What size microSD card do you really need to run Umbrel? I was running a 16GB card but I see the Umbrel site recommends a 32GB+ microSD (umbrelOS - An elegant OS for your home server). For some reason every few weeks my Umbrel system crashes and I wonder if it’s due to the 16GB microSD card I’ve been using.
I’m running a Raspberry Pi 5 (8GB) with a 1TB SSD.
Although I’m primarily running a Bitcoin Node, I do run a number of other applications.
Since I’ve reflashed/replaced my microSD a number of times without missing a beat, I know applications and application data do not live on the microSD so the number of applications I run shouldn’t impact the mircoSD size required.
It is a good idea to follow the recommendations for umbrelOS and use a microSD card that is at least 32GB. That being said, if you have a lot of free space on the 16GB card (you can check by running df -h in the terminal) then it should still work.
From personal experience though, most Linux distributions now require at least 32GB of storage in order to install and since umbrelOS is bsased on Debian, I wouldn’t imagine it’s any different.
I would recommend you get a 32GB card just to be on the safe side and if the problems still persist then it could be a different issue entirely that’s causing the crashes.
Yeah looks pretty normal to me for the most part since the largest partition /dev/mmcblk0p7 is barely being used there doesn’t appear to be a low disk space scenario.
Are you able to retrieve any information relating to crashes that have happened from the filesystem or through journalctl -xeu ? If you could provide any information that describes what happens before, during and after the crash that would be helpful.
Your 1TB SSD is on /dev/sda1 judging by the size of the disk so I would imagine /dev/mmcblk0pX are the various partitions on the SD card.
To get to the web terminal, open http://umbrel.local/ on your browser or navigate to the IP address of the device and then hit CTRL + K to open the search and type “terminal” then choose Umbrel OS terminal. You can also bring up the terminal by going to the settings app and at the bottom you should find an option there.
Apologies for the delay in getting back to you. The full command should be:
sudo journalctl -xeu umbrel.service
You can alternatively just do sudo journalctl -u umbrel.service.
Furthermore, the way the Pi image works is a bit different to the x86 one, so by using the 1TB SSD, it will extend the data storage folder onto that external drive.
That being said, I am aware that in some cases the reason for instability on Pi devices is poor power delivery to the SSD and/or Pi as a whole so it may be a good idea to check your Pi power supply and potentially get a more powerful one that can deliver more wattage than the standard Pi power supply.
Hopefully that solves the problem, if you have any further questions or would like me to walk through something with you, let me know.
I am typically more active on the Umbrel Discord, so if you’re able to ping me on there that would be great and I will respond quicker - you can join here: Umbrel Discord Invite
