Raspberry Pi seems to be taking the idea of ‘enhanced verticals’ very seriously, announcing that its customers can now buy flash drives from the company. These are, according to the company, “high-quality USB 3.0 flash memory drive[s] optimised for Raspberry Pi computers.”
It’s not like portable storage is hard to get, so the introduction has caused some head-scratching. The modular PC maker obviously sees some revenue there, however. Hey, it’s cheaper than adding generative AI to your Pi 5.
A flash of Raspberry Pi
The aluminium-encased flash drives are available in two sizes — 128GB and 256GB — and retail for R490 ($30) and R900 ($55) respectively. For comparison, you can nab one of Sandisk’s Ultra Luxe 256GB drives locally for just R600.
The Pi company’s 128GB model features a sustained write speed of 75GB/s, while the 256GB model ups that to 150MB/s. Handy for computing applications, and if you’re looking to keep your Pi board’s footprint as small as possible (and don’t like microSD cards), they look like a decent option.
There are a couple of other features that might make them an attractive buy. They’re supposed to be robust, able to handle random power fluctuations and system shutdowns — the sort of thing that happens when prototyping a new project. They also “support SSD-style SMART health reporting to help you to manage the device lifespan, as well as supporting TRIM operations,” hard drive-level features that you might not expect in this form factor.
While Raspberry Pi’s newest stab at computing storage is already on sale, it’s not on sale in South Africa. Yet. As with the new HAT+ 2 add-on, you can expect them to turn up at the Pi Shop at a later date.
