How Much Storage Can Raspberry Pi 4 Have?
If you are unsure about how much storage is required for Raspberry Pi 4 to install an OS on it, follow this article’s guidelines to find out.
Types of Storage in Raspberry Pi 4
As mentioned earlier, Raspberry Pi doesn’t have internal storage so it allows its users to select different types of storage devices, which are as follows:
- SD Card
- USB
- SSD
- HDD
The choice of storage depends on the OS you are using on your Raspberry Pi 4 device. However, the minimum storage requirement for an OS is 8 Gb which a user should keep in mind before selecting the storage type.
Raspberry Pi 4 Storage
Raspberry Pi 4 device offers a RAM size of 2 GB, 4GB, and 8 GB but the data storage capacity in each version totally depends on the requirement of users. The users can opt for any storage device that should be around 8 GB and the storage device could be a USB, SSD, HDD, or SD card. Usually, SD cards are best suited for Raspberry Pi because there are fewer chances of accidental removal.
Also, there are many good quality SD cards available in the market that don’t get damaged quite easily. Best SD cards for Raspberry Pi 4. One more advantage of using an SD card is that if the user is not using a USB or hard drive for storage then they have more ports available to attach other peripheral devices.
Storage Limit for Raspberry Pi 4
Raspberry Pi 4 has a greater storage limit and the maximum storage limit for Raspberry Pi 4 is 64 GB. Usually, it is recommended to use storage around this limit for smooth performance and to have enough space to install OSs along with multiple applications to run side by side without worrying about space constraints. But if a user needs greater storage, they can surely opt for using a USB, HD, or SSD with the Raspberry Pi device.
Why an SD Card Higher than 64 GB Doesn’t Suite Raspberry Pi?
Raspberry Pi 4 is the only model of Raspberry Pi that can support a 128 GB SD card. But SD cards of size 64 GB require FAT32 formatting to make it bootable for Raspberry Pi. The SD cards higher that 64GB needs exFAT system, which Raspberry Pi doesn’t support. So, if you do not want to get into the hassle of formatting, try using an SD card of size lower than 64 GB.
Well, 32 GB SD card storage is more than enough for Raspberry Pi to work smoothly and without formatting. There are imager tools like BalenaEtcher, Raspberry Pi Imager that will do the formatting job for you and you can install OS from these tools and boot it successfully on your Raspberry Pi 4 device.
That’s it for this guide!
Conclusion
Raspberry Pi 4 has a minimum storage limit of 8 GB and a maximum of 64 GB. For storage purposes, users can opt for any of the accessible devices. But it is recommended to use an SD card for long-term usage of Raspberry Pi 4. It is also recommended to choose an SD card with a storage limit between 8GB – 64 GB for better performance and storage.
