Raspberry Pi Launches Own-Brand SSDs and SSD Kits for the Raspberry Pi 5

Raspberry Pi's recent foray into own-brand microSD cards isn't to be its last look at storage devices: the company has announced the Raspberry Pi SSD, available in 256GB and 512GB capacities, as an ideal companion for the M.2 HAT+ on the Raspberry Pi 5 single-board computer (SBC).

The Raspberry Pi SSD is, as the name suggests, a solid-state drive — specifically, an M.2 2230-footprint Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) drive. Those familiar with such things will spot that the 2230 footprint is smaller than most drives aimed at mainstream desktops and laptops, but is exactly the size expected by the Raspberry Pi M.2 HAT+ add-on for the Raspberry Pi 5.

Available at launch in 256GB, and with a 512GB variant planned for late November, the Raspberry Pi SSD offers a PCI Express Gen. 3 interface — limited to Gen. 2 speeds if you run the Raspberry Pi 5 M.2 HAT at stock settings — and a claimed 40k input/output operations per second (IOPS) read and 70k IOPS write performance for random 4kB blocks, rising to 50k IOPS read and 70k IOPS write for the 512GB variant.

In addition to being sold standalone, the new SSDs will be available as the Raspberry Pi SSD Kit. This bundles either a 256GB or 512GB SSD with the Raspberry Pi M.2 HAT+, stacking header, spacers, and screws, for an all-in-one storage upgrade for any Raspberry Pi 5 — with or without the Raspberry Pi 5 Active Cooler heatsink and fan assembly in place.

This isn't Raspberry Pi's first own-brand solid-state storage: earlier this month the company launched Raspberry Pi-brand microSD cards, developed in partnership with Longsys and designed to address performance and compatibility issues with third-party devices. These, like the Raspberry Pi SSDs, are guaranteed to be fully compatible with the Raspberry Pi 5 — unlocking the full performance gains of Class A2 with Command Queuing (CQ).

The Raspberry Pi SSD 256GB and Raspberry Pi SSD Kit 256GB launch today at Raspberry Pi resellers globally, with the 512GB variants launching by the end of November. The 256GB SSD is priced at $30, with the SSD Kit bundle at $40; the 512GB variant will launch at $45, or $55 in SSD Kit bundle form.