NASPi Gemini 2.5

NASPi Gemini 2.5 Interface

NASPi Gemini 2.5 Dimension

X882 V2.0 Interface Indication

X882 V1.3 Interface Indication

NASPi Gemini 2.5 Inner View

X882 Oled Support

NASPi Gemini 2.5 Packing List

Foreword

At the early 2017, we made a NAS storage solution for Raspberry Pi. Accroding to customers' feedback, we made a series of improvements, like X800, X820, X825 V1.5, X825 V2.0, X828, X829, X822, X880, X883, NASPi Lite, NASPi, etc. From only supporting single hard disk to support dual hard disks, from complicated installation to simple installation, now a new raspberry pi storage kit - NASPi Gemini 2.5 (only support 2.5" HDD/SSD) is released. Hope you will like it!

'Gemini' means dual, '2.5' means 2.5-inch SSD/HHD;

Click GEEKWORM NAS Family to know more.

Update History

In December 2022, the NASPi Gemini 2.5 has been updated to a new version, it is the update of X882 V1.3 to X882 V2.0, remove the USB-C port on X882 V1.3, and update DC 5V power in to wide voltage input DC6-18V power in.
The new version completely solve the issue of I/O error.

Overview

Geekworm NASPi Gemini 2.5 is an ultra-compact dual 2.5 inch SATA HDD/SSD NAS storage kit with safe shutdown and auto power on function that specially designed for Raspberry Pi 4 Model B computer, it allows two pcs 2.5" HDD/SSD to working at the same time with your Raspberry Pi 4. Also support use with one single 2.5" SATA HDD/SSD.

The SuperSpeed USB 3.0 port delivers a blistering data transfer rate of up to 5Gbps, letting you transfer a large amount of data in seconds.

NASPi Gemini 2.5 is composed of three parts: X882 dual 2.5" SATA HDD/SSD shield, NASPi Gemini 2.5 metal case and heat dissipation system(3Pin 4010 PWM fan with metal bracket). To get better heat dissipation of NASPi Gemini 2.5, it also support install Max 7mm thickness heatsink above Pi4, as we use the M2.5*11+6mm spacers to fix the PWM fan with metal bracket. There is space for extra heatsink installation on Pi4.

Note:

Power NASPi Gemini 2.5 via USB-C or DC jack of X882 shield, DO NOT power via USB-C of Raspberry Pi 4, or you can't use the AUTO ON & Safe shutdown function
Because the shielding of the metal casing will cause the loss of 2.4G wifi signal, we only recommend you to use Ethernet or 5G WiFi.
Support Max 7mm thickness heatsinks on Raspberry Pi 4 as we use 11mm height spacers for the fan with bracket installation on Pi4.
Support Max 16mm thickness 2.5" SATA HDD/SSD installation.
Insert the SD card into Raspberry Pi 4 first before NASPi Gemini 2.5 installation start.
The Raspberry Pi 4 board, 2.5" SATA SSDs/HDDs, power adapter are all not included in the packing list.

Important!!

For better system compatibility & performance, Please format your HDD/SSD to Ext4 file system.

We found that some newbies always ask strange questions about RAID;

Please note: NASPi-Gemini 2.5 is a hardware RAID. It supports RAID at the hardware level and does not require any software configuration. This has nothing to do with software, even if OMV does not support RAID settings;

Features

Model: NASPi Gemini 2.5
Ultra-compact NAS storage solution for Raspberry Pi 4 with Dual 2.5" SATA HDD/SSD
For use with Raspberry Pi 4 Model B only
Supports Dual Max 16mm thickness 2.5 SATA HDDs/SSDs working at the same time
Support Auto Power On function by jumper setting (Automatically turn on when there is a power applied)
Support Software&Hardware safe shutdown function(Integrated on X882 shield, do not need extra expansion board)
Support connecting 3pin PWM fan for cooling
Support Three RAID Modes by jumper setting
UASP supported only, do not support TRIM
Allows booting OS from your HDD/SSD for faster app opens, web serving and file copying
Compatible with all Raspberry Pi operating systems (If the OS (such as Home Assistant) does not allow the installation of external scripts, then the software safe shutdown and automatic adjust fan speed functions are not supported;)

How to Power NASPi Gemini 2.5

for X882 V2.0

Power via DC5521 Jack of X882 V2.0, 6-18Vdc +/-5% , ≥4A,
Refer to the following diagram:

for X882 V1.3

Via DC5521 Jack of X882 V1.3, 5.1Vdc +/-5% , ≥4A Recommend!!! (DC5525 Jack is compatible with DC5521, also support 5V PSU with DC5525 Jack)
Via Type-C port of X882 V1.3, 5.1Vdc +/-5% , ≥4A（Geekworm Type-C 5V 4A 20W power supply is recommended.）
We recommend the high quality power adapter, or the HDD/SSD may cannot be recognized. Since NASPi Gemini 2.5 can install two pcs 2.5 inch hard drives, it needs a high-quality power supply to provide enough current.
Refer to the following diagram:

How to Cooling?

The NASPi Gemini 2.5 uses the same cooling scheme as the NASPi, we only increased the height of the copper spacer from 6mm to 11mm to allow a heatsink with a maximum thickness of 7mm to be placed on the CPU chip.
NASPi Gemini 2.5 uses 4010 PWM cooling fan (3 wires, support speed adjustment NOT reading speed), can support automatic adjustment of speed according to CPU temperature, need to install the shell script.

User Manual

Chip Document
Software installation: X-C1 Software (X-C1's scripts are fully compatible with NASPi Gemini 2.5)

How to choose SSD/HDD

Do not recommend using Samsung hard drives, please use hard drives of other brands.
We recommend that you use HDD instead of SSD, which will cause less WIFI interference
As with all SSDs, new SSD/HDD must be formatted before use.
Older SSD drives with less efficient flash media may not perform as well as newer drives.
A microSD card is required for forceing the Raspbian OS to use the HDD/SSD for its "root" partition

How to configure RAID

Please read Raid Instruction firstly. You can freely choose the four RAID modes supported by NASPi Gemini 2.5 by setting the jumper cap. Strongly recommend to use the same brand and capacity HDDs when use RAID Mode.

＊Warning : Please backup your data before setup and switch, otherwise you maybe lost your data.

1. Inert HDDs to X882 shield and fix it.

2. Please connect the X882 to your PC or Raspberry Pi board and keep power on.

3. Switch RAID mode

Set the switch button to your preferred RAID mode(PM/RAID 0/RAID 1/SPAN) as per the RAID illustration table.
Press the SET button for about 5 seconds, and release it till the blue LED indicators starts flashing.
After RAID mode changed, please confirm that the PC can recognize the disk(s) properly and shows the right capacity.

or you can run the fdisk -l command to view the hard drive on raspberry pi OS when you connect X882 to raspberry pi board:

fdisk -l

You can found two hard drives if you select 'clear raid mode'(this is PM mode)

or

You found only one hard drive if you select the RAID0/RAID1 mode

4. Set CLEAR RAID mode (PM, factory default setup)

Press the SET button for about 5 seconds then and release it till blue LED indicators starts flashing.
After above processes, the setup for CLEAR RAID is done.

[NOTE]：

Once you set the RAID mode successfully, you need to partition&format&mount the hdd/ssd, so that it can be recognized by your Raspberry Pi OS. please refer to How to View/Partition/Format/Mount HDD/SSD

Button swtich operation guide

Press button switch to turn on
Press button switch and hold for 1~2 seconds to reboot
Press button switch and hold for 3 seconds to implement safe shutdown

The above operations will only succeed after the script has been successfully installed.

Press button switch and hold for more than 8 seconds to force shutdown

Some tutorials

How to Run Raspberry Pi 4 or 3 Off an SSD or Flash Drive: Does the X825/X855 support USB boot
Tutorial – How to Initialize, Partition and Format a Brand New SSD in Windows: File:Tutorial Initalize New SSD.pdf
How to set up OpenMediaVault on Raspberry Pi 4
Script installation guide, please refer to X-C1 Software
Properly Mount USB Storage on Raspberry Pi
Auto Mount an NTFS USB Drive on Raspberry Pi
Difficulty booting from SSD drive
How to build a Raspberry Pi NAS: https://youtu.be/gyMpI8csWis
How to View/Partition/Format/Mount HDD/SSD

Packing List

1 x NASPi Gemini 2.5 Metal Case
1 x X882 Dual 2.5 SATA SSD/HDD Shield（V1.3 or V2.0 Version）
1 x X823-A3 metal bracket with PWM fan
1 x screws pack accessories

Installation Video

For NASPi Gemini 2.5 new version with X882 V2.0(New): https://youtu.be/telXhhnfzfA

For NASPi Gemini 2.5 Old version with X882 V1.3:

https://youtu.be/7FzZeoTBQiI Software Guide of script installation, please fast forward video to 5 minutes 10 seconds.

FAQ

Q1: Why only one SSD/HDD is recognized?

A: You found only SSD/HDD if you select the RAID0/RAID1 mode.

Please exit the RAID mode and check again after entering the PM mode(clear raid mode).

More details please refer to Set CLEAR RAID mode of How to configure RAID

Q2: What to do if HDD/SSD is not recognized?

A: Please refer to How to View/Partition/Format/Mount HDD/SSD

Q3: What is the thickness of a 2.5" HDD/SSD that can be accommodated for NASPi Gemini 2.5?

A: NASPi Gemini 2.5 support Max 16mm thickness 2.5" HDD/SSD; The thickness of 2.5" HDD/SSD on the market is generally 7mm, 9.5mm, 12.5 and 15mm，so you can choose the SSD/HDD according to your requirement.

Q4: Does raid inside of openmediavault function with NASPi-Gemini 2.5?

A: NASPi-Gemini 2.5 support hardware RAID mode, please refer to above Raid_Setting, or you can set it to PM mode then let openmediavault control RAID setting.

Q5: What are the HDDs requirement when use RAID mode?

A: Strongly recommend to use the same brand and capacity HDDs when use RAID Mode.

Q6: What to do if meet I/O error?

A: First please check if you use the USB Type-C power adapter, if yes, please change to use DC power adapter topower via DC jack of X882 to test. The USB Type-C PSU maybe not enough to power the dual HDD/SSD.

Q7: Why only one SSD/HHD can be recognized?

A: You choose the RAID1 mode, because it is a hardware RAID, so OS recognize only one HDD/SDD.

Q8: How to know if there will be HDD errors?

A: If there is HDD error, there will be red led for the red marked part LED.