Argon ONE M.2 SATA Expansion Board for Raspberry Pi 4 - ONE V2 Only

Bought this for my Argon One case I purchased before the v2 case. It fits perfectly and looks great. Pros: 1. Looks great only adding a bit of height to the original 2. The M.2 SATA drive (Samsung 860 EVO) worked perfectly and is now my boot drive making the system very fast 3. Did I mention that the boot time is significantly faster? Cause it is. Cons: 1. The case does heat up a bit more than it previously did. This is to be expected with the heat of the SSD, but the case would benefit from increased ventilation either under or on the sides. 2. With the depth of the unit, it is not possible to have the opening for the micro SD card slot, so you will have to remove the bottom of the case to access it if you want to use it. This is not a problem for me as I now just boot from the SSD. 3. The system does take the bottom USB 3.0 port, so you are now limited to a single USB 3.0 port. I have yet to run into this limitation however. 4. The bottom doesn't sit completely flush with the top on the right side of the case (as seen from behind). This is not visibly detectable but I can feel it when I run my fingers around the unit while moving it. Again, not a big deal, but I would be remiss if I hadn't mentioned it. Overall, great product, well designed and well made.

I purchased an Argon One case a few months ago and recently starting booting my Raspberry Pi from an external M2 drive. I knew Argon had an M2 version of their case, but wasn't looking forward to removing my RPi from the old case and installing into a new one. I was ecstatic when I saw I could buy only the M2 expansion. The cost was less than a new case and installation was very simple. All I had to do was install the M2 drive into the base, remove the bottom of the old case and put in the new bottom piece with the M2 drive. I also had to plug in the USB 3.0 U-shaped connector, and that was also easy. I ended up buying a larger M2 drive and cloned the old external drive to the new internal M2. A few reboots and I was up and running with a larger boot drive and a less cluttered desktop. Everything works great and I am very happy with the purchase.

I wanted to move from using an SD card for my Pi as I was worried about the longevity of constantly using my Pi. Once I figured out exactly what SSD that was compatible the process of mounting the card was simple. I had a weird side effect in that my Bluetooth reception went wonky. I used a higher voltage power brick to power the Pi and it seamed that the situation cleared up. Was this because of the new case design or power draw by the SSD? Maybe but I’m not certain.

Ive really enjoyed this expansion, there is enough room to fit a couple small heatsinks on the controller chip if its small enough. My only minor issue is the power delivery for the drive is quite large and can cause issues with the Pi booting if not using a 3.5amp adapter. There are other ssd adapters that will take much less power to boot, however the Argon unit is consistently 10mbps faster compared to lower power units.

============================== Caveats & Warnings: ------------------------------ This expansion is ONLY compatible with the "V2" version of the Argon One case. You have the correct case version, if the case has cutouts for 2 full sized HDMI ports. ------------------------------ The "Buy With" recommendations on the Amazon product page, ***MIGHT*** suggest a SATA3 SSD. This product is ONLY COMPATIBLE with SATA II SSD drives; with a form factor of 2280, 2260, 2242, or 2230. ------------------------------ The SSD socket ONLY ACCEPTS SSD that are "B" or "B+M" keyed. The socket WILL NOT accept an SSD that is only "M" keyed. ------------------------------ Remember, by itself, a Raspberry Pi 4B uses about 5 watts. And the M.2 SSD requires up to another 5 watts. WATTAGE IS ADDITIVE -- Use a good 15 to 20 watt power adaptor. ------------------------------ A magnetized screwdriver, and a magnetic tray or dish, is strongly recommended. ============================== The "default" for the standoff and mount point of the SSD is at the 2280 position (see pictures). If you are using a smaller form factor, reposition the standoff NOW, and DO NOT LOSE THE MOUNTING SCREW. You know that you've properly seated the SSD into the socket, when you can make it "stand up" in the socket; before locking down the SDD with the mounting screw (see pictures). Once you attach the expansion to the existing Argon One case; you will LOSE EXTERNAL ACCESS to the micro SD card slot. If you plan to boot directly off the SSD, remove the SD card NOW. Pi 4B whose EEPROM contain bootloaders dated 2021 or later, will boot off the SSD, if the SD card slot is empty. If you want to change the boot order, or need to update your EEPROM, do it before proceeding. You can image your SSD, by connecting it directly to your PC, with a USB-A to USB-A cable. The interface will show up as a USB device named "FORTY," and the Pi Imager software will recognize the SSD as a USB SCSI drive; of the size that you mounted in the SSD socket. Like the SD card; the Pi Imager will divide the SSD into 2 partitions of VFAT and EXT4.

Installs with ease. It is a great addition for those who have purchased the Argon 1 and want to add a M.2. I should be made clear that this expansion board only using a B or B/M Key for SATA SDD M.2. It's plenty fast enough for a Raspberry Pi but don't expect to use the more modern M.2s that PC use. I installed everything in three minutes and was ready to go. Includes instruction for using the power and IR in the case. It is a sleek and durable case setup. While it would be nice if it had some internal connection for power to preserve all four USB slots, it is easy enough to use the coupler to connect the M.2 and the Pi. This is my favorite case over all. There are some others that might give you a few more degrees of cooling, but for an all in one application this is a must have case. Clean, Neat, Affective, accessible GPU. power on/off option and it gives the Pi the best inclosure I have used or tried.

I'm using with a V1 Argon. It works great. Be sure to read the instructions on the fan and power switch operation. It gets very hot without fan settings. If you don't have one - either get a USB 3.0 extension cable or a USB Type A 3.0 Cable Male to Male cable to put your OS on the ssd. I used my apple USB extension cable for my apple keyboard. I put Ubuntu on - be sure to search online for Ubuntu commands for the fan - they exist and they are on github. It's not super powerful but putting a plex media server together with a 1tb m.2 drive rocks. Once your files on it's a great low power and easy option. Once I get a pi 4 8gb board, I'll get another one with v2 and use that for plex and this one for retro gaming.

Very sleek design! First thing that you should know is that you can use a USB A extension cable connected to the top of the U adapter and the M.2 case connected to the bottom. Then connect this to your PC or Mac to write a bootable image on the M.2 (I went with 64-bit Ubunto desktop.) I mention this because I had ordered another USB to M.2 adapter for my PC. Save a few dollars and just use the method above! You may still need to use the microSD to update the Pi to be capable of booting from USB/M.2. I had also ordered a microSD to full size SD ribbon adapter, thinking I could do some interior mods and have an easily accessible SD slot. However, the part of the ribbon adapter that is non-flexible would extend past the front of the plastic M.2 bottom. So this solution would be exterior and really mess with the aesthetics of the sleek design. Might eventually cut a thin slice in the plastic so I can connect the ribbon cable as needed. Basically this would allow changing out the microSD card without taking out the 4 screws at the bottom. Overall, I'm very happy with this case. installing the code for the fan and IR port was easy as Pi. :D This case is so popular that it also has some really interesting interchangeable bottom parts that can be 3D printed. Kudos to Argon40 for making such a nice case and making the M.2 Add-on a real bargain!

Ottimo! Installato e perfettamente funzionante.

I initially bought the argon 1 case and then decided to upgrade and add the base with a usb boot option. I've not had any other experience of pi cases but this seems to be as good as it will get especially for this kind of budget. Impressive

Ideal pour installer un SSD dans votre raspberry.

Worked just great on my older Argon One case. Just be sure you get the right one for your model, there’s a couple of different versions. I was an early adopter so I have an older model case for my raspberry pi 4. The case for the 5 is different, so the expansion board is too, and there are different models for SSD and NVME, so research the exact version. Recommended, if this is what you need.

loved the case and added the m.2 upgrade was quite please how nice it fit and how easy it was to install. probably the best upgrade I have seen for the pi.