Fastest storage for Raspberry Pi 500?

[@johnbowles4754]

A very enjoyable video, you've given me quite a few ideas for the New Year. Have a wonderful Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year

[@mattafaak]

Possibly the greatest limitation of the Pi 4 was its reliance on SD/USB storage. It's indefensible to release the Pi 500 without any sort of PCIe/M.2 connector. And especially egregious to carve out a little M.2 area on the PCB and then just not use it. Whenever they do make this properly, I'll very happily buy one. Pi 500 Model B+, perhaps?

[@WhiteG60]

I was saying they should just do a kickstarter/Tindie type of thing for a Pi505 that has the M.2 slot populated and sell it for $110. Pre-order/pre-pay and once there's 5000+ orders, they'll do a run of them and ship them out.

[@Reprogrammed_By_SEGA]

Probably would be Pi 500+ but to make it a product it would need more ram and a CPU speed boost to go with it at a decent price.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

"Possibly the greatest limitation of the Pi 4 was its reliance on SD/USB storage." What's wrong with SD/USB storage? If you're building a compact system where there's not a lot of writing to storage then SD is perfectly fine for that. If you need to deal with more transient data reading and writing then USB storage is fine for that. This is a compact computing device, you're not going to be editing video files going into tens of gigabytes, for example. "It's indefensible to release the Pi 500 without any sort of PCIe/M.2 connector." It's completely defensible. I don't need NVME storage on a Pi because I don't try to crowbar bloated and privacy-hating Windows on a Pi that needs all the help it can get when loonies attempt to do so. I am happy to pay around £80 for an "Amiga-like home computer" type format. If the price increased to over £100 with an NVME interface, I can find used SFF PCs online that will do a better job for much cheaper. "And especially egregious to carve out a little M.2 area on the PCB and then just not use it." No, it's called "economics". Make one PCB for all variants of a system, hopefully that saves some manufacturing cost that can be passed on to the customer. "Whenever they do make this properly, I'll very happily buy one." It's fine for what it is. The reason you're complaining is that the support the Raspberry Pi has has completely "spoiled" you. If you want to do anything with the Rasperry Pi, there's a video here on how to do it that most of the user base can follow step-by-step without having to do any "hard work" themselves. I can build Linux on just about any platform and therefore the range of (often used and cheap) hardware that I can use for a project is extensive. But I bet if I put, say, an Orange Pi in front of most Raspberry Pi users and said "put Linux on it", they wouldn't have a clue where to start - and a lot of them are too bone idle to even search elsewhere on YT for a video. Your lack of skill and adaptability is not the fault of the hardware or the software.

[@miguela7433]

I think the configuration is OK for 95% of the potential users of an "all-in-one" computer. These people will not dare crack open the package to install an SSD. Ith would be nice, however, if Raspberry Foundation would open source the information needed to mod the unit by soldering the missing parts required to mount an SSD. This would make the remaining 5% of us also happy. I guess some enthusiast will get to that task sooner than later in any case...

[@stephenvalente3296]

@@terrydaktyllus1320 I’d say the breadth of disappointment here outweighs you penchant for trying to shoot everyone down voicing that opinion!

[@nml5536]

Thanks for doing these types of experiments! Excellent video.

[@CyberDunk2077]

Almost at 100k subscribers! And all from a cupboard in your house!! Good to see some storage tests, I am still undecided on wether to get a pi 500, might just get one for younger family members so I can play with it and show them all the cool things it can do.

[@LakshmanaChilukuri]

Good to know. I had a 10 year old 240 GB samsung 840 sata ssd lying around which i am using with pi5. I put it into a simple usb 3.0 2.5" enclosure. It works as fast as the kingston you showed.

[@Kw1161]

Thanks Lee for saving me money on a drive that won't be much faster the SSD drive I have laying around my computer shack. Have a great day!

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

Considering a large proportion of the Pi user base uses the Raspberry Pi for emulation, and emulation is about loading small-ish games ROMs in to play, the advantages of NVME in that case are minimal.

[@lee99bay]

No official nvme ssd out of box is a bummer 😢 I am waiting for Pi 600 with new soc/16gb ram and native nvme slot ❤

[@alexdanciu5107]

Or You can Add a navite nvme ssd just need to soder unpopuled sorder points and can nmve slot and tadaaa , nmve native pi500

[@tubegor]

@@alexdanciu5107 I'll wait until someone shows how to do it and only then will I buy PI 500.

[@michelvanbriemen3459]

@@alexdanciu5107 Seemingly so, but apparently the people at Raspberry didn't populate the PCB with the necessary power circuitry to make an nvme slot function.

[@bm-cy7ek]

Keep waiting

[@guxtavo14]

No interval NVMe is a deal breaker

[@risquefiasco947]

I've been using a Transcend ESD310 drive on both Pi400 and Pi5. 256Gb and 512Gb, they perform admirably well with Pi and attain speeds compatible to Pcie

[@kieronrye5725]

my initial thoughts on the pi 500 is it looks ideal for education schools etc. if i wanted in as many schools as possible than 100% SD is better than Nvme

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

I think it's fine as a "home computer" style platform for emulation but terrible for schools - the keyboard isn't designed for being slammed around by kids. Much better to get a standard Raspberry Pi in a hard case and an external USB keyboard that you can just swap out if the kids break it.

[@alevans51]

Really good tests.

[@frankoconnor806]

Looking forward to seeing your gaming reviews of the pi5 16gb with the new memory handling release

[@nicholasgarratt5646]

I loved the 500 until the space bar went faulty on the 10th day. Got a replacement coming :). I have been using microsd but have just got my first SSD USB. I am going to use it for Batocera for now as the microsd on the 500 is fast enough.

[@viggojamne9289]

I have two PI5. Both running with M.2 disks on a HAT. I would never buy the 500 because of the missing M2 slot. I would also not buy it because i only need the small original PI5. But i can be nice for people to get into Linux. Linux is being more and more popular today. I started using Linux with my first Raspberry PI1, and today i run Linux on everything. Windows are gone. Windows is only being used for testing on the Windows OS when i have to create software for it :) Raspberry became the best solution for getting to know Linux, and to start using it.

[@TheCapsaicinner]

I'll wait for pi500 pro/plus/whatever

[@EugeniaLoli]

No such thing. The next refresh would be or the pi6 in 3 years.

[@frankfischer7879]

i wait for a pi500 with installed PCIe/M.2 slot

[@tmthanhable]

So do I 😂

[@EugeniaLoli]

That'll be in about 3 years or so, for the next pi version. Don't expect an update on the 500.

[@Rod_Knee]

There is a significant performance uplift using an NVME in a Raspberry Pi 5 as long as you adjust the config file to force the PCIe bus into Gen 3 mode. It'll be interesting to see how long it takes before someone adds a connector and power circuitry to a Pi 500 and does a performance test.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

Yes, of course there is - if you're silly enough to attempt to crowbar bloated and privacy-hating Windows on a Pi. He's demonstrated in this very video that there is little impact in using NVME when you run a properly optimised Linux OS on a Pi. Or do you doubt what your own eyes and ears tell you in this video?

[@Arek_R.]

I have the pi500 modded, runs the nvme ssd. Tho I have some lame NVMe with only 600MB/s writes.

[@Rod_Knee]

@@Arek_R. Freaking excellent (not the slow NVMe bit). Have you documented the modding process?

[@Arek_R.]

@@Rod_Knee You just solder the M.2 slot and the 4 AC decoupling capacitors. Then you either populate the built in DC-DC 3.3V converter or power the NVMe from a external PSU (what I've did for now). I can make the built in DC-DC work as well it's just a matter of ordering the parts.

[@Rod_Knee]

@@Arek_R. I'll see if I can get hold of a good soldering station.

[@BillyNoMates1974]

good test interesting results

[@fluoxethine]

We need some mod to put that NVME inside if Raspberry Pi Foundation doesn't wanna give us a functioning NVME slot.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

No, you need to stop trying to crowbar bloated and privacy-hating Windows onto the Pi. He has shown in this video that for a normal Linux installation, there's really no advantage to installing an NVME drive. How did you use a computer before NVME if it's that important a feature to you?

[@Rod_Knee]

@@terrydaktyllus1320 Ah, now I see you're spamming people raising this very important point. Do you work for Raspberry Pi? Did they hire you to spread BS?

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

@@Rod_Knee "Ah, now I see you're spamming people raising this very important point." I am glad I saw your two comments in reverse order. I didn't read this one beyond the point highlighted above. I didn't read any of the other one. You wasted your time writing the rest of this one and all of the other one. This isn't a discussion about me, "me" is a topic you know nothing about anyway. You get one chance, you blew it. Learn some politeness, sonny. Run along, mind how you go and stay away from sharp scissors. Discussion closed.

[@Rod_Knee]

@@terrydaktyllus1320 Hilarious that you claim to not care and yet keep replying. Even more hilarious that you claim I don't know what I'm talking about. Blocked. Enjoy crying out into the void, whist typing on your Windows laptop.

[@robertkeaney9905]

No one said anything about windows? What are you on about?

[@neilcoelho]

USB NVMe seems to be the best option. Faster and leaves the PCIe slot free for other uses.

[@Arek_R.]

I have my Pi 500 modded to run NVMe SSD, and the results are: Sequential write speed of 775573 KB/sec Random write 131072 IOPS Random read 79437 IOPS It's set to gen 3 of course, SSD is Patriot P300P256GM28

[@leepspvideo]

@@Arek_R. you soldered the necessary components onto the board?

[@Arek_R.]

@@leepspvideo The m.2 socket and the four tiny caps to reconnect the pci-e lanes. Power is currently supplied from external PSU, after the holidays I will order the DC-DC converter components and get it working with internal power.

[@leepspvideo]

@ if you have any pictures and details I may like to mention it in Pi news

[@Arek_R.]

@@leepspvideo Pi news? Is that some sort of your blog post? Someone on X already did it and posted pictures and details.

[@leepspvideo]

@ Raspberry Pi NEWS kzbin.info/aero/PLMJAjiTgBtFk4KtZK73Bui1mqC8I80WWW I had seen it mentioned before but with very little detail

[@stadtminish3219]

I don't get it. Regardless of whether it's NVME or SSD, the limiting factor should be USB3. Why are the NVMEs so extremely slow anyway? I think that with the NVMEs the interfaces have negotiated a USB2 connection.

[@HuyLe-qc8jc]

I agree. 5 Gbps USB3 should be around 500MB/s. The Kingston SATA to USB test is in the ball park. Those NVME to USB solution should be similar. The Samsung USB stick is rated for 300MB/s also. something went wrong if the speed is 10% of the baseline. 30MB/s does sound like USB2 speed.

[@ДмитроЖигалкін]

Your low nvme figures had nothing with rpi or disk - it is cable/usb 3 port issue. I had same issue on my radxa zero 3e , hp laptop, home pc, for some reason same drive performed bad on pc while fast on laptop. On radxa it was fun - by rotating usb-c connector on 180 i received slow or fast speeds :) that not worked with pc . So its something on cable/usb3 port soldering. Probably "slow" speeds you receive when your device recognized as usb 2 device because to receive your figures from nvme is ridiculous. Repeat your tests with another cable or nvme case, try rotate on 180 if you have usb-c on some end.

[@tafkawac]

A few thoughts on this: Can't get over how slow the Orico was compared to the SATA - I would have thought a NVME drive would outperform SATA even through the same USB port. Also @leepspvideo - could you do the same tests with your new CM5? NVME / SATA/ MMC etc?

[@leepspvideo]

@@tafkawac I haven’t got it yet, coming soon

[@tafkawac]

@leepspvideo mine is sitting under the Christmas Tree. Roll on Christmas 🎄

[@jclements7361]

I watched another reviewer a day or two ago and he opened up a Pi500 and we all had a WTF moment as the Pi500 board/housing has an ovious space for an Mvme drive, maybe in the future but it could not be anything else. Would I pay $10 more for a Pi520 with that slot built out? YES! I wonder if anyone knows why they didn't go ahead with it?

[@Rod_Knee]

It's bizarre that Raspberry Pi Company / Foundation made the 500 with solder lands for an M2 slot, but didn't populate the power circuitry or the connector. Doing so and making it externally accessible would have been trivial in both design and cost.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

It's not bizarre. Unless you're a loony attempting to crowbar bloated and privacy-hating Windows onto a Pi, NVME has no real advantage - he has demonstrated that in this video. Didn't you watch it?

[@Rod_Knee]

@@terrydaktyllus1320 There is massive difference in how my Raspberry Pi 5 performs with the current NVME I have installed compared to the factory MicroSD card. Leeps' results seem oddly slow by comparison. Add to that the greater capacity available with an NVME and the fact you can mount it internally, and that Raspberry Pi have the solder lands in place. So yes, of course it's bizarre. It's a big FU to the customer.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

People like me that don't do silly things with the Pi like attempting to crowbar bloated and privacy-hating Windows onto it (that needs all the help it can get anyway) don't see the benefits of NVME. I therefore would not want to pay the additional cost for an addon that I have no need for.

[@Riiyan]

It's a shame the NVMe slot isn't useable. I would of bought one for each room in my house that has a tv.

[@edwardfitz-gibbon6484]

Yea. Who want wires hanging off the back. It’s supposed to be a neat package. I was all excited about it but after the wait it’s a bit of an anti -climax. If they ever bring out a “plus” version with an nvme slot, it’s too late for me.

[@FlintStone-c3s]

I suspect the Pi500 board with POE and NVMe might take longer to get EMC/EMI approvals. I can wait, I already use a Pi5 with NVMe adapter.

[@goport]

I need to get these results on this screen. 😆

[@elokjerside8680]

I Wonder if the geforce now could be used on the pi 500 ?

[@CaptainRufus]

Not having the Nvme as an option is one of many reasons I don't feel bad about getting a normal 5 a few months back. It's not like the 4 to 400 where the all in one was faster and better this time around. Plus no fan. Does a Pi really need even a cheaper M2? Nah. Would it be cool to have as an option? Absolutely. Hell in my Windows 11 i3 12th gen rig comparing a Sata SSD speed to the M2 is like night and day. Then I recently popped a Samsung 990 in for size mostly and it's godlike speed. Win 11 boots in 23 seconds cold start. It's ABSURD. Now a G4 one like that would be silly for a Pi but even an option for the drives would be nice provided it allows space for heat sinks and possibly even the fans the G5 M2s apparently need would be lovely. Make it easy for us the consumer to decide what we want to do.

[@ThePetje06]

just have patience... I think they will eventually add a SSD option later on on an updated 500 model.

[@Retroornew]

Hi Lee what about trying a larger A2 card so perhaps a 128 or 256 as quite often larger cards are quicker?

[@curtishorn1267]

Something seems off, like there is a driver issue with those m.2 usb cases. Why would SATA be faster?

[@toneycassel4448]

With 8gb of ram, there’s plenty of memory for buffer/cache.

[@Rick5040]

Disabling or not installing the NVMe port on a Raspberry Pi 500 is going to cost Raspberry a lot of sales… Me for one!

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

No, it's going to cost them ONE sale because you only have access to the contents of your own mind, not anyone else's. Actually, I could argue that adding me into the equation means they come out even, because I purchased a Pi 500 (and I am very happy with it so far) on the basis that it only cost £84 as a nice little "Amiga-like home computer" platform. Adding an NVME port that I don't need would probably knock the price to over £100, and I wouldn't be prepared to pay that for it. Ultimately, if you are one of these silly people attempting to crowbar bloated and privacy-hating Windows onto a Pi then, let's be honest here, that "operating system" needs as much help as it can get. But he has demonstrated in this video that if you run a proper adult's OS like Linux on the Pi, the effect of adding NVME is negligible.

[@patrolmaverick]

Side question, whats a good diagnostic speed test for Konstakang's LineageOS?

[@leepspvideo]

I haven’t tried any

[@PersonalPariah]

Please tell me if you can you run a USB3 SSD and use Bluetooth at the same time on the Pi500? Because my Pi400 causes massive interference if I try to use both at the same time, controllers cutting in and out constantly.

[@w13rdguy]

Is USB3 NVME faster than USB3 SATA?

[@leepspvideo]

@@w13rdguy I guess it depends on the chip. I knew the Orico wasn’t fast for an os. The Zike surprised me most as it’s super quick on usb 4 Superfast, Cool & Silent NVMe storage. ZikeDrive kzbin.info/www/bejne/nYfZfmmDaJaomtU

[@tubegor]

No, the speed is about the same. The bottleneck is USB 3 speed. I have already done the test myself.

[@w13rdguy]

@@tubegor Yes, that's what my experience has been, as well 👍

[@tubegor]

@@w13rdguy 👍

[@Sanddancer75]

As interesting as that was, I'm more curious about what the rest of that jumper looks like?

[@freepoet6737]

Was the command queuing enabled on the SD drive?

[@leepspvideo]

@@freepoet6737 yes

[@drtoothpaste]

Is the desktop wallpaper part of kde?

[@leepspvideo]

Yes in my Kde build KDE Plasma on Raspberry Pi. Black screen fix for latest Raspberry Pi OS Labwc update kzbin.info/www/bejne/emOviGqbiJejq6c Created like this Creating free AI images with Microsoft Copilot kzbin.info/www/bejne/mKibdICZm9icoqs

[@germancruzram]

PI 500 couldn't use Hailo Hat?

[@leepspvideo]

@@germancruzram correct

[@BillyNoMates1974]

such a shame I upgraded my home server from a raspberry Pi 4 to a mini pc Intell N100 last month. Id buy a PI 500 with the monitor as my new home server if the Pi 500 had come out a month ago. grr Now I have to find some sort of use case to buy a PI 500. because I still want it

[@vietho_es]

Interesting

[@Phil995511]

They should have integrated an M.2 SSD solution on this P500 ;-(

[@rajeshparab9200]

How to install and run the Raspberry Pi Diagnostic tool ver 0.17, can any one help

[@leepspvideo]

@@rajeshparab9200 its already in Raspberry Pi OS and my version of KDE Plasma.

[@RicardoBrenelli]

Is that regular Raspberry Pi OS?

[@leepspvideo]

@@RicardoBrenelli No, it’s my kde build based on Raspberry Pi OS kzbin.info/aero/PLMJAjiTgBtFnJ4563mevOckNsz5Cm45LH&si=mo-BsM5gjMZVE8Px

[@DimasFajar-ns4vb]

wow and zamzam water

[@bertvantol9669]

THANKS for this view on performance, great insight ... In my opinion the makers of the Pi 500 made a great mistake to NOT activate this to an NVMe drive with much afster speeds !! PCIe 4 or something. As that was the case, I immediatly bought the Pi 500 !!!!!!!

[@bertvantol9669]

Another dissapointment is that they stopped the development of Twister OS with the possibility to choose your own desktop configuration of choice.

[@michaelcloutier2225]

I'm not buying one of these things unless they Populate the NVME port Components. This was a big mistake. A real big mistake. It takes shockingly little for that port to be on there with the components to support it. The case should have had an access door over that drive slot preferably with a heat sink on it or provisions that let you put your own on. Not cool dudes. this is not cool.

[@mrblaoblao6981]

Can you actually install the official Raspberry Pi SSD Kit on a Raspberry 500? Has anyone tried this?

[@frnno967]

Besides the NVME slot, my biggest disappointment is still the cheap keyboard quality and flat keycaps. If they release something with nice full-travel mechanical switches and proper keycaps then I'll gladly spend whatever it costs.

[@technologist4270]

IMO, that sounds like it would be better suited for a third party manufacturer instead of from RasPi directly. I like the idea of a mechanical keyboard with the compute module break out board inside. But the Raspberry Pi people seem to focus on keeping costs down to make their stuff more accessible.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

What are you expecting for £80?

[@frnno967]

@@terrydaktyllus1320 I would be willing to pay more for something with some good quality and timeless styling. I already have an RPi 400 but wish it had more heft and typing usability.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

@@frnno967 " I would be willing to pay more for something with some good quality and timeless styling." I see, so you treat computers as fashion accessories then? As a computer systems engineer myself, that's not a concept I understand. "I already have an RPi 400 but wish it had more heft and typing usability." What OS do you run on your Pi 400? Please don't say bloated and privacy-hating Windows because then I will just facepalm, leave you to you search for "the prettiest computers" and close the conversation.

[@samb443]

​@@frnno967 >more heft and typing usability this is literally designed for the exact opposite of "heft" this is not even the right product category for your wants keyboard zealots are nuts

[@HATipsByLarry]

why not just spend $40 USD more for a CM5 Dev kit. Then you have a Nvme drive slot built in, am getting seq. write speed 403298 KB/sec, Random write speed 91022 IOPS, Random read speed 82228 IOPS, plus the eMMC memory can also be used to run the OS and apps. Not even changed it to PCIe Gen 3 yet.

[@HATipsByLarry]

Just updated to pcie gen3 and am now getting Sequential write speed 773286, Random write speed 137104 IOPS, Random read speed 129269 IOPS 😀Also did a sudo hdparm -t /dev/nvme0n1 command and got 448.78 MB/sec before upgrading to gen3 and after got 829.96 MB/sec after.

[@stephenvalente3296]

@@HATipsByLarry Glad I did buy one on release day now. When they update the Pi 500 to include the NVMe hardware, I’ll get one of them too for travel usage with a portable flat panel I already own that’s lighter and cheaper than the official Pi screen just released too.

[@HATipsByLarry]

@@stephenvalente3296 They will most likely do it soon as there's already a place for one on the board, just no M.2 slot on the board yet and the surface mount components to support it are missing ATM.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

There are two types of Raspberry Pi users in this world - those that attempt to crowbar bloated and privacy-hating Windows on a Pi that needs all the hardware help it can get, and those for which NVME has no tangible benefits. If all you are trying to do is add stuff like NVME and PCIE x16 to a Pi to make it more like a Windows PC then just buy a Windows PC and leave the true hobbyists and engineers having their own Linux fun. Just accept the Pi probably isn't for your "I need everything on a computer done for me by someone else" demographic.

[@jediknight2350]

nobody will buy it without m.2

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

I have one already, I really like it for the price. I run a proper Linux OS, I don't try to crowbar bloated and privacy-hating Windows onto it which, let's face it, needs all the "speed" help it can get anyway. NVME on a Pi is wasted when running Linux.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

I am beginning to wonder what all the moaners in here did for using a PC before NVME drives?

[@MiguelCortez-m6t]

“Fastest storage for Raspberry 3.14159265538… 500?”

[@RazielMessiah]

What were they even thinking....

[@SproutyPottedPlant]

Of making a low cost computer for education?

[@RazielMessiah]

@ Oh really? You wanna bet they'll flop the moment they officially make that statement ? Their whole community was formed because they offered posibilities, if they'd isolate on a single sector they'll be gone in less than a year.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

I don't care what they were thinking. I took a look at the specification and price, I thought "I like it" and bought one. He's already shown you in this video that running a proper grown-ups OS like Linux on a Pi doesn't benefit from NVME. If you're a silly person that tries to crowbar bloated and privacy-hating Windows onto a Pi, that needs all the speed help it can get as it steals your personal data from your computers, that's your issue.