Available with a lead time
Expect dispatch between Sep 13 and Sep 20
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).
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:
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.
'Avoid' List. Pimoroni has had problems or reports of problems.
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.
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):
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:
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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