Waveshare PCIe TO 2-CH SATA HAT+ is a dual-channel PCIe FFC to SATA 3.0 HAT+ board for the Raspberry Pi 5, which offers a low-cost alternative to the Radxa Penta SATA HAT with support for up to five SATA drives.
The HAT+ is compliant with the SATA Gen3 and PCIe Gen2 standards and features onboard dual LED indicators for monitoring drive activity. Additionally, it includes an EEPROM for storing HAT+ ID and product information. It can be used for simpler DIY NAS setups or Pi-based media servers.
Waveshare PCIe TO 2-CH SATA HAT+ specification:
- Compatibility – Designed for Raspberry Pi 5
- Storage – Onboard EEPROM for HAT+ ID and product info
- SATA Ports – 2x SATA 3.0 (6Gbps) channels via JMB582 PCIe Gen3 x1 to 2x SATA controller
- Host Interface – PCIe Gen3 x1 via 16-pin PCIe FFC connector
- Misc
- 40-pin header with exposed RPi GPIOs (not used directly by the HAT, only to provide access to the GPIO)
- Power and Status indicator LEDs
- Power
- +12V and +5V power from a 4-pin JST XH connector
- 12V from DC barrel jack
- Dimensions – 85 x 56.5 mm (HAT+ form-factor)
The HAT+ is plug-and-play, so no additional software is required. It supports AHCI Spec 1.2 and Native Command Queuing (NCQ) for efficient SATA drive operations. For older Raspberry Pi OS versions or alternative operating systems, manual driver installation may be required. More information is available on the wiki.
Just a few days back, we wrote about the 4-Ch PCIe FFC Adapter Board, which expands the PCIe interface of the Pi 5 to four PCIe FFC connectors. By combining it with four of these SATA HATs, you could connect up to eight SATA SSDs or HDDs, turning your Raspberry Pi 5 into a NAS with more capacity, although a PCIe Gen2 x1 interface would be a bottleneck at just 5GT/s for this type of application, even with hard drives.
The Waveshare PCIe TO 2-CH SATA HAT+ is available on AliExpress for $28.95, on Amazon for $26.99, and on the Waveshare store for $17.99.
Debashis Das is a technical content writer and embedded engineer with over five years of experience in the industry. With expertise in Embedded C, PCB Design, and SEO optimization, he effectively blends difficult technical topics with clear communication
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