My new #Bitcoin full node running on GB-BNi3-N305 with 16 GB of RAM and two 2 TB SSDs in RAID 1. How do I like it? 🤔

When I was building my first bitcoin full node, I wanted to do it as cheaply as possible. I decided to go with RPi 4 with 8 GB of RAM and 1 TB SSD based on the RaspiBlitz shopping list. I was OK with passive cooling and external enclosure for the SSD. I wouldn’t do that again.

I never thought I’d run anything else than bitcoind. Later I had to install electrs and also decided to run lnd. Then came lnurld. I finally realized I’m not comfortable with all that residing on a single SSD with less space left every day. So I started looking for alternatives…

The goal was to find a barebone mini PC that would allow me to connect two 2 TB SSDs in RAID 1. Ideally without the need for any external cables or SSD enclosures. Just a single piece that would have it all. Could not find anything suitable until my colleague Tali mentioned BRIX.

It looked really cool but I was worried about the need to start from scratch with lnd since migration from arm64 to amd64 was not officially supported. Luckily, @PlatbyBudoucnosti had info that this specific migration might be possible. Time for some shopping! 🥳

The complete package was roughly 3 times more expensive than the original node and I had to be very careful when moving the lnd directory. I gladly paid the price and don’t regret a single "halíř" (Czech equivalent of a cent). It’s simply amazing! 🤩 What is your setup?