Hi all,

I just bought a new raspberry pi 5 (16gb) , can I use the same ssd and os from my old pi 5 (8gb) or do I need a fresh installation ?

for the os , i use Raspberry pi OS Lite (64 bit)

Should be fine.

As a precaution I always (if possible) do an update before swapping over to what may be a later release (even with the same model). As I said though only precautionary.

just getting round to buying a new one aswell butt why did you go from 8GB to 16GB ? is the pi your only computer ?

:) Steve :)

As other posters. With that extra ram your use case may find some advantage in subsequently making use of tmpfs. For instance my (8Gb) rpi5 has 32Gb of swap which at first sight seems counter intuitive but its sole job is to compile stuff. I have a script which unpacks source code into a transient tmpfs and builds projects in another transient tmpfs. One project needs 15Gb for the latter object files. Without tmpfs it would be scribbling loads of tiny files over the ssd, wearing it out and slower access. With tmpfs the unused object files get slowly paged out (to the ssd) and only paged back in when the project performs a massive link operation.

I bought my PC during the GPU crisis so spent the money on 64Gb ram. Most of it is never used which irritated me so I wrote a script which dynamically creates a tmpfs. Now I download and unpack stuff into the tmpfs and only once I know I need to keep it, do I copy it to nvme/ssd. Vastly reduced the "wear" on those devices.

Oh, tmpfs is a ram disk btw, in case you're are unaware.

I have a script 'svr-tmpfs' on github. If anyone wants a link, I'll check what's up there is valid and post a link at the weekend. It is valid: simply I can't remember off the top of my head if it requires other scripts.

A related question: I'm about to buy a Pi 5 16Gb + SSD hat. I already have a (working, fully updated, albeit slow) Pi 3B. Can I use the SD card from the 3B to boot the Pi 5, prior to putting the OS onto the SSD?

XXVII wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 19, 2025 6:31 pm

A related question: I'm about to buy a Pi 5 16Gb + SSD hat. I already have a (working, fully updated, albeit slow) Pi 3B. Can I use the SD card from the 3B to boot the Pi 5, prior to putting the OS onto the SSD?

If the old card is on at least Bookworm, then yes. Usual advice applies.... bring the card up to date first.

However, Trixie is now out, so you might want to consider starting with a new card and load that.

Merci pour toutes vos réponses, c’est très clair ! 🙏

Je viens justement de faire la même migration (8 Go → 16 Go) et je me posais exactement les mêmes questions.
J’ai gardé mon SSD avec Raspberry Pi OS Lite 64 bits sans souci, il a démarré du premier coup.
Comme conseillé, j’ai juste lancé un petit sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade avant de le déplacer, histoire d’être tranquille.

Je confirme aussi que la différence se sent pas mal si on compile ou qu’on utilise plusieurs services en parallèle — le Pi respire beaucoup mieux avec 16 Go ! 😄

Emilie35 wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 20, 2025 1:11 pm

Merci pour toutes vos réponses...

Google translation for others

Thanks for all your answers, it's very clear! 🙏

I just did the same migration (8 GB → 16 GB) and I was asking myself exactly the same questions.
I kept my SSD with Raspberry Pi OS Lite 64-bit without any problems; it booted the first time.
As advised, I just ran a quick sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade before moving it, just to be on the safe side.

I also confirm that the difference is noticeable if you compile or use multiple services simultaneously—the Pi breathes much better with 16 GB! 😄

@Emilie35, may I suggest you use the Français sub forum, or as a courtesy to others translate your posts.

@Emilie35, puis-je vous suggérer d'utiliser le sous-forum Français, ou par courtoisie envers les autres, de traduire vos messages.

wildfire wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 20, 2025 2:04 pm

Emilie35 wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 20, 2025 1:11 pm

Merci pour toutes vos réponses...

Google translation for others

I suspect Emilie is a French AI spammer. Her three posts don't say much about Raspberries and appear as AI slop.

DougieLawson wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 20, 2025 2:43 pm

I suspect Emilie is a French AI spammer. Her three posts don't say much about Raspberries and appear as AI slop.

My thoughts too, I was just giving her/it the benefit of doubt.