Raspberry Pi 3, 4, or later (Raspberry Pi 4 is recommended for better performance)
• Raspberry Pi OS installed on a microSD card
• External hard drive or USB storage (preferably with large capacity)
• Ethernet cable (for wired network) or Wi-Fi connection
• Power supply for Raspberry Pi
• Computer or smartphone to access the NAS

🔒 Step 1: Set Up Raspberry Pi OS

If you haven’t already, install Raspberry Pi OS (formerly Raspbian) on your Raspberry Pi. You can easily download the OS from the official Raspberry Pi website and use tools like Raspberry Pi Imager or balenaEtcher to flash it onto a microSD card.

Once the OS is installed, boot up your Raspberry Pi, complete the initial setup (setting up your Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection), and ensure it’s connected to the internet.

⚙️ Step 2: Install Required Software (Samba)

Samba is a free software suite that allows you to share files over a network. It’s one of the most popular solutions for creating a NAS server on Raspberry Pi.

1. Open the terminal on your Raspberry Pi or connect via SSH.
2. Update your system by running the following commands:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Once the update is complete, install Samba by running the following command:

sudo apt install samba samba-common-bin -y

After the installation is complete, Samba will be ready to use, but you will need to configure it to share your files.

📂 Step 3: Mount External Storage

Connect your external hard drive or USB storage to your Raspberry Pi. To ensure it mounts correctly, you need to identify the storage device and mount it to the system:

1. Run the following command to list all connected devices:

sudo fdisk -l

2. Find your external storage in the list (it will usually be something like /dev/sda1, /dev/sdb1, etc.).
3. Mount the storage device to a folder (e.g., /mnt/nas). You can create this folder with:

sudo mkdir /mnt/nas

4. Now mount your external storage to this folder with:

sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/nas

Note: Replace /dev/sda1 with the actual device path you found earlier.

To make sure the device automatically mounts after reboot, edit the fstab file by running:

sudo nano /etc/fstab

Add the following line at the end of the file:

/dev/sda1  /mnt/nas  auto  defaults  0  0

Save and exit the file by pressing Ctrl + X, then Y, and Enter.

🔑 Step 4: Configure Samba for File Sharing

Now that your storage is mounted, it’s time to configure Samba to share it over the network. First, open the Samba configuration file:

sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

Scroll to the bottom of the file and add a new share configuration:

[NAS]
  path = /mnt/nas
  available = yes
  valid users = pi
  read only = no
  browseable = yes
  public = yes
  writable = yes

Here’s what each part means:

• [NAS]: The name of your network share (this is how it will appear on your network)
• path: The path to the directory you want to share (your mounted external storage)
• valid users: The users allowed to access the share (in this case, it’s the default Raspberry Pi user pi)
• read only: If set to no, it allows read and write access.

Save and close the file by pressing Ctrl + X, then Y, and Enter.

🔑 Step 5: Set Samba User Password

You need to set a password for the pi user to access the NAS. Use the following command:

smbpasswd -a pi

You’ll be prompted to enter a new password. This password will be required whenever you access the NAS from other devices.

💡 Step 6: Restart Samba and Access the NAS

Finally, restart the Samba service to apply your changes:

sudo systemctl restart smbd

Now, your Raspberry Pi NAS should be up and running! To access it, open File Explorer on a Windows PC or Finder on a Mac, and type the following in the address bar:

\\raspberrypi\NAS

You should see your NAS share and be able to transfer files to and from it.

🔒 Secure Your NAS

For better security, consider setting up a static IP for your Raspberry Pi, enabling a firewall, and securing Samba shares by using more advanced authentication methods like SSH keys.