X1011-v1.1 Overview

x1011-v1.1 Overview Product Overview

Enhance your Raspberry Pi 5 with effortless installation and lightning-fast PCIe storage speeds!

Introducing the X1011 four M.2 NVMe SSD shield, designed to provide a mass-capacity storage and high-speed storage solution for your Raspberry Pi 5. Its sleek and compact design enables easy attachment of four full-size M.2 2280 SSDs to your Raspberry Pi 5. With its PCIe 2.0 interface, you can experience data transfer rates of up to 5Gbps, allowing you to effortlessly transfer large amounts of data within seconds.

The X1011 connects to the underside of the Raspberry Pi 5, eliminating the need for a passthrough for the GPIO. This means you can use your favorite HATs while also utilizing this expansion board. Moreover, the X1011 offers versatile power options – it can draw power from the Raspberry Pi 5 through pogo pins using a USB-C power supply, or alternatively, power the Raspberry Pi 5 from the X1011 using a DC power adapter via the onboard DC power jack, streamlining the power supply process to a single source.

The X1011 is an ideal storage solution for creating a home media center or building a network-attached storage (NAS) system. It allows you to store and stream your own videos, music, and digital photos within your home or even remotely across the world.

Product Features

Compatible With

  • Raspberry Pi 5B
  • The perfect storage solution for your Raspberry Pi 5 - the M.2 NVMe 4 SSD Shield
  • Supports a total of 16TB storage capacity (4TB x4) with M.2 NVMe solid-state drives
  • Accommodates various M.2 NVMe SSD form factors, including 2280, 2260, 2242, and 2230
  • Provides speedy data transfer with PCIe 2.0 5Gbps
  • LED indicators in blue display power and drive status
  • Features an integrated high-performance PCIe packet switch
  • Equipped with high-efficiency DC/DC step-down converter, delivering a maximum of 10A to power your SSDs
  • Powering via both pogo pins & FFC or DC power jack, ensuring sufficient power supply without any worries
  • Designed to be attached on bottom, allows using your favorite HATs alongside it
  • Compatible with the HAT+ STANDBY power state, automatically turning off when the Pi 5 shuts down
  • Compatible with the official active cooler without affecting cooling performance
Known Issues

The X1011 currently does not support all RAID types, including RAID 1 and ZFS. This might be due to driver compatibility issues, which are yet to be confirmed and advised. The X1011 is a collection of four M.2 SSD drives recognized as separate drives by the OS. It uses the ASM1184e PCI express packet switch, with 1 PCIe x1 Gen2 upstream port to 4 PCIe x1 Gen2 downstream ports, enabling users to extend PCIe ports on a Raspberry Pi 5.

To verify whether it is a hardware problem:

  1. Clear any RAID settings and mount each drive as a separate volume.
  2. Open a second terminal to monitor for any NVMe errors (I/O timeout, reset controller, I/O error, etc.):
    3. Pi@raspberrypi ~ $ sudo dmesg -w | grep -i nvme
  3. Create a 30GB testing file on one of the SSDs:
    4. Pi@raspberrypi ~ $ sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=./TestingFile bs=100M count=300 oflag=direct
  4. Copy the 30GB file to multiple SSDs simultaneously (please change the path you want to copy it to):
    5. Pi@raspberrypi ~ $ echo /media/pi/cn600/ /media/pi/spcc/ /media/pi/netac/ | xargs -n 1 cp ./TestingFile
Test & Reviews

Test Conditions

  • System board details: Raspberry Pi 5 Model B Rev 1.0, 4G RAM
  • Interface board details: X1011 v1.1 NVMe dual SSD Shield
  • Operation system: Raspberry Pi OS with desktop (Debian12 (bookworm), 64bit, Release date: December 5th 2023)
  • Storage details: Colorful CN600 120G, Samsung PM961 120G, Netec N930E 120G, Silicon Power P34A60 120GB
Technical Specification

Power supply:

  • 5Vdc +/-5% ≥5A power via FFC & pogo pins
  • 5Vdc +/-5% ≥5A power via DC power jack

Ports & Connectors:

  • DC power jack: 5.5x2.1mm, polarity: Center positive (+)
  • PCIe connector x1 - 16-pin pitch 0.5mm
  • SSD connectors x4 - M.2 KEY-M 67P

PCIe FFC cable length: 37mm

PCB Size: 109mm x 87.2mm

Package Contents
  • X1011 V1.1 M.2 NVMe 4 SSD shield x1
  • PCIe FFC 37mm x1
  • Screw pack x1
Important Notes
  • Don't power the X1011 via DC power jack and the Raspberry Pi 5 via USB-C at the same time.
  • Compatible with M.2 NVMe SSDs
  • Not compatible with M.2 SATA SSDs, M.2 PCIe AHCI SSDs, or other M.2 non-NVMe devices
  • Older NVMe drives with less efficient flash media may not perform as well as newer drives
  • New NVMe SSDs are not partitioned and will need to be both partitioned and formatted when first connected to the Raspberry Pi before they will be accessed in the Explorer.

For further assistance or inquiries, please reach out to our support team at info@edgecase.shop or sales@edgecase.shop. We are here to help you with any questions you might have.