Cytron Technologies

Cytron Technologies, is pretty excited about the  PCIe extension on Raspberry Pi 5 and Jeff Geerling has helped to verify that the MakerDisk NVMe (particularly 2242) works on Raspberry Pi 5, booting into Raspberry Pi OS without any hassle. Of course, you can use it to boot up Raspberry Pi 4 with USB to NVMe adapter. With Compute Module 4 (CM4), the PCIe Gen2 bus is extended out on some carrier boards such as the CM4 Maker Board or Mini Base (A). Furthermore, the NVMe boot is also officially released by Raspberry Pi.  This is a native NVMe SSD boot via PCIe bus, it does not go through to any USB to NVMe adapter.

This NVMe SSD is in the M.2 2242 (M Key) form factor. We called it MakerDisk! A Disk from Makers to Makers :) It is an M.2 2242, M-Key, NVMe Solid State Drive (SSD) with 512GB, 256GB, and 128GB capacity. And it is preloaded with Raspberry Pi OS.

Do check out Jeff Gerling talking about CM4 boots off an NVMe SSD, natively in this video:

If you prefer to read the article, welcome to check out the blog by Jeff Gerling here: The Raspberry Pi can boot of NVMe SSDs now.

From Jeff's benchmarking with eMMC, microSD card, and USB 3.0 (UASP) adapter, the native NMVe interface is 12x faster on the Pi for normal file operations that include: copies, and random read/write. And that also improves day-to-day performance.

Of course, we have also done some speed tests using the built-in Raspberry Pi Diagnosis. Here are the speed test results that we get based on the SSD Capacity:

Capacity - 128GB

• Sequential write speed 385505 KB/sec (target 10000) - PASS, over 38 times faster than the target
• Random write speed 25680 IOPS (target 500) - PASS, over 50 times faster than the target
• Random read speed 22351 IOPS (target 1500) - PASS, nearly 15 times faster than the target

• Sequential write speed 397187 KB/sec (target 10000) - PASS, over 38 times faster than the target
• Random write speed 27352 IOPS (target 500) - PASS, over 50 times faster than the target
• Random read speed 23608 IOPS (target 1500) - PASS, nearly 15 times faster than the target

Here is a comparison table between the Native MakerDisk NVMe (2280 and 2242) boot on CM4 Lite, eMMC on CM4, and microSD card boot (normal) on Raspberry Pi 4 Model B: The data are taken from Raspberry Pi Diagnosis

Note: Raspberry Pi Diagnosis result depends on many factors (New memory or used memory, interface, SATA interface, USB interface, USB cable, etc). It should be taken as a reference only.

As for the size, please make sure the carrier board or adapter supports M.2 2242, M-Key:

As far as we have tested, this NVMe SSD is compatible with:

• PCIe to M.2 HAT for Raspberry Pi 5
• CM4 Maker Board, and of course, you will need a CM4 Lite (No eMMC) version.
• Argon One NVMe Base will need manual adjustment of M.2 mounting spacer and screw to 2242

The NVMe 2242 B+M-Key (128GB only) MakerDisk SSD on the bottom of CM4 Mini Base (A), is perfect!

The combination of MakerDisk 2242 NVMe SSD and the latest Argon ONE NVMe Expansion Base is another perfect match:

Note: You will need to shift/relocate the SSD mounting spacer to the 2242 hole on the NVMe base to mount the shorter NVMe drive.

Setup of Raspberry Pi 4 Model B booting from MakerDisk NVMe (2242) SSD via a USB3.0 to NVMe Adapter.

Setup of Raspberry Pi 5 booting from MakerDisk NVMe (2242) SSD via a PCIe to M.2 HAT.

This NVMe M.2 2242MakerDisk SSD has a maximum sequential read and write speed of up to 1700MB/s and 600MB/s respectively. The above results are limited by the PCIe lane on CM4 and the USB3.0 to NVMe interface. It works perfectly and boots up without any issue in Argon One NVMe Case.

Note: This MakerDisk SSD is PRE-LOADED with the Raspberry Pi OS, it can boot into Raspberry Pi OS right out of the box with the:

• Raspberry Pi 5 & Raspberry Pi 4 Model B, and of course, you will need a USB to NVMe adapter, or expansion board such as Argon One NVMe base
• Raspberry Pi 400, you will also need a USB to NVMe adapter
• CM4, the Lite version will be great as it should auto-boot from either microSD or NVMe SSD. Of course, it will also require a carrier board that has NVMe 2280 M.2 M-Key, or both key slots.

Is Your Raspberry Pi Ready with USB Boot?

Most of the latest Raspberry Pi comes with the latest USB bootable firmware. In case you have an older version of the Raspberry Pi board, or you are not sure, just check it using one of these methods:

Option 1: Do it from Raspberry Pi OS desktop with a monitor, keyboard, and mouse, going into the raspi_config, by leepspvideo:

After the Raspberry Pi Imager loads the EEPROM firmware into the microSD card, insert it into your Raspberry Pi 4 Model B's microSD card slot and power it up. After just 3 seconds, the EEPROM is updated with new firmware and it is ready for USB boot.

Option 3: Boot it directly if your Raspberry Pi 4 Model B comes with the latest firmware in the EEPROM, nothing needs to be updated :)

You can always reload the image/Operating System into this NVMe SSD using a USB3.0 to M.2 NVMe Adapter. We recommend using the official imager: Raspberry Pi Imager. Please check this video out on how to use the Advance features: