Raspberry Pi Launches SSDs and SSD Kits

Raspberry Pi now sells SSD storage and SSD kits for its Raspberry Pi 5 single board computers (SBCs) in 256 and 512 GB configurations. Prices start at just $30.

“When we launched Raspberry Pi 5, almost exactly a year ago, I thought the thing people would get most excited about was the three-fold increase in performance over 2019’s Raspberry Pi 4,” Raspberry Pi’s Eben Upton writes. “But very quickly it became clear that it was the other new features – the power button (!), and the PCI Express port – that had captured people’s imagination.”

On that note, Raspberry Pi and third party partners have extended the capabilities of Raspberry Pi 5 with Ethernet adapters, AI accelerators, and other advances. And Raspberry Pi previously offered an M.2 Hat+ add-on which allows customers to use M2-based SSDs and other peripherals (including that AI accelerator) with the SBCs.

“But the most popular use case for the PCI Express port on Raspberry Pi 5 is to attach an NVMe solid-state disk (SSD),” Upton adds. “SSDs are fast; faster even than our branded A2-class SD cards. If no-compromises performance is your goal, you’ll want to run Raspberry Pi OS from an SSD, and Raspberry Pi SSDs are the perfect choice.”

The entry-level PCIe Gen 3-compliant SSD drive offers 256 GB of storage and costs $30, or $40 in a kit that includes the M.2 Hat+. That’s available now, but a 512 GB version that costs $45/$55 is available for preorder and will ship by the end of November.

You can learn more on the Raspberry Pi 5 website.