Geekworm X850 V3.1 mSATA SSD Storage Expansion Board USB3.0 Mobile Hard Disk Module Compatible with Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+/Pi 3 Model B

I'm using this as the only disk in my Raspberry Pi (no SD card). Attached the drive to my PC, formatted the drive FAT32, placed the NOOBS files on the drive, put the drive in my Pi, and booted up. Installed multiple Operating Systems to the SSD without issue. Reboots fine.The only complaint I have is that it is difficult (impossible) to remove the USB bridge while the Pi is the case that's designed for this. So swapping the SSD adapter between PC and Pi is a little cumbersome, but shouldn't need to be done once things are set up.No idea what the 'SSD Power' micro USB port is for. Never used it. Haven't needed it. Maybe some SSDs need extra power.

And you'll be amazed at how utterly simple it is. It comes with everything you need, minus the mSATA SSD (obviously). I had been looking for something to as a home web server base, mostly for running a personal mediawiki, LAMP stack, and maybe some light scripting with. I wanted it to be portable, functional rock solid and silent.This so far has proven to be a great option. Currently it's running Raspbian with a 60gb mSATA SSD, and installing Raspbian was... Simple. Very stupid simple. Like, install the SSD, screw it down, assemble it to the pi, and before you put in the USB to USB bridge, use the enclosed USB 3.0 cable, and hook it into your desktop (a windows PC in this case) and install the Raspbian image using Rufus.That's it. Up and running in all of 5 minutes and it's fast. And quiet. I should mention I've also got the Geekworm X735 power board on this thing, which is extra nice with the built in fan and power switch, and the case is coming soon.All in all? I'm happy with this.

Works fantastic! Really improved performance. I had a few rainbow/lighting bolt issues with my 5v 2.5a power supply so changed to a 5v 3a supply and all good so far. I'm using it with this ssd. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07864YNTZ

I finally tested this exhaustively, and I am tired of it.I kept fooling myself that I got a bad img copied or a weak power supply.Nope, the 256GB Zheino mSATA that I'm using works flawlessly via USB but EVERY time I use it mounted via this X850 expansion board I get a few minutes of operation then the system starts failing ALWAYS resulting in file system corruption.Again, note that the Pi3 B+ and the Zheino mSATA card work fine as long as the Geekworm X850 V3.0 USB3.0 board is NOT used.I lost $28 to these guys and I can not afford this any more.

I purchased this product to boot my raspberry pi 3b+ via a 500GB MSATA drive. This unit works great.

I tried it on my raspberry pi, but couldn’t boot from it, so absolutely no value to me. I finally went with an external usb housing and was able to boot.

Using a Pi 3B+ when I mount the board below the Pi as instructed the Pi WiFi gets messed up. In my case, mounting on the stack above the Pi really isn't an option because I have a fan mounted there, and an XBee on top of that. Anyway, pull the USB plug which removes power from the board and the problem goes away. Plug it in and the problem returns. Everything else seems to work without a problem and, although I haven't tried it, I have no reason to think the Ethernet doesn't work (dunno about Blue Tooth). I assume the problem is electrical (radio) interference caused by the SSD card being too close physically to the Pi WiFi radio antenna but I need to do more testing. I'll probably add to this review as I find out more. BTW, I'm using a 250 GB Samsung 860 EVO SSD with the card.Update...If I move the card from directly below the Pi (in between the Pi and this card is a, X720 UPS) WiFi is much improved. Of course that leaves the USB jumper unusable so I'll have to make a new one.More..GeekWorm tells me it is radio interference but the problem is unique to the Samsung SSD (250 GB 860 EVO). Assuming there is no magic going on here, I have a difficult time believing that but not having a different SSD module to test I can't prove anything. What I've done so far is move the card below a UPS now mounted directly below the Pi and turned it over so the board ground-plane is between the SSD and the Pi. I've been busy getting the project software running to my satisfaction so I haven't tested the board in this location.

Added an SSD to my Raspberry Pi with zero effort. Works geat!