NVMe or SATA: how to tell which SSD you have
NVMe and SATA are the two ways an SSD talks to a computer. They can look identical — both come as the same M.2 stick — but an NVMe drive is several times faster. Here is how to tell which one you have, by looking at it or by asking the computer.
The difference
SATA is the interface built for hard drives, and it limits an SSD to about 550 MB/s. NVMe runs over PCI Express, the same connection a graphics card uses, and reaches about 3,500 MB/s on PCIe 3.0, up to about 7,450 MB/s on PCIe 4.0 and over 10,000 MB/s on PCIe 5.0.
Start with the shape
- 2.5-inch drive in a metal or plastic case, the size of a laptop hard drive: SATA, in any home computer. Server drives of the same size with a different, wider connector are U.2 NVMe.
- mSATA card, about 30 by 51mm with two screw holes on the far edge: always SATA.
- M.2 stick, 22mm wide with one screw at the end: could be either. Read on.
Read the label
An NVMe drive’s label or box usually says NVMe, PCIe, or Gen3, Gen4 or Gen5. The model line is a strong hint too: the Samsung 870 EVO, Crucial MX500 and WD Blue SA510 are SATA drives, while the Samsung 990 PRO, Crucial P3 and WD Blue SN580 are NVMe. If the label gives only a model number, searching it will tell you.
Count the notches on an M.2 drive
Look at the gold contacts on the end of the stick. A drive with a single notch is M-key, and almost always NVMe. A drive with two notches, one near each side, is B+M-key, and almost always SATA. Some NVMe drives made for laptops also have two notches, so treat this as a strong hint rather than proof.
Ask the computer
- Windows: in PowerShell, run
Get-PhysicalDisk | Select FriendlyName, BusType— the bus type reads NVMe or SATA. CrystalDiskInfo shows the same as its Interface, “NVM Express” or “Serial ATA”, and its Transfer Mode gives the PCIe generation. - macOS: hold Option, open the Apple menu and choose System Information. An NVMe drive is listed under NVMExpress, a SATA drive under SATA.
- Linux:
lsblk -d -o NAME,TRAN,MODELshows nvme or sata in the TRAN column. NVMe drives are also named nvme0n1 and so on, where SATA drives are sda, sdb.
NVMe generations
An NVMe drive’s generation is the PCIe version it runs at. A Gen4 drive in a Gen3 slot works, at Gen3 speed, and the same holds the other way round. Examples: the Samsung 970 EVO Plus is Gen3, the 990 PRO and WD_BLACK SN850X are Gen4, and the Crucial T700 is Gen5.
Does it matter when you sell?
Not at RebootSemi. An M.2 drive is priced by its capacity, NVMe or SATA, whatever its generation, so you only need the size. The storage page lists every size’s offer, and the M.2 page shows what each size pays per terabyte. Before you ship, wipe the drive.