NVMe Base Duo for Raspberry Pi 5 – NVMe Base Duo

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SKU: PIM704 Brand: Pimoroni

Add two super-fast NVMe SSDs to your Raspberry Pi 5! Ideal if you need redundancy or just a load more storage on your RPi....

$71.30 AUD, inc GST

$64.82 AUD, exc GST

In stock, ships same business day if ordered before 2PM
Delivered by Mon, 25th of Nov

Quantity Discounts:

6-12 $62.87 (exc GST)
12+ $61.58 (exc GST)

Add two super-fast NVMe SSDs to your Raspberry Pi 5! Ideal if you need redundancy or just a load more storage on your RPi.

NVMe Base Duo is a PCIe Gen 2 extension board for Raspberry Pi 5. Simply populate it with one or two M-key NVMe SSDs (2230 to 2280 sizes supported) and mount it under (or over) your Pi for a compact and fast storage solution - It even comes with rubber feet!

It's the perfect solution for turning your Raspberry Pi 5 into a file server, media centre, reverse proxy, home automation server with built-in backup, etc. - really any task that benefits from large amounts of fast storage, redundancy, or just to make use of a couple of spare disks - especially with random high operations per second (IOPS) workloads. In short, it's a game changer!

NVMe Base Duo follows the new "PIP" design guidelines provided by Raspberry Pi ensuring that it will be easy to use and be supported long-term by updates to Raspberry Pi OS - though it is very early days and things are improving rapidly there!

NOTE: It is now possible to boot from NVMe drives installed on NVMe Base Duo! ?? Make sure your Raspberry Pi firmware is updated to the most recent version (17/05/24 or later).

Base Kit

NVMe Base Duo PCB with two M.2 slots (M-Key)
'PCIe Flex' Flat Flex Cable
4x Rubber feet
4x M2 bolt and 2x 5mm standoffs for SSD mounting
4x 12mm M2.5 standoffs for base mounting
8x short M2.5 bolts for base mounting
4x 20mm M2.5 bolts for 'pass-thru' mounting with a HAT

The shipping product may have minor differences to the photos, but will be the same in essentials.

We recommend running the Raspberry Pi 5 at PCIe Gen 2 x 1 speeds with this Base. The total throughput is around 450MB/sec, or 220MB/sec+ per disk for simultaneous access as they share the bandwidth through the PCIe switch.

Due to the tides and vagaries of the SSD market, we will ship whichever drives offer the best value for decent specs. We can say that:

They will have 250/500GB or better capacity
They will be rated by the manufacturer at PCIe Gen 3 or better speed (although Duo only supports Gen 2 speeds)
We'll have personally tested this model of drive with NVMe Base Duo.
They'll be backed by the usual Pimoroni guarantees and customer service.

NOTE: Bundled drives may be from the same manufacturing batch. If you're a storage-integrity aficionado, you may want to source your own drives to avoid the unlikely edge-case of an issue or bug affecting an entire batch of drives.

Drive Compatibility

Pimoroni has tested NVMe Base Duo with the following drives successfully. We have usually tested one drive from one batch, so this is not comprehensive, or an 'Approved' list, but it's a good guide for drives to seek out.

In general, as the drives are behind the switch and not being used at boot we’ve found a much wider range of drives to be working and useful compared to the standard NVMe Base.

ADATA SX8200PNP
ADATA LEGEND 700
Crucial CT500P5PSSD8
Gigabyte GP-GSM2NE3256GNTD
Kingston SKC3000S512G
KIOXIA EXCERIA SSD 500GB
KIOXIA EXCERIA G2 SSD 2TB
Lexar SSD NM710 1TB
Netac NV200-512-E4X
ORIGIN Inception TLC830 Pro 256GB
Patriot P300 256GB
Patriot P310 240GB
Patriot P300 512GB
PNY CS1030 1TB
Sabrent Rocket Nano 500GB
Sabrent SB-RKT4P-1TB
Sabrent Rocket 4.0 1TB
Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 500GB
Samsung SSD 980 500GB
Samsung SSD 980 PRO 1TB
SK hynix GOLD P31
TeamGroup TM8FP6256G
Toshiba KBG40ZNS1T02 1TB
Transcend TS500GMTE110Q
WD Blue SN550 500GB
WD Black SN750 SE
WD PC SN740 512GB
WD Red SN700 500GB
WD Black SN770 1TB
WD Blue SN570 1TB
WD Green SN350 480GB

'Avoid' List. Pimoroni has had problems or reports of problems.

Ortial ON-750-128 256GB

Otherwise most M.2 NVMe drive (not SATA!) you have lying around should work fine.

Check out our benchmark results over at pibenchmarks.net!

Getting Started

For the most hassle-free experience, make sure your Raspberry Pi OS is up to date, and your RPi 5 firmware is updated to 2024-05-17 (May 17th) or newer. The newest version supports all the features of the RPi PCIe spec and means you don't have to mess with config files to get started.

Software update on the RPi OS should do this for you, but to force it you can:

open a Terminal (Ctrl-Alt-T)
run sudo raspi-config and choose 'Latest' under Advanced Options > Bootloader Version.

Running sudo rpi-eeprom-update in the Terminal will tell you which version of firmware is running.

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Exact shipping can be calculated on the view cart page (no login required).

Products that weigh more than 0.5 KG may cost more than what's shown (for example, test equipment, machines, >500mL liquids, etc).

We deliver Australia-wide with these options (depends on the final destination - you can get a quote on the view cart page):

$3+ for Stamped Mail (typically 10+ business days, not tracked, only available on selected small items)
$7+ for Standard Post (typically 6+ business days, tracked)
$11+ for Express Post (typically 2+ business days, tracked)
Pickup - Free! Only available to customers who live in the Newcastle region (must order online and only pickup after we email to notify you the order is ready). Orders placed after 2PM may not be ready until the following business day.

Non-metro addresses in WA, NT, SA & TAS can take 2+ days in addition to the above information.

Some batteries (such as LiPo) can't be shipped by Air. During checkout, Express Post and International Methods will not be an option if you have that type of battery in your shopping cart.

International Orders - the following rates are for New Zealand and will vary for other countries:

$12+ for Pack and Track (3+ days, tracked)
$16+ for Express International (2-5 days, tracked)

If you order lots of gear, the postage amount will increase based on the weight of your order.

Our physical address (here's a PDF which includes other key business details):

Unit 18, 132 Garden Grove Parade
Adamstown
NSW, 2289
Australia

Take a look at our customer service page if you have other questions such as "do we do purchase orders" (yes!) or "are prices GST inclusive" (yes they are!). We're here to help - get in touch with us to talk shop.

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