Radxa Goes After NAS Solutions With Rock Pi SATA HAT

Radxa announced its new Rock Pi SATA HAT on Sunday. It's a few accessories that allow people to use their single-board computers as NAS solutions, and one of them is compatible with the Raspberry Pi 4 as well as the company's own Rock Pi 4.

That product is the aptly named Dual/Quad SATA HAT. Radxa said it supports up to four HDDs or SSDs (2.5-inch and 3.5-inch) via the Raspberry Pi 4 and Rock Pi 4's USB 3 buses. It also boasts USB Type-C power input with support for USB Power Delivery (PD) and Quick Charge (QC) for both 2.5-inch SSDs and the Raspberry Pi 4.

Here are the Dual/Quad SATA HAT's other highlights:

• Up to 4x HDD/SSD, support 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch SSD
• Utilize two independent USB3 buses on Raspberry Pi 4
• Type C power input with USB PD/QC support for both 2.5inch SSD and Raspberry Pi 4
• External standard ATX power supply support for 3.5inch HDD
• Fan and heatsink for Raspberry Pi 4 CPU cooling
• Support HDD suspend mode
• Support UASP
• Support software RAID 0/1/5
• Optional PWM control fan for HDD heat dispatching
• Optional OLED display for IP Address/Storage info

Supporting the Raspberry Pi 4 makes sense. It's easily the most well-known single-board computer on the market, and for good reason, as we explained in our review. (We also called it the ultimate gift for geeks, in case you have some holiday shopping left to do.) Why not benefit from its popularity by supporting it with an accessory?

But the company did also introduce a Penta SATA HAT that's exclusive to the Rock Pi 4. Radxa said this model "utilize[s] the M.2/PCIe on ROCK Pi 4 to expand to up 5x SATA ports," and that it "adapt[ed] four internal SATA and one eSATA design which makes the connection flexible if the user wants to use external disks."

Here are the Penta SATA HAT's other highlights:

• Up to 5x HDD/SSD, support 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch SSD, up to 100T Storage
• 4x SATA + 1x eSATA with power
• Utilize two lanes PCIe 2.1 buses on ROCK Pi 4
• Type C power input with USB PD support for both 2.5-inch SSD and ROCK Pi 4
• External standard ATX power supply support for 3.5-inch HDD
• Support HDD suspend mode
• Support software RAID 0/1/5
• Optional PWM control fan for HDD heat dispatching
• Optional OLED display for IP/Storage info

Radxa also designed a metal case for use with the Dual/Quad SATA HAT and Raspberry Pi 4. The company said this case fits up to four 2.5-inch HDDs as well as the top board, but it doesn't currently appear to be available, however. More information about the Rock Pi 4 and its accessories can be found on Radxa's site.