Solve: So You Like to Suffer—Manually Troubleshooting NVMe on Your Raspberry Pi

Solve:  So You Like to Suffer—Manually Troubleshooting NVMe on Your Raspberry Pi

Some folks like menus. Others like to learn by doing things the long, hard way. This post is for the latter.

If you’re the type who prefers to run commands one at a time, read their output in real time, and interpret things like a UNIX mystic at a mountain temple, then grab a cup of tea and settle in.

Step 1: Make Sure nvme-cli Is Installed

Your Pi won’t know what to do with NVMe unless you give it the tools. Run: 

Bash

sudo apt update sudo apt install nvme-cli    

If that works, you’re in business. If not, suffer more. (Or check your /etc/apt/sources.list.)

Step 2: See If Your Drive Even Exists

Try: 

Bash

nvme list    

If you see /dev/nvme0n1, that’s your drive. If not, check your physical adapter, reseat the cable, or confirm you’re not running into power limits. If it shows up intermittently, check for undervoltage.

Step 3: Check Kernel Messages

Your Pi’s dmesg logs will often whisper secrets about your hardware: 

Bash

dmesg | grep -i nvme | tail -n 20    

You’re looking for clues—timeouts, PCIe negotiation failures, or temperature warnings. This is where suffering pays off.

Step 4: View SMART Stats

This will tell you about temperature, lifespan, errors, and how much data has been written: 

Bash

sudo nvme smart-log /dev/nvme0n1    

Don’t be scared of the output. Look for “Temperature” and “Percentage Used.” If you see anything over 80% used on a drive you just bought—send it back.

Step 5: Confirm TRIM/Discard Support

TRIM helps your SSD stay fast over time. Run this: 

Bash

sudo fstrim -v /    

If it trims a chunk of data and doesn’t return an error, you're good. If not, your file system or kernel may not support it.

Step 6: Run a Write Test

This writes 100MB of zeros to your drive: 

Bash

sudo dd if=/dev/zero  of=/tmp/test.img bs=1M count=100 \
    conv=fdatasync status=progress    

If it’s slower than ~150 MB/s on a Pi 5, something might be up. But also, it’s Pi Linux. Manage expectations.

Step 7: Run a Read Test

Now read the file back into the void: 

Bash

sudo dd if=/tmp/test.img of=/dev/null bs=1M \
    count=100 status=progress    

Delete the file afterward if you’re feeling tidy: 

Bash

sudo rm /tmp/test.img    

You’ve Done It

You’ve just manually replicated what our script does in one menu click. And you learned stuff, didn’t you?

You can now create your own bash script, or keep living the dream one command at a time.

Need Raspberry Pi Expertise?

We'd love to help you with your Raspberry Pi projects.  Feel free to reach out to us at info@pacificw.com.

Written by Aaron Rose, software engineer and technology writer at Tech-Reader.blog.