Hello all,
Newbie here, so if I make any mistakes please be gentle
I currently have a raspberry pi 4 set up as a simple samba server (cat 6e cables). It only connects to a couple of mini pc's running Kodi to watch movies/ tv series etc. or listen to music (no transcoding) All these files are stored on a hdd connected to the pi via usb.
This is connected to an aging BTHomeHub5 which is beginning to have a few stability issues.
Question: Is it better to buy a new router with a USB port on it , connect the hdd to that and set it up as a server.
Or reconfigure the pi to be an OpenWrt router and have that server the files as well (if possible)? I'd need another switch with the pi only having one port but that shouldn't be an issue.
Many people will suggest that your router should run the minimum number of services, and that you're better off with a separate device (when possible) to serve as a NAS/file server.
With that in mind, you could continue to use the Pi as your file server and buy a new router to improve your network stability.
If power consumption and/or sheer number of devices running are of concern, then yes, you can combine the functions of your router and your NAS... you can do this with your Pi or you could use a new router. At that point, the biggest consideration would be your wifi needs -- the pi won't cut it for wifi. So if you need to buy a new wifi solution, your best option (if you want to reduce device count) would likely be to get a new all-in-one wifi router with good wifi performance.
