FINALLY! NVMe SSDs on the Raspberry Pi

The Pineberry Pi HatDrive! is a series of HATs that use the new PCIe connection on the Raspberry Pi 5.

How fast can we get our SSD to go? Can you overclock the Raspberry Pi's PCIe bus?

Other things mentioned in this video (some links are affiliate links):

Contents:

00:00 - microSD no more!
00:32 - Case compatibility and an FPC
02:32 - Flashing Pi OS to NVMe
03:49 - Pi power
04:50 - Configuring NVMe boot
06:17 - HatDrive install
08:00 - First NVMe boot
08:41 - Benchmarking Gen 2 vs Gen 3
12:01 - Debug and more PCIe exploration

[JeffGeerling]

And please note Pineberry Pi *also* sells the HatDrive! Bottom, a 2280-version of the board that slides just underneath the Pi 5. I didn't show it set up in this video but it's a really neat board that works with even more NVMe SSDs!

[mtasapl]

Ooh, fancy! Getting a Pi 5 next week, this will be useful. Also happy to see that they make them locally here in Poland!

[djdrwatson]

I think the HatDrive!Top could do with a big square hole in the board where the NVMe goes so that air from the CPU fan below can blow upwards and cool the bottom of the NVMe drive that's screwed in on top.

[brettfett]

I’m hoping to see a dual NVMe hat with a PCIe switch at some point so I can run two drives in raid 1, but I’m not sure how well that would work with only one lane

[BrickTamlandOfficial]

7:27 "You might need to go in and out a couple times..." ~ Jeff Geerling 2023

I expect a fancy dinner first, Mr. Geerling

[dansummers]

I don't love that the new PCI-E connector is in basically the same place and a similar shape to where the DSI connector used to be, but other than that, it's pretty neat to see PCI-E on the Pi. Interested to see what new devices people can connect and use, over time.

[ExplainingComputers]

Great to see this Jeff -- some impressive results.

[kyleolsen]

I have a set of ESD tweezers for various things. They come in really handy for those ribbon cables. I mostly use it for building keyboards, but they're invaluable however you use them.

[marcogenovesi]

the PCB where they printed the logo is doing nothing (has no components on either side) and is just in the way for airflow. I understand a big logo is cool but please remove that part in the production model

[dominick]

Yes... I've been patiently waiting for more pi5 content!

Why isn't there a built in boot editor in the bios? At this point they really need to have it on by default to at least try sd first then other drives.

[JustinEmlay]

All my Pis use an M.2 SSD to USB drive with the Argon One M.2 case. Fantastic solution! Very compact with great cooling. Will be interesting to test this against an SSD to see what real world benefits there are.

[DarkestVampire]

As much as i love the Raspberry Pi 5, i feel like theres still a lot of missed opportunities here when it comes to NVMe support. Or power management, for that matter- I had to previously scrap a project because of how little power you can actually feed to the Pi.

[katherinesilens]

I hope Pi 6 goes with a different setup on GPIO. I would really like to see it as a sideways-angled connector so coolers and access to the board aren't restricted by HATs.

[linus_staf]

Just ordered the bottom version. Got an “old” Samsung 950 pro lying around that will fit my pi 5 and this perfectly!

[techadsr]

Wow. I just read about those NVME hat and bottoms yesterday and put off ordering them until I saw a review. VERY TIMELY!!!

[jfolz]

It's a shame they decided to go with the proprietary (?) ribbon connector rather than adding an m.2 slot to the Pi5.
The ribbon might be a good (though not necessarily better) solution to connect oddball components, but I'd expect more people would use an m.2.

[neillthornton]

Just spied a Mikrotik switch in that rack. Solid choice. They have seriously stepped up their game in the last few years, and no home labber should be without one or more!

[grahambalderstone]

Just got my HatDrive! Bottom, and tested installing and booting from NVME and it works!

[harz]

That flimsy little ribbon cable was a MASSIVE misfire by Raspberry. People are going to screw that up in the millions. The Pi should've just had an NVMe drive on the bottom and called it a day. 🤦‍♂

[TwistedMe]

3:16 Velcro Command strips. That way you can use that device one-handed without risking a Red Shirt Jeff moment.