USB accessories
Raspberry Pi offers the following high-quality, reliable USB accessories for use with Raspberry Pi and other computers:
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Raspberry Pi USB 3 Hub for expanding USB connectivity.
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Raspberry Pi Flash Drive for portable storage.
USB 3 Hub
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The Raspberry Pi USB 3 Hub provides extra connectivity to your devices by extending one USB-A port into four USB-A ports. Devices connected through the USB 3 Hub are recognised as if they were connected directly to the host system, whether that’s a Raspberry Pi device or other computers.
When bus-powered, the USB 3 Hub can draw up to 900 mA (4.5 W) of power from its upstream USB port. This 4.5 W is shared across all four downstream USB 3.0 ports, which is sufficient for low-power peripherals, such as most mice and keyboards.
To support high-power peripherals and devices, the USB 3 Hub also includes an optional USB-C power input that can be used to provide external power to the downstream ports if needed.
USB 3 Hub features
The Raspberry Pi USB 3 Hub provides USB expansion, with high-speed data transfer, flexible power options, and compatibility with USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports. Key specifications related to these features are summarised in the following table.
| Feature | Specification |
|---|---|
USB expansion |
Provides four downstream USB 3.0 Type-A ports; an upstream USB 3.0 Type-A connector on an 8 cm captive cable. |
Speed |
Provides data transfer speeds up to 5 Gb/s. |
Power |
Supplies up to 900 mA at 5 V (4.5 W) drawn from the device the hub is connected to; when self-powered through the optional USB-C power input, supplies up to 5 V at 3 A (15 W). |
Compatibility |
Works with USB 3.0 Type-A ports and is backward compatible with USB 2.0. |
USB 3 Hub dimensions
The following image depicts the approximate physical dimensions of the Raspberry Pi USB 3 Hub in millimetres (mm). Including the cable and USB-A connector, the total length is approximately 175 mm. The hub itself is approximately 57.4 mm × 52.4 mm × 18 mm.
Flash Drive
The Raspberry Pi Flash Drive is a USB 3.0 memory stick that provides portable storage for transferring files, creating backups, or running operating systems. The Flash Drive is available in two storage capacities (128 GB or 256 GB) and uses non-volatile flash memory to retain data when disconnected.
Flash Drive features
The Raspberry Pi Flash Drive is lightweight and travel-friendly, with a compact, metal design that can attach to a keyring or lanyard. It provides portable storage with reliable performance for both capacity options, and is compatible with USB 3.0 and USB 2.0. Key specifications related to these features are summarised in the following table.
| Feature | Specification |
|---|---|
Compact form factor |
Weighs less than 6 grams; for dimensions, see Flash Drive dimensions. |
Storage options |
Available in 128 GB and 256 GB capacities using non-volatile flash memory. |
Performance |
Varies depending on storage capacity. For details, see Table 3. |
Compatibility |
Works with USB 3.0 Type-A ports and is backward compatible with USB 2.0. |
SMART reporting |
Supports ATA-style health reports readable through tools like |
The Raspberry Pi Flash Drive provides high input/output operations per second (IOPS) for fast access to small files. It also offers responsive performance for computing tasks such as booting operating systems and running applications. The following table summarises the key performance features of the Raspberry Pi Flash Drive for each storage capacity (128 GB or 256 GB).
| Performance feature | 128 GB | 256 GB |
|---|---|---|
4 kB random reads |
16,000 IOPS |
18,000 IOPS |
4 kB random writes |
21,000 IOPS |
22,000 IOPS |
Sequential write speed (sustained) |
75 MB/s |
150 MB/s |
Flash Drive SMART reporting
The USB controller used in the Raspberry Pi Flash Drive supports 12-byte ATA pass-through SCSI commands and can provide an assessment of the drive’s own health.
View SMART data
The recommended application for reading and displaying a SMART report is smartctl, which is included in the smartmontools package. To display the complete SMART report, run the following command:
sudo smartctl -d sat,12 -x /dev/sdaThe -d sat,12 option instructs smartctl to communicate with the USB controller using the SAT-12 ATA pass-through protocol.
SMART attribute descriptions
The following table describes the SMART attributes reported by the Raspberry Pi Flash Drive. Attributes marked as Unused are reserved and don’t report any information.
|
Note
|
smartmontools doesn’t assign vendor-unique field names to USB devices because the application treats USB mass-storage devices as a bridge to an ATA hard drive.
|
ID (hex) |
ID (decimal) |
Attribute name |
Description |
01 |
1 |
Read Error Rate |
Rate of errors when reading data from flash memory |
05 |
5 |
Reallocated Sectors Count |
Number of bad sectors that have been replaced by spare blocks |
09 |
9 |
Power-On Hours |
Total hours the drive has been powered on |
0C |
12 |
Power Cycle Count |
Number of times the drive has been powered on and off |
A0 |
160 |
Uncorrectable Read/Write Sector Count |
Number of sectors that couldn’t be corrected during read/write operations |
A1 |
161 |
Number of Valid Spare Blocks |
Remaining usable spare blocks reserved for replacing bad blocks |
A3 |
163 |
Unused |
|
A4 |
164 |
Total Erase Count |
Total number of flash block erase operations |
A5 |
165 |
Maximum Erase Count |
Highest erase count across all flash blocks |
A6 |
166 |
Minimum Erase Count |
Lowest erase count across all flash blocks |
A7 |
167 |
Average Erase Count |
Average erase cycles across all flash blocks |
A8 |
168 |
Unused |
|
A9 |
169 |
Remaining Life |
Remaining lifespan percentage of the device |
B5 |
181 |
Total Program Fail Count |
Total number of failed data programming attempts to flash |
B6 |
182 |
Total Erase Fail Count |
Total number of failed flash block erase attempts |
BB |
187 |
Uncorrectable Error Count |
Total uncorrectable errors detected by the controller |
C0 |
192 |
Power-Off Retract Count |
Number of unexpected power losses |
C2 |
194 |
Temperature |
Current drive temperature in Celsius |
C4 |
196 |
Reallocation Event Count |
Number of times the drive attempted to reallocate bad sectors |
C7 |
199 |
Ultra DMA CRC Error Count |
Communication errors between drive and host (cable/interface issues) |
F1 |
241 |
Total GiB Written |
Total amount of data written to the drive, rounded down to the nearest GiB |
F2 |
242 |
Total GiB Read |
Total amount of data read from the drive, rounded down to the nearest GiB. |
Flash Drive dimensions
The following image depicts the approximate physical dimensions of the Raspberry Pi Flash Drive in millimetres (mm). The Flash Drive is approximately 42 mm × 12.2 mm. At its thickest, the Flash Drive is approximately 6.5 mm high; at its thinnest (the USB end), the Flash Drive is approximately 4.6 mm.
