Raspberry Pi Launches Official M.2 HAT+ SSD Kit Supplied by Shenzhen BIWIN Storage

In 2023, the single-board computer manufacturer Raspberry Pi Foundation launched Raspberry Pi 5, which, compared to its predecessors, introduced a PCIe interface. This interface allows for the installation of SSDs or even external graphics cards.

To fully utilize the PCIe interface, Raspberry Pi has also released the M.2 HAT+ kit. This kit essentially serves as an SSD enclosure for M.2 drives, enabling the use of SSDs with the Raspberry Pi.

After all, SSDs offer significantly better performance than MicroSD cards, which is why many enthusiasts are progressively choosing to install their systems on SSDs using this kit.

Consequently, the Raspberry Pi Foundation has now introduced an official brand of SSDs and SSD kits. The SSDs are supplied by Shenzhen BIWIN Storage Technology Co., Ltd., a storage device manufacturer based in Shenzhen, China.

The SSDs used by Raspberry Pi are usually of the M.2 2230 size (though other sizes like M.2 2280 can also be installed through different means). Both models of the official Raspberry Pi branded SSDs are M.2 2230.

Pricing is as follows: the 256GB SSD is sold separately for $is$40; the 512GB SSD is sold separately for 45, with the M.2 HAT+ kit version priced at55.

Raspberry Pi states that these SSDs have a minimum 4K random read and write performance of 40K IOPS and 70K IOPS, respectively. Although these figures are modest compared to PCIe 5.0 SSDs, they are sufficient for use with Raspberry Pi.

Finally, the 256GB SSD and M.2 HAT+ kit version are now on sale, while the 512GB version is available for pre-order and will start shipping by the end of November. Interested customers can purchase through Raspberry Pi distributors.