{"id":345,"date":"2025-09-07T00:32:57","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T22:32:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patrickphang.nl\/?p=345"},"modified":"2025-09-07T00:33:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T22:33:21","slug":"upgrading-my-raspberry-pi-webserver-from-pi-3-b-to-pi-5-with-nvme-storage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patrickphang.nl\/index.php\/2025\/09\/07\/upgrading-my-raspberry-pi-webserver-from-pi-3-b-to-pi-5-with-nvme-storage\/","title":{"rendered":"Upgrading My Raspberry Pi Webserver: From Pi 3 B+ to Pi 5 with NVMe Storage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Running a home webserver on a Raspberry Pi has been one of my most rewarding tech projects. Recently, I decided it was time for a major upgrade, moving from my trusty Raspberry Pi 3 B+ to the new Raspberry Pi 5 with 16GB of RAM, and ditching the SD card for blazing-fast NVMe storage. Here’s how I made the transition and the incredible performance gains I experienced.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Why Upgrade?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
My Pi 3 B+ had served me well for years, hosting my personal website, development projects, and various web applications. However, I was starting to hit some limitations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The performance difference is substantial, the Pi 5 offers roughly 3x the CPU performance and 16x the RAM capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
The Migration Process<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Step 1: Initial Boot with Existing SD Card<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
A nice thing of the Raspberry Pi ecosystem is its backward compatibility. I took the SD card from my Pi 3 B+ and inserted it directly into the Pi 5. To my delight, it booted successfully on the first try!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, I needed to ensure all drivers and firmware were optimized for the new hardware.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Step 2: System Update and Optimization<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Once booted, I immediately updated the system to ensure compatibility with the Pi 5’s hardware:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This process took about 10-15 minutes and installed all the necessary firmware updates and drivers specific to the Pi 5. The system felt noticeably snappier even running from the same SD card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Step 3: Setting Up NVMe Storage<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Next came the exciting part, setting up the NVMe SSD. I installed a 256GB NVMe 2230 SSD onto the NVMe PCIe Board<\/strong>, which connects directly to the Raspberry Pi 5’s PCIe slot. This provides much faster performance than USB-based solutions and gives you true PCIe speeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n256GB NVMe 2230<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nRaspberry Pi 5 case with NVMe PCIe card and cooling fans<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
First, I verified the drive was detected:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
lsblk<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
The NVMe drive appeared as \/dev\/nvme0n1<\/code>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Step 4: Cloning SD Card to NVMe<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
For the migration, I used rpi-clone<\/code>, a fantastic utility designed specifically for Raspberry Pi storage cloning:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, this is much slower because it’s a raw copy that copies every bit including empty space, and you’ll need to manually resize partitions afterward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Step 5: Switching Boot to NVMe<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
With the NVMe drive cloned and ready, I needed to switch the boot sequence. I shut down the Pi:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo poweroff<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Then I removed the SD card and powered on the Pi 5. It should now boot directly from the NVMe drive via the PCIe connection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Option 2: Change Boot Order via raspi-config<\/strong>. Alternatively, you can change the Pi 5’s boot sequence to prioritize NVMe over SD card using:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This sets the boot order to try NVMe\/USB storage first before falling back to SD card. The Pi 5’s improved bootloader makes this process much more reliable than previous models.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I chose the physical method for a clean transition, but the raspi-config option is useful if you want to keep the SD card as a backup boot option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To verify the system was running from NVMe:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
df -h \/\nlsblk<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
The root filesystem now showed as mounted from \/dev\/nvme0n1p2<\/code> instead of \/dev\/mmcblk0p2<\/code>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Step 6: Expanding the Filesystem<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Once booted from NVMe, I expanded the filesystem to use the full capacity of the 256GB drive:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After expanding, I rebooted to ensure all changes took effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
Network Configuration Update<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
With the hardware migration complete, I needed to update my network configuration. The Pi 5 received a new IP address from DHCP, so I had to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Update Router Port Forwarding<\/strong>: Changed the forwarded IP from the old Pi 3 B+ address to the new Pi 5 address<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pro tip: Consider setting up a static IP reservation in your router for your Pi to avoid this step in future migrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
Performance Improvements<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The difference in performance has been night and day:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boot Time<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
Pi 3 B+ (SD)<\/strong>: ~45 seconds<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Pi 5 (NVMe)<\/strong>: ~12 seconds<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Web Server Response<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
Apache benchmark (1000 requests)<\/strong>:\n
\n
Pi 3 B+: Average 850ms response time<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Pi 5: Average 180ms response time<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
File Operations<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
Large file transfers<\/strong>: 5x faster<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Always backup before migrating<\/strong> – While rpi-clone<\/code> is reliable, having a backup of your 128GB SD card image saved me from potential headaches.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
NVMe makes a huge difference<\/strong> – The storage upgrade provided more noticeable improvements than even the CPU upgrade in many scenarios.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Power supply matters<\/strong> – The Pi 5 needs significantly more power. Using the official 27W USB-C adapter prevented any stability issues.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Check your cooling<\/strong> – The Pi 5 runs hotter than the 3 B+. I added a small heatsink and fan to maintain optimal temperatures under load.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Final Thoughts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Upgrading from the Raspberry Pi 3 B+ to the Pi 5 with NVMe storage has transformed my home webserver experience. Page loads are snappy, deployments are faster, and I have room to grow with additional services and applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The migration process was surprisingly straightforward thanks to excellent tools like rpi-clone<\/code> and the Pi 5’s flexible boot options. If you’re running any kind of server workload on an older Pi, I highly recommend making the jump – the performance gains are absolutely worth it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Have you upgraded your Raspberry Pi setup recently? What performance improvements did you notice? Share your experience in the comments below!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Running a home webserver on a Raspberry Pi has been one of my most rewarding tech projects. Recently, I decided it was time for a major upgrade, moving from my trusty Raspberry Pi 3 B+ to the new Raspberry Pi 5 with 16GB of RAM, and ditching the SD card for blazing-fast NVMe storage. Here’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":351,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"Upgrading My Raspberry Pi Webserver: From Pi 3 B+ to Pi 5 with NVMe Storage","jetpack_seo_html_title":"From Pi 3 B+ to Pi 5 with NVMe Storage","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hobby","category-tech"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.patrickphang.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/patupgraderasp.jpg?fit=1024%2C1536&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patrickphang.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patrickphang.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patrickphang.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patrickphang.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patrickphang.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.patrickphang.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":352,"href":"https:\/\/www.patrickphang.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345\/revisions\/352"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patrickphang.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patrickphang.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patrickphang.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patrickphang.nl\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.patrickphang.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/rasp3.jpg?resize=1024%2C740&ssl=1\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.patrickphang.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/rasp5.jpeg?resize=656%2C437&ssl=1\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.patrickphang.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/nvme.jpg?resize=682%2C486&ssl=1\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.patrickphang.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/picasenes.jpg?resize=1024%2C1024&ssl=1\")