Hi all, I am looking to set up a BTC node on a x86-64 mini PC I got last week. It’s got sufficient RAM (16GB) and 500 gigs SSD. I know this is too small for the whole blockchain now… so am thinking of running a pruned node. I want to run a node so that I can connect it to my sparrow wallet using electrum. I’ve seen somewhere that you need a full archival node in order to do this. Is this still true? If so, does this mean I need to buy a 1-2TB storage for my set up? Thanks.
To run an Electrum server on StartOS, you need an archival node so that electrum can build an index from it, yes. Electrs will also take up a certain amount of space to copy over the blockchain into its own index. So you’ll need that 2TB, 1TB is not enough.
You’ll be happier with a 2TB and a full Bitcoin stack.
StuPleb, thanks for your response! I am very very rookie when it comes to hardware so pls forgive me… my mini PC came up M.2 500 GB SSD. I assume that means it’s only compatible with M.2 SSD’s. I’m having a hard time finding this in 2 TB. Do you know if there are any other options? Or any way to use a SATA 2 TB HDD with a converter or something?
The chances of it also having a SATA interface are pretty high. You might need to put the top and look inside.
Try searching for 2tb nvme
It looks like my mini PC came with the 500GB SSD, and also an empty slot for a HDD. If I buy a 1TB HDD and install it, that effectively means I will have 1.5TB of storage. Is that sufficient? Also, if I add a HDD and use both simultaneously, will Start9 OS for x86-64 be able to handle and work with both storage drives, or do I need to do some special configuration?
You’ll want an “SSD” rather than a “HDD”. From that photo it looks like you can simply add a 2TB+ SATA SSD if that’s what you want to do. As I have said, you probably don’t want to buy a 1TB SSD, but it’s up to you.
No, there’s no way in which either your mini PC or StartOS can blend together the existing drives to create one big drive, nor can you install different services on different drives. You can install the OS on one, and keep the data on another… but that will leave you again in the position of having just a 1TB drive for data. Basically, you can use that 500gb for just the OS, wasting most of it, or you can remove it and use it for something else, keeping everything on a newly installed 2TB SATA or m.2 nvme SSD.