Improve SD Card Lifespan Using Log2RAM

The Raspberry Pi uses the SD-card as a primary storage device allowing users the space to install different applications or packages on the device. However, it also gets hammered with the presence of excess log files (system record files) that may reduce the performance and lifespan of the SD-card. Log2RAM is a bunch of scripts designed especially for the Raspberry Pi users that changes the physical location of log files to RAM in order to increase the SD card performance.

In this tutorial, you will see how you can improve the SD card performance of Raspberry Pi using Log2RAM.

Improve SD card performance of Raspberry Pi using Log2RAM

Log2RAM pushes the log files to the RAM and these files get deleted upon reboot because RAM is a volatile memory. The following steps will guide you in improving your Raspberry Pi’s SD card performance through Log2RAM:

Step 1: Update Raspberry Pi

First, run the following commands to update the packages on your Raspberry device.

$ sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

Step 2: Install Rsync

Next, you will need to install Rsync software on your Raspberry Pi device that allows you to synchronize the contents between the two parties (source and destination).

$ sudo apt install rsync

Step 3: Add GPG Key

Now, add GPG key require to successfully add Log2RAM repository using the following command:

$ sudo wget -O /usr/share/keyrings/azlux-archive-keyring.gpg https://azlux.fr/repo.gpg

Step 4: Add Log2RAM Repository

Next, you will require to add a Log2RAM repository using the following command in order to install the latest version of the software on your Raspberry Pi.

$ echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/azlux-archive-keyring.gpg] http://packages.azlux.fr/debian/ bullseye main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/azlux.list

Step 5: Update Packages

After adding the Log2RAM repository, update Raspberry Pi packages list through following command:

$ sudo apt update

The above output confirms that the repository list is successfully updated on Raspberry Pi.

Step 6: Install Log2RAM

Now, you can install Log2RAM on Raspberry Pi through following command:

$ sudo apt install log2ram

Step 7: Reboot Raspberry Pi

After the installation, reboot the Raspberry Pi device.

Step 8: Check Log2RAM Status

After the reboot, check Log2RAM status using the following command:

$ systemctl status log2ram.service

Step 9: Configuring Log2RAM

After the reboot, use the following command to open configuration file of Log2RAM on Raspberry Pi:

$ sudo nano /etc/log2ram.conf

Now, you will need to specify the amount of RAM you want to allocate for the mount by locating the line “SIZE=40M”. You can set the size to a maximum 128M. You can proceed to the next step as 40M is enough for the log files as they aren’t large enough to fill up the space.

After ensuring and configuring the Log2RAM service on your Raspberry Pi, your log files will now synchronize to SD card and it will also limit the amount of data on your SD card. Thus, it helps to extend your SD card lifespan. To view the log files go to the location”/varhdd.log”.

You can also confirm the Log2RAM allocation using the following command:

$ df -h

The above output confirms that Log2RAM is successfully configured on Raspberry Pi and all your Raspberry Pi records are stored in it.

Conclusion

Log2RAM offload the record files to RAM on your Raspberry Pi, thus reducing the number of writes to the SD card. With this tool, the lifespan of the Raspberry Pi SD card is greatly improved. The above-mentioned steps will help you in increasing your SD card performance by installing Log2RAM. After the installation and configuration, it will handle the log files by itself.

Improve SD Card Lifespan Using Log2RAM – Raspberry Pi