They’re a blast for developers, students, and tech professionals.. They simplify work at a reduced price. However, this has some “fine print” regarding the care of the equipment, which is more fragile than you think.
As you will have noticed, this board does not have an on or off button and this is a problem for newbies and unsuspecting people who think turning off the power is a good idea.
We will tell you the reasons why you should properly shut down your Raspberry equipment and what you should do, step by step, to ensure that the shutdown process is safe.
What are the most dangerous risks of shutting down or restarting a Raspberry Pi incorrectly?
The first thing to remember is that the operating system on Raspberry computers are installed on a Micro SD cardwhich is not more resistant than the rest of the cards on the market, so it requires a lot of care.
Review this list of the potential risks of incorrectly shutting down a Raspberry, whatever model you have in your projects:
- Data loss: when talking about data, we are talking about all the configurations, files and procedures with which we have worked with a Raspberry. Most likely, what is lost first is the last stored and last modified data.
- File corruption: It is one thing for the data to disappear and another for it to be there, but rendered useless. This occurs due to variations in the direct power supply to the equipment. For this reason, the use of UPS systems and voltage regulators is always recommended when you have a really important project in development.
- Micro SD card damage: The manufacturers claim that the cards are highly resistant to shocks, even waterproof, but we do not recommend doing a resistance test. Micro SD card, when used in Raspberry, is overworked and you may need to change it once a year due to its brittleness.
- Damage to Raspberry components: Processor, RAM, and onboard chips can be affected by a power direct disturbance. Although the board will not burn from unplugging the power cord, it may not work properly when you turn the computer back on.
- Delays in your project: If you are the main author of a project, you will know how important it is to take care of the work you do. An oversight in the way of turning off a Raspberry can cause loss of valuable time and delays in meeting goals.
- loss of money: Although Raspberry equipment is affordable, when a board is damaged you must replace it completely and that requires a new investment of money. If you are just an entrepreneur or enthusiast, you will know that this implies the use of resources that you surely do not have on hand.
Learn step by step how to restart or shut down your Raspberry Pi single board correctly and safely
Believe it or not, Raspberry computers are designed to remain turned on for hours, days and weeks. They even have a power supply via USB so that there is no overheating so fast on the plate. The processor and ethernet chip are the hottest components on a Raspberry board. and there are heat sinks on the market that can improve its performance. However, it is unlikely that there will be problems due to high temperatures when you leave the equipment connected.
Even with this explanation, if you have doubts about how to take care of your Raspberry and you need to turn off the mini computer, you just have to follow these simple steps:
From the command console
As it is quite frequent that you carry out projects without the support of a monitor, you better learn to use command console which comes by default in the Raspberry PI OS, which is called Bash.
Once you make the SSH connection and have access to your Raspberry, type these lines of code in the console:
- sudo shutdown -h now: By writing these lines, a series of steps to follow are executed and are seen in the same command console.
- SIGTERM: this is the order that the computer issues so that all processes save information and begin to close.
- SIGKILL: All other running processes will be stopped. There will be no active processes left at this point.
- SYSTEM HALT: This is the command console warning that the system has stopped completely.
After completing these steps, You can now proceed to power your Raspberry Pi equipmentin any of its versions, because none of them come with a built-in button.
from the desktop
When you use a Raspberry as a mini desktop computer, it is easier to perform the shutdown process safely.
You just have to follow the following steps:
- At the top and left, locate the Raspberry logowhich is actually a button that displays the menu.
- Find and select the button Shutdown.
- Wait for the processes to finish they are not visible as in the case of the command console.
- The computer will tell you when you should disconnect power.
It is important to highlight that, while hardware is receiving powerit stays on, albeit with a minimum of active processes.
Reboot a Raspberry
The only way to turn on a Raspberry device is by connecting power through the USB-c port, which is the only one that works to allow electricity to pass through. Taking this foundation into account, The only way to restart the mini computer is by performing all the processes that we have been explaining in this article. To properly turn off the equipment, remove the power cable, and reconnect it. This is the only way to perform a safe reboot.
Remember that these devices are low cost and are used for different technology projectsso it is not convenient that all of them are manufactured as if the only purpose is to serve as a desktop computer for end users.
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