RasPiKEY: SD Plug&Play eMMC 16GB

RasPiKEY: SD Plug&Play eMMC for Raspberry Pi

RasPiKey is a 16GB eMMC module designed for Raspberry Pi that can be easily inserted into the microSD card slot of your Raspberry Pi.

Although it works just like a microSD card, RasPiKey ensures better read and write performance, especially for 4K read/write operations. It also offers a longer lifespan and is more resilient in case of unexpected power loss.

RasPiKey comes with Raspbian preinstalled and allows you to configure SSH login and Wi-Fi connection even before booting your Raspberry Pi. This means you can use your Raspberry Pi without a display, keyboard, or mouse by accessing it via SSH.

For most Raspberry Pi models (3B+ and its predecessors), RasPiKey is an excellent “plug and play” accessory. Raspberry Pi 4,

RasPiKey supports all Raspberry Pi models. (for Raspberry Pi 4B, a bootloader update is required).

The 16GB RasPiKey features a black lanyard, while the RasPiKey 32GB version features a blue lanyard.

Uugear RasPiKey memory module specifications:

• Product dimensions: 32 × 19 × 1.6 mm
• Product weight: 1 g
• eMMC: Samsung KLMAG1JETD-B041 (datasheet KLMAG1JETD-B041).
• Operating voltage: 3.3V
• Operating temperature: -30°C to 80°C (-22°F to 176°F)
• Storage temperature: -40°C to 85°C (-40°F to 185°F)
• Humidity: 0–80% RH, no condensing

Raspberry Pi 3 and 3B+ microSD card comparison

To ensure a fair comparison of read/write performance, all microSD cards were tested on Raspberry Pi 3 and Raspberry Pi 3B+. In the following figure, you can clearly see the benchmark results on Raspberry Pi 3B+. All data was obtained using the same testing method for each microSD card.

MicroSD card comparison on Raspberry Pi 3B+

From 20/06/2022, all RasPiKey units are shipped with Raspbian (Raspberry Pi OS) preinstalled (release dated April 4, 2022 – 2022-04-04-raspios-bullseye-armhf.img).
If needed, the factory RasPiKey disk image is available here: RasPiKey.img.

Currently, RasPiKey has limited support on Raspberry Pi 4B and, unlike high-end SD cards, it cannot use high-frequency mode. As a result, RasPiKey performance is very similar on both Raspberry Pi 4B and Raspberry Pi 3B+. While it does not provide a speed boost on Raspberry Pi 4B, its 4K read/write performance remains superior to that of most standard microSD cards.