storage News - Page 2 of 11 - CNX Software

May 7, 2024May 6, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

HackerGadgets NVME HAT+ for Raspberry Pi 5 fits in the official case, keeps the fan

HackerGadgets has launched a few Raspberry Pi 5 PCIe HAT+ boards including one M.2 NVMe 2230/2242 HAT+ that fits into the official Raspberry Pi 5 case with proper cooling. We’ve seen many M.2 PCIe HAT+ boards of the Raspberry Pi 5 boards from companies such as Pineboards, Waveshare, or Geekworm, but none of them won’t fit in the official red and white case, at least if you’re not ready to sacrifice active-cooling, but HackerGadgets “NVME Hat for Raspberry Pi 5” keeps the fan by simply allowing users to mount it on the bottom of the board. HackerGadgets “NVME Hat for Raspberry Pi 5” specifications: Compatible SBCs – Raspberry Pi 5 and other compatible SBCs with a 16-pin PCIe connector and mounting holes PCIe interface – 16-pin PCIe FPC connector up to PCIe Gen3 speeds M.2 socket – Support PCIe Gen2/Gen3 x1, M.2 2230 and 2242 SSDs Cooling – PWM fan […]

May 3, 2024May 3, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

Geekworm X1011 board adds up to four NVMe SSDs to the Raspberry Pi 5

Geekworm X1011 is a new expansion board for the Raspberry Pi 5 with four M.2 sockets enabling the insertion of up to four M.2 NVMe SSDs with data pushed through the PCIe Gen2 interface of the popular SBC. We were already wondering why most people would want to connect two NVMe SSDs to the Raspberry Pi 5 when the Geekworm X1004 HAT+ was launched considering the 5GT/s limitation from the board and the PCIe switch, but the company decided to double the number of drives with the X1011 meaning each drive can achieve up to around 100 MB/s (or 400MB/s) when used simultaneously. It does look nice and fairly compact though. Geekworm X1011 specifications: Supported SBC – Raspberry Pi 5 and other SBCs with a compatible 16-pin PCIe FPC connector and mounting holes Chipset – ASMedia ASM1184e PCI express packet switch with 1x PCIe Gen2 x1 upstream port and 4x […]

May 1, 2024May 1, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

GEEKOM XT12 Pro review – Part 3: Ubuntu 24.04 on an Intel Core i9-12900H mini PC

We’ve already looked at GEEKOM XT12 Pro specifications and hardware design in the first part of the review and followed up by reviewing the Intel Core i9-12900 mini PC with Windows 11 Pro in the second part. We’ve now had time to review the GEEKOM XT12 Pro mini PC with the just-released Ubuntu 24.04 operating system to evaluate the compatibility and performance in Linux. In this third and final part of the review, we’ll test features in detail, evaluate performance with benchmarks, test storage and network capabilities, check YouTube video playback at 4K and 8K resolution, perform a stress test to check the cooling solution and provide numbers for fan noise and power consumption of the GEEKOM XT12 Pro mini PC. Ubuntu 24.04 installation and system information We’ve resized the Windows 11 by half in order to install Ubuntu 24.04 in dual boot configuration. After that, we inserted a USB […]

April 26, 2024June 5, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

GEEKOM XT12 Pro review – Part 2: Windows 11 Pro tested on an Intel Core i9-12900H mini PC

GEEKOM XT12 Pro mini PC Review windows 11

We’ve already checked out the specifications, and gone through an unboxing and a teardown of the GEEKOM XT12 Pro mini PC in the first part of the review, so we’ll now report our experience with the 12th Gen Intel Core i9-12900H mini PC with Windows 11 Pro operating system. In this second part of GEEKOM XT12 Pro, we’ll test the features of the Alder Lake mini PC in Windows 11 Pro, run benchmarks, test networking and storage, evaluate cooling performance, and finally provide some numbers for fan noise and power consumption. Software overview and features testing The System->About menu confirms that we have an XT12 Pro mini PC with a 12th Gen Intel Core i9-12900H processor clocked at 2.50 GHz (base frequency) and 32GB RAM that runs Windows 11 Pro operating system version 23H2. The system was tested with Windows 11 OS build 22631.3447. HWiNFO64 program provides more details about […]

April 7, 2024May 19, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Testing Cytron MAKERDISK M.2 NVMe SSDs on Raspberry Pi 5 with GEEKWORM X1001 and Waveshare M.2 PCIe HAT+

MAKERDISK M.2 NVMe SSD Raspberry Pi 5 review

Cytron has sent us a few of their MAKERDISK NVMe SSDs preloaded with Raspberry Pi OS so that we can test them on a Raspberry Pi 5 SBC, either with a GEEKWORM X1001 or Waveshare M.2 PCIe HAT+ add-on boards both of which were also provided by the company. Ever since the first M.2 PCIe HATs for the Raspberry Pi 5 were released, we knew Raspberry Pi Limited was working on its own model, and based on some Twitter/X “rumors” (with photos) the launch of the official M.2 HAT+ should be just around the corner. So it’s the perfect timing to test some SSDs on the Raspberry Pi 5 even though I’ve yet to get the official HAT+ Cytron “MAKERDISK” package unboxing The Malaysian company sent me a kit with everything I needed to get started, minus the Raspberry Pi 5 I already owned. This includes 128GB or 256GB NVMe […]

March 21, 2024March 21, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments

Radxa Penta SATA HAT adds up to five SATA drives to the Raspberry Pi 5 for NAS applications

The Radxa Penta SATA HAT leverages the PCIe interface on Raspberry Pi 5 SBC to add up to five 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch SATA drives through four SATA connectors and an eSATA connector and enables NAS designs with the latest SBC from Raspberry Pi Limited. The Radxa’s Penta SATA HAT was initially launched in 2019 as an accessory for the Rock Pi 4 SBC powered by a Rockchip RK3399 processor and an M.2 PCIe socket since Raspberry Pi competitors have been exposing PCIe interfaces for years. It turns out the exact same Penta SATA HAT design can be reused with the Raspberry Pi 5 by providing a new PCIe FPC cable and updating the configuration scripts. Radxa Penta SATA HAT for Raspberry Pi 5 specifications: 4x SATA interfaces + 1x eSATAp for up 100TB storage via 5x 2.5″ or 3.5″ HDD/SSD Host Connection – Flat cable with 2-lane PCIe 2.1 via […]

March 6, 2024March 6, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments

Samsung unveils 256GB microSD Express card with up to 800MB/s read speeds

Samsung has just started sampling its 256 GB SD Express microSD card (aka microSD Express card) with a sequential read speed of up to 800 MB/s through its PCIe/NVMe interface. The SD Express standard was first introduced in the SD specification ver 7.0 in 2018 adding pads for PCIe/NVMe interfaces in full-sized SD cards before the microSD Express standard was introduced in the SD 7.1 specification the following year. Since then, the SD association further improved the standard promising ever faster SD Express speeds up to 4GB/s and microSD Express speeds up to 2GB/s. Saying the adoption of the new SD Express and microSD Express standards has been slow would be an understatement, and the Samsung 256GB microSD Express card looks to be the world’s first such storage device. Looking at full-size SD Express cards, I could only find one on Amazon for $59.99 with 256GB capacity, 820 MB/s read […]

February 21, 2024February 21, 2024 by Debashis Das - 2 Comments

52Pi NVdigi Expansion Board for Raspberry Pi 5 combines HiFiBerry Digi+ audio output with M.2 PCIe x1 slot

The 52Pi NVdigi is another PCIe expansion board for the Raspberry Pi 5 which integrates HiFiBerry Digi+ to provide high-quality S/PDIF output. It also features an M.2 PCIe x1 slot that supports NVMe 2242/2230 SSDs. Furthermore, it offers an optical output (TOSLink) and an RCA output for versatile audio connections. The HiFiBerry Digi+ is a high-quality S/PDIF output for the Raspberry Pi. It uses the I2S sound port that connects directly to the CPU without the need for an additional USB conversion. It supports sample rates up to 192kHz/24bit. 52Pi NVdigi Expansion Board Specification: HiFiBerry Digi+ Integration – Provides high-quality S/PDIF output for Raspberry Pi 5. Direct I2S Connection – Connects directly to the CPU via the I2S sound port for optimal audio. High-Resolution Audio – Supports sample rates up to 192kHz and 24-bit depth for immersive audio. Multiple Audio Outputs – Features both optical (TOSLink) and electrical (RCA) outputs. M.2 […]