Pineboards HatDrive! Top Lite Documentation

By Richard SavilleApr 24, 20250 comments

This blog post is a backup from the now-unavailable Pineboards HatDrive! Top Lite documentation page. We have created this post to ensure this information remains available for our customers following the unfortunate closure of Pineboards.

The Pineboards HatDrive! Top Lite is a simplified variant of the HatDrive! Top. Support for 2230 and 2242 NVMe drives and compatible with Raspberry Pi 5.

Packaging contents

HatDrive! Top Lite board
25mm PCIe FPC cable with controlled impedance
4 standoffs
M.2 drive standoff
9 M2.5 screws

Assembly instructions

Begin with inserting the FPC ribbon cable into your board. Use the alignment triangle to determine the proper direction, check the picture above for reference.
Insert the NVMe drive using the provided standoff.
Attach 4 metal standoffs to the board using M2.5 screws.
Insert the PCIe cable into your Pi 5.
Install the board on top of your Pi 5.
Power on the board, the PWR LED should be now on. If this is not the case please update the firmware on your Pi 5 or enable PCIe (check tutorials below).

Drivers

No drives are required for NVMe SSDs on the Raspberry Pi 5. We recommend regularly updating the firmware to benefit from constantly improving drive compatibility.

Compatibility

HatDrive! Top Lite is compatible with Raspberry Pi 5 and other Single Board Computers with the 16-pin PCIe connector (for instance the Radxa 5C/5C Lite).