Yes. Any old PC or Raspberry Pi with Ubuntu installed can become private cloud storage accessible from any browser, anywhere. Install Ubuntu, download Gavety from gavety.com, plug in your drives — Gavety auto-detects them instantly. No terminal commands, no network config. The device connects outward through an encrypted tunnel, so it works behind CGNAT (Jio Fiber, BSNL, most home ISPs) without port forwarding. Running cost: approximately $21–$24/year (electricity + Gavety). Google One 200GB costs $30/year with your files on Google's servers.
Why Any Old PC or Raspberry Pi Makes a Perfect Private Cloud
A Raspberry Pi 4 acting as a file server for an entire household — streaming videos, handling uploads, sharing files — draws about 5–7W. At $0.10–$0.12/kWh, that's $4–$6/year in electricity. Add Gavety at $15/yr and you have Raspberry Pi cloud storage that costs less than Google One 200GB ($25/yr), with unlimited storage on your own hardware.
The key problem with every other Pi cloud tutorial: they assume you can forward ports on your router. That's impossible on CGNAT, which most Indian ISPs use. Gavety's agent creates an outbound tunnel — your Pi connects out to app.gavety.com, not the other way around. CGNAT becomes irrelevant. See the full technical explanation in our guide to self hosting without port forwarding.
Estimated time: 20–30 minutes from scratch including Ubuntu install. Zero terminal commands required — everything is done through a browser and the App Center.
Which Raspberry Pi Should You Use for Cloud Storage?
Any Pi from Pi 3 upward works. Here's how they compare for a home cloud server:
Buy from authorized Indian distributors: Think Robotics or Robocraze. Both ship across India and stock genuine Pi hardware.
If your device already has Ubuntu or any Debian-based OS installed, skip directly to Step 4: Install Gavety. You don't need to reinstall the OS.
The Setup: 6 Steps to Raspberry Pi Cloud Storage
Gavety runs on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS — the most widely supported Linux desktop. Download and flash it using Raspberry Pi Imager (for Pi) or Balena Etcher (for any PC).
On a Raspberry Pi:
- Open Raspberry Pi Imager → choose Ubuntu Desktop 24.04 LTS (64-bit)
- Select your SD card or USB SSD as the storage target
- Click Write — no extra configuration needed
On an old PC or laptop:
- Download Ubuntu 24.04 LTS from ubuntu.com
- Flash it to a USB stick using Balena Etcher
- Boot from the USB stick and follow the Ubuntu installer (takes ~10 minutes)
The Pi 5 needs a 27W USB-C supply (5V/5A). A standard phone charger causes CPU throttling. The official Raspberry Pi 5 power supply (~$15) is recommended. Also pick up the official active cooler (~$12) — the Pi 5 runs significantly hotter than Pi 4 under sustained load.
This is the only step that needs a screen. Plug your device into a monitor via HDMI, power it on, and wait for Ubuntu to boot to the desktop (~60 seconds).
- Open Firefox (pre-installed on Ubuntu) and go to gavety.com
- Sign in or create a free account
- Complete the $100 purchase — your first year of service is included
- In your dashboard, click Download for Linux (.deb)
- Once downloaded, double-click the .deb file — Ubuntu's App Center opens automatically
- Click Install in the App Center and wait ~30 seconds
That's it. Gavety installs itself and starts running in the background. No terminal, no configuration files, no network setup.
You only need the screen once — to install Gavety. After this step, you can disconnect the monitor permanently. The device runs headlessly from here on.
Plug in any USB hard drives or SSDs. That's all. Gavety detects them automatically — no mounting commands, no configuration files, nothing to set up.
On Raspberry Pi 4/5, use the blue USB 3.0 ports for the fastest speeds. You can plug in multiple drives at once — all of them appear separately in your Gavety dashboard.
NTFS (Windows), exFAT (Mac), ext4 (Linux) — Gavety reads them all. Best long-term choice is a USB SSD ($42–$66 for 1TB): faster, silent, and more resilient to power cuts than a spinning HDD. See storage compatibility details.
Gavety is now installed, your drives are detected, and your device is online. You don't need the monitor anymore.
- Disconnect the HDMI cable
- Make sure the device is connected to your home network (Ethernet is most reliable)
- Leave it powered on — Gavety runs silently in the background and reconnects automatically after any reboot or power cycle
That's it for setup. Your device is now a private cloud that's always on and always accessible.
Gavety starts itself every time the device boots. No maintenance needed. If the power goes out and comes back, Gavety reconnects on its own — your files are available again within seconds of the device starting up.
From any browser on any device — phone, laptop, work computer — go to:
https://gavety.combrowser
- Sign in to your Gavety account
- Click Access Device
- All your plugged-in drives appear — browse, upload, download, and share
What you can do from any browser:
- Upload — drag and drop from desktop, tap to upload on mobile
- Download — click any file; large files stream via HTTP Range
- Stream video — MP4/MKV play inline with seek; no transcoding needed
- Share — right-click → Share → token-secured link, no account needed for recipients
- Multi-user — Settings → Users → Invite, with per-folder read/write permissions
Most Indian ISPs assign shared public IPs through CGNAT. Traditional self-hosting (Nextcloud, OMV) requires a real public IP and port forwarding — both impossible on CGNAT. Gavety's agent connects outward to our relay, not inward. CGNAT is irrelevant. Full technical breakdown: self hosting without port forwarding. Architecture details on the global access page.
Troubleshooting Common Issues
Pi shows offline in app.gavety.com despite being connected
Check service status: systemctl status gavety. If it shows failed, check logs: journalctl -u gavety -n 50 --no-pager. Most common cause: service started before the network was fully up after boot.
Fix: add a startup delay. Run sudo systemctl edit gavety, add these lines, then save:
[Service] ExecStartPre=/bin/sleep 10
Then: sudo systemctl daemon-reload && sudo systemctl restart gavety.
If your device shows disconnected: uninstall and reinstall the .deb from your Gavety account dashboard. This refreshes authentication without deleting any of your files.
Storage drive not appearing in the file manager
Gavety detects drives automatically, but only at startup. If you plugged in a drive after Gavety was already running, try unplugging it and plugging it back in — Gavety watches for drive events and will pick it up within a few seconds.
If the drive still doesn't appear, restart your device. All drives connected at boot are detected immediately. NTFS (Windows) and exFAT (Mac) drives are both supported with no extra steps on Ubuntu.
Slow upload speeds from outside home network
Remote upload speed is capped by your home internet's upload bandwidth — typically 20–50 Mbps on Indian residential broadband. This is the ISP's constraint, not the Pi or Gavety.
On your local network (home WiFi), uploads use the direct LAN path and should hit 50–100+ MB/s on Pi 4/5 with a USB 3.0 SSD. If local uploads are also slow: (1) ensure the Pi is on Ethernet, not WiFi, (2) use the blue USB 3.0 ports on Pi 4/5, (3) reformat the drive from NTFS to ext4 — NTFS is significantly slower on Linux.
Videos buffering or stuttering during streaming
Check Pi temperature first: vcgencmd measure_temp. Above 80°C causes CPU throttling. Add cooling if needed.
If temperature is fine, the bottleneck is usually network. Test by playing the same video over your home LAN — if it's smooth locally but stutters remotely, the constraint is your internet upload speed, not the Pi. Gavety uses HTTP Range Requests so no server-side transcoding is needed — the Pi just serves the raw file bytes.
Pi crashed after a power cut — possible drive corruption
ext4 filesystems are journaled and handle sudden power loss well. Run a filesystem check (unmount first): sudo umount /mnt/cloud && sudo fsck /dev/sda1. fsck auto-repairs most issues.
Long-term: a small UPS eliminates this scenario entirely. For critical data, periodic backups to a second drive are also wise. Gavety agent data itself is stored in your home directory and is not affected by drive issues.
On Jio Fiber or BSNL — can't access from outside home
With Gavety, CGNAT is not a problem — you don't need a public IP. Confirm the Gavety service is running: systemctl status gavety. Then test by turning off home WiFi and opening app.gavety.com on mobile data. If it works on mobile data — the setup is correct and CGNAT is not the issue.
If trying a different self-hosting solution (Nextcloud, OMV) and hitting CGNAT: see our self hosting without port forwarding guide which covers Cloudflare Tunnel as an alternative workaround.
Raspberry Pi Cloud vs Google One: Honest Comparison
| Feature | Google One 200GB | Pi + Gavety |
|---|---|---|
| Annual cost | $25/yr | ~$21/yr (elec + Gavety) |
| Storage capacity | 200 GB (plan limit) | ✓ Unlimited (your drive) |
| Files on your hardware | ✗ On Google servers | ✓ Only on your Pi |
| Remote access anywhere | ✓ | ✓ Gavety tunnel |
| Works behind CGNAT (Jio/BSNL) | ✓ | ✓ Outbound tunnel |
| Shareable links | ✓ | ✓ Token-secured, expiring |
| Media streaming in browser | ~ Limited | ✓ Full HTTP Range |
| Multi-user access control | ~ Family plans only | ✓ Per-folder permissions |
| Data scanned / indexed | ~ Per Google ToS | ✓ Never — only you |
| Native mobile app | ✓ iOS + Android | ~ Mobile browser (PWA) |
| Desktop sync folder | ✓ Google Drive desktop | ✗ On roadmap |
| Available if device is off | ✓ | ✗ Pi must be running |
| Setup required | ✓ Zero | ~10–25 min (this guide) |
✓ supported · ~ partial · ✗ not available · as of May 2026
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Is Raspberry Pi Cloud Storage Right for You?
The Pi + Gavety setup is a strong fit if you want private file storage accessible from anywhere, on hardware you control, and you're comfortable with a one-time 10–25 minute setup. The agent updates itself automatically — ongoing maintenance is minimal.
It's less suited for people who depend on Google Photos AI organisation, need Google Workspace integrations, or require access to files even when their home loses power. For those use cases, Google One remains the simpler choice.
For a broader comparison of all self-hosting options — Nextcloud, OpenMediaVault, Synology — see our complete beginner's guide to self-hosted cloud storage. If you're specifically considering buying NAS hardware, see our Synology alternative for home post before spending $300+. For running this same setup on a laptop instead of a Pi, see our self-hosted Dropbox alternative walkthrough.
Full pricing and hardware compatibility details on the Gavety storage page and pricing page.
Your Pi is ready. Set up your private cloud today.
One command. 10 minutes. Remote access from anywhere — no port forwarding, no CGNAT issues, no router config. $100 one-time licence, first year of service free.
Download Gavety — $100 →Post 8 in Gavety's Self-hosting made simple series. Questions? Contact us. · Authoritative Pi setup reference: raspberrypi.com/documentation.
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