Raspberry Pi launches NVMe M.2 SSDs starting at $30

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What just happened? The Raspberry Pi Foundation has launched a series of branded SSDs and SSD kits as accessories for the Raspberry Pi 5. They come just days after the company introduced low-cost Raspberry Pi SD cards and a silicone bumper base for the Pi 5. The foundation also recently unveiled the Raspberry Pi AI Camera Kit, after showcasing it at the Embedded World 2024 trade show in April.

The M.2 2230 NVMe SSDs come in two capacities: 256GB and 512GB. The former is already available for purchase from authorized retailers in the US, while the latter is up for pre-order, with an estimated shipping window between late November and early December. Pricing starts at $30 for the 256GB model and $45 for the the 512GB variant. Full kits, which include the Raspberry Pi M.2 HAT+, go for $40 and $55, respectively.

It’s worth noting that Raspberry Pi initially claimed the drives were PCIe Gen 2 compliant, but some users have pointed out that Gen 3 speeds can be enabled via raspi-config. However, the latest product pages suggest that they are PCIe Gen 3 compliant by default, though this has yet to be officially confirmed by Raspberry Pi.

In terms of performance, Raspberry Pi claims that the 256GB NVMe drive offers 40,000 IOPS for 4kB random reads and 70,000 IOPS for 4kB random writes, while the 512GB model is said to deliver 50,000 IOPS for 4kB random reads and 90,000 IOPS for 4kB random writes.

As noted by Tom’s Hardware, a sticker on the 512GB model suggests that the new SSDs are manufactured by Chinese flash storage provider Biwin, which supplies SSDs to PC makers like HP and Acer. Biwin also showcased its self-branded consumer SSDs and memory modules at Computex 2024 in Taiwan earlier this year.

The Raspberry Pi 5 was unveiled almost exactly a year ago, featuring several hardware upgrades over its predecessor. Powered by a 2.4 GHz quad-core, 64-bit Arm Cortex-A76 processor, it is nearly three times faster than the Raspberry Pi 4, released in 2019. The Pi 5 also introduces new features, such as a power button and a PCI Express port, which can be used to attach M.2 SSDs with the help of the M.2 HAT+ and various third-party adapters.