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Configure Storage

Enable SATA Support

Enable the Raspberry Pi 5 PCIe connection so the SATA controller and attached drives can be detected.

Guide difficulty⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Beginner Friendly
Estimated time⏱️ Around 20–40 minutesEstimated for a first-time user.

By the end of this page

  • The PCIe interface is enabled in Raspberry Pi configuration.
  • The server has rebooted.
  • The SATA controller appears to Linux.

Why this line is required

The Radxa board communicates through the Raspberry Pi 5 PCIe connector. On the tested build, PCIe support had to be explicitly enabled before the SATA drives appeared.

  1. Open the boot configuration

    sudo nano /boot/firmware/config.txt

  2. Add the PCIe setting

    Move to the bottom and add this on its own line:

    dtparam=pciex1

  3. Save and exit

    Press Ctrl+O, Enter, then Ctrl+X.

  4. Reboot

    sudo reboot

  5. Reconnect and check the controller

    lspci | grep -i -E 'sata|jmicron'

    A SATA or JMicron controller should be listed.

IMAGE PLACEHOLDERconfig.txt open in nano with dtparam=pciex1 added on its own line.
Required image: config.txt open in nano with dtparam=pciex1 added on its own line.
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