Add super-fast storage to your Raspberry Pi 5 allowing for lightning fast boots, NAS use, and snappy applications!

NVMe Base is a PCIe extension board for Raspberry Pi 5. Simply populate it with an M-key NVMe SSD (2230 to 2280 sizes supported) and mount it under 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, etc. - really any task that benefits from large amounts of fast storage, especially with random high operations per second (IOPS) workloads. In short it's a game changer!

NVMe base 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!

Raspberry Pi Firmware

For the most hassle-free experience, make sure your Raspberry Pi OS is up to date, and your RPi 5 firmware is updated to 2023-12-06 (Dec 6th) or newer. This supports all the features of the RPi PCIe spec and means you don't have to mess with config files to get started.

Drive compatibility

We have tested NVMe Base with the following M.2 NVMe drives successfully:

• AData Legend 700
  
• Axe Memory
• Crucial P2 M.2
• Crucial P3 Plus M.2
• Inland PCIe NVMe SSD
• Kingston KC3000
• Kioxia Exceria 2.5
• Lexar NM620
• Lexar NM710
• Netac M.2 NVMe SSD
• Origin Inception TLC830 Pro NVMe
• Patriot P310
• PNY CS1030
• Sabrent Rocket 4.0
• Sabrent Rocket Nano
• Samsung 980
• Samsung 980 Pro
• Team MP33
• Western Digital Black SN750 SE Series

But pretty much any M.2 NVMe drive you have lying around should work fine although we recommend avoiding WD Green or SN350 drives. Check out our benchmark results over at pibenchmarks.net!

Getting started

•  Video guide to installing the hardware.

Firmware

Make sure your Raspberry Pi 5 firmware is up to date with the 2023-12-06 or later version. Software update on the RPi OS should do this for you, but you can force it by running sudo rpi-eeprom-update in the Terminal. This will also tell you which firmware is running. 

PCIe 3 Mode

To enable experimental and not-officially-supported PCIe 3 mode, add the follow line to the [all] section at the end of your Raspberry Pi /boot/config.txt file like this:

[all]

dtparam=pciex1_gen=3

Save and reboot - your drive is ready to use!

Formatting the NVMe and booting from NVMe

• If you want to boot from the NVMe drive, follow these extra steps:
  
• Make sure your firmware is updated as above
  
• Format the drive using Raspberry Pi Imager
• You can do this with your NVMe Base installed by booting the RPi 5 from SD card and running Raspberry Pi Imager from the start menu.
• Open a Terminal.
• Run sudo raspi-config 
• Choose NVMe boot from the 'Advanced' section.
• Reboot your RPi 5.

Notes:

• Always power off your RPi and disconnect the power supply before installing or uninstalling the NVMe Base.
  
• NVMe Base offers a general purpose PCIe x1 connection - while we know most people want to add fast storage in theory you can use other devices with it, we just can't help you make them work! :-D What Would Jeff (Geerling) Do?
• We do not recommend WD Green SSDs at this time. Drives such as the SN350 are temperamental with the CM4 and RPi 5.
• The final shipping design and included hardware will differ very slightly though the photos here do reflect how it will look and the performance will not be changed!

Package Includes:

Base Kit

• NVMe Base PCB with M.2 Slot (M-Key)
  
• 'PCIe Pipe' Flat Flex Cable
• 4x Rubber feet
• M2 bolt and 2x nuts for SSD mounting
• 4x 7mm M2.5 standoffs for base mounting
• 8x short M2.5 bolts for base mounting 
• 4x long M2.5 bolts for 'pass-thru' mounting with a HAT

NVMe Base + 500GB SSD Bundle

We also offer the kit bundled with a 500GB+ NVMe SSD (PCIe Gen 3 or better) 

The Raspberry Pi 5 will run at PCIe 3.0 x 1 speeds at best so most drives are limited to around 700-800MB/s read and 350-450MB write at peak.

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

• It will have 500GB or better capacity
  
• It will be at least PCIe Gen 3 or better speed
• We'll have personally tested the drive with the NVMe Base and it will be in the list below.
• It'll be backed by the usual Pimoroni guarantees and customer service.