Raspberry Pi now offers a branded USB flash drive, starts at $30

Raspberry Pi has launched a USB flash drive optimized for use across its lineup of single-board computers. The drive is offered in two capacities, with the 128GB model priced at $30 and the 256GB version at $55.

The Raspberry Pi Flash Drive is a compact, high-capacity USB 3.0 Type-A device with an aluminum enclosure designed for durability and easy handling.

“It can sustain a write speed of 75MB/s (128GB variant) or 150MB/s (256GB variant), and our thorough testing has made sure it can handle the demands of real life when it comes to sudden disconnection and power failure. Its ergonomic all-aluminium enclosure is easy to grasp and almost impossible to break,” Helen Lynn, Director of Communications at Raspberry Pi, explained.

The flash drive uses high density NAND storage with a reserved pseudo SLC cache to support higher performance during short write bursts. Data written to this cache is later moved in the background to higher density QLC flash, which operates at lower speeds. Raspberry Pi explains that this design allows the drive to reach very high sequential write speeds for limited periods.

The presence of the cache affects how performance is measured. Raspberry Pi reports sustained USB 3.0 figures where write speeds are measured after the cache is filled and operating in write through mode, while read speeds are measured with an empty cache. Testing also focused on resilience, with the drive verified across tens of thousands of random power cycles during intermittently intensive input and output workloads to confirm it remains usable after surprise removal or power loss.

The flash drive supports SSD style SMART health reporting, allowing compatible operating systems to monitor device health and track indicators related to lifespan. Support for TRIM operations is also included.