X857(ASIN: B085HG7ZLJ)

I followed the instructions to mount this board to a RPi 4B, had zero issues getting the m2 mSATA drive mounted as well. Getting the server up and running took a lot longer thanks to my lack of familiarity with Linux, bcache, and netatalk. Now this RPi operates as a Time Machine server for multiple users with the mSATA drive acting as a fast SSD cache and a larger, bus-powered spinning 2.5" hard drive storing the bulk of the data. To power the spinning drive, I used a Y-type dual USB power harness which connects the drive to the RPi but gets its power from the same Anker PS as the RPi is powered with. That lowers the load running through the RPi.

Quick, bootable on RPi 4 with USB updates and upgrades to firmware

I bought the X857 thinking I could build a compact computer with the Pi and have more/faster storage. The first unit I received on July 31st was defective. I worked with Geekworm to resolve the issue and was able to return the unit through Amazon. Several days later, on August 3rd, the replacement arrived. The second unit worked. I have now tested it with a Leven 256GB mSATA SSD, a Dogfish 256GB mSATA SSD, an INDMEM 256GB mSATA SSD, a Samsung PM871 256GB mSATA SSD, and a SanDisk X300 256GB mSATA SSD. All of them worked great. Much faster random read and write speeds over a micro SD card. I have been running the Leven SSD for the past 2 months with no issues. I would have given 5 stars except for the first unit being defective. Like I said Geekworm did work with me, the return through Amazon was easy, and the replacement came a few days later. I can now recommend this product if you are looking to make a small, compact Raspberry Pi 4 project. I did not want a long cable and large drive enclosure (relative to the size of the Raspberry Pi). I am thinking of purchasing another for a Raspberry Pi robotics project.

It simply works, I couldn’t ask for anything more.

This is for an ETH2 Validator. (Yes living on the edge) I tried this with a SSD from Zheino but no luck (likely too cheap). A Dogfish 1TB is working fine. I had success with the Geekworm's X850 for a tiny Raspberry Pi Bitcoin node running for over 1 year so I wanted to try one for ETH2 as well. The photos already have the X857 in the Geekworm case but the second one does show the USB3.1 connector that runs from the X857 to the Pi. The screenshot is from Grafana which is leveraging Prometheus to do some extensive monitoring of the device at both a physical (eg temperature level, disk writes etc) as well as a performance level (eg Disk IOPps)

Fits under a Raspberry Pi 4 perfectly with the included hardware. I had this mounted in a 3D printed case along with a Pi 4 and Geekworm's Ice Tower. I was setting up OpenMediaVault and Home Assistant in a container when I noticed interacting with the Pi got slower and slower and boot times were longer and longer. Suddenly, the drive dropped out and couldn't be detected. I plugged a USB cable from the adapter to my PC, but it wouldn't detect there either. I changed to another mSATA drive, but got nothing. I plugged the first and second mSATA into a different enclosure and both worked fine. So defect was in the Geekworm X857 board. It only lasted 3 days of light usage. I ordered a replacement and hopefully that one works out. If it does, I'll change my review.

Supplied USB3.1 jumper shorted pin to pin on PCB . Used 6 inch cable from another as replacement.

Creates the advertised memory access but interferes with the wifi portion of the RPI board. This a known issue with RPI-4 in general and there is to date no known fix other than using an external wifi adaptor.