NVMe vs NAND: What Are They and What Are Their Differences

As the demand for data storage capacity and speed in commercial and industrial applications continues to grow, more and more memories are available for users. Therefore, this topic – NVMe vs NAND comes into being.

What Is NVMe

What is NVMe? NVMe is the abbreviation of Non-Volatile Memory Express. It is a new storage access and file transfer protocol for flash memory and next-generation SSD (solid-state drives).

The NVMe protocol allows users to access flash storage through the PCI Express (PCIe) bus, which can support thousands of parallel command queues. So it is much faster than HDD (hard disk drive) and traditional all-flash architecture.

Related articles:

• What Is NVMe SSD? Precautions Before Getting NVMe SSD
• What Is PCIe SSD & How to Upgrade to PCIe SSD (Latest Update)

What Is NAND

What is NAND? NAND is a kind of flash memory. It can be found in SSDs, USB flash drives and SD cards, and other storage devices. NAND memory is non-volatile, which means it retains its data even when the power is turned off.

NAND flash is likely to appear in any place that has artificial intelligence (AI) and needs to store data. There are currently five types of NAND flash memory storage, and the difference among each type is the number of bits that each cell can store. Each cell can store data – SLC NAND has one bit per cell, MLC has two bits per cell, TLC has 3 bits per cell, QLC has 4 bits per cell, and PLC has 5 bits per cell.

Also see: NAND SSD: What Does NAND Flash Bring to SSD?

NVMe vs NAND

In short, NAND is one of the types of flash memory used in making SSDs. NVMe is the connection protocol used to transfer data to and from the motherboard. NAND and NVMe aren’t in competition with each other. Instead, when used together, they can deliver fast read and write speeds for data-intensive applications. SATA and NVMe operate with NAND flash memory, which is the most common flash memory used in SSDs.

Here, we can see the advantages and disadvantages of NVMe SSD and NAND SSD.

Advantages and disadvantages of NVMe SSD

The following are the advantages of NVMe SSD:

• It provides excellent storage because the PCIe slot transfers 25 times as much data as its SATA slot.
• It provides excellent speed because NVMe can send commands more than 2 times faster than AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface) SATA drives. In addition, IOPS exceeded 1 million, which is a 900% increase in speed compared to its AHCI counterparts.
• Communicate directly with the system CPU, with excellent compatibility.
• NVMe-based SSD can be used with all major operating systems regardless of form factor.
• NVMe provides end-to-end latency of less than 10 microseconds, including software stack.
• NVMe supports tunneling protocols that solve data privacy issues.
• NVM express supports higher bandwidth than SATA or SAS.

The following are the disadvantages of NVMe SSD:

• The cost of NVMe-based SSD devices is higher than that of standard 2.5″ SSD devices.
• The client PC uses NVMe in M.2 format, which limits the choice of drives compared to other available solutions.

Advanatges and Disadvanatges of NAND SSD

The following are the advantages of NAND SSD:

• NAND is cost-effective per byte, and its physical size has a high storage capacity.
• NAND cells will eventually wear out as transistors degrade. The NAND chip will continue to be used until its write cycle limit is reached, after which it will no longer be able to store new data. NAND chips can withstand 1,000 to 100,000 erasing times, depending on the brand, model, and design. NAND chips are physically stronger and more durable than magnetic storage.
• When NAND flash memory wears out, you can replace the chip with compatible components.

The following is the disadvantage of NAND SSD:

The combination of high demand and the trend toward more intensive manufacturing of 3D NAND technology led to the NAND shortage that began in 2016. Two-dimensional or planar NAND is still a more cost-effective type as of 2018.

NVMe vs SATA

NAND using NVMe works faster than SATA-based options because NVMe is specifically designed to work with SSDs. However, SATA is still widely used and is valued for its reliability and compatibility with a range of applications. Developers should consider many factors when reviewing flash memory options, including pricing and product availability.

Thus, the question isn’t NVMe vs NAND, but rather NVMe vs SATA.

NVMe drives are much faster than SATA drives that have been around for many years. PCIe 3.0 – the current generation of PCI Express standard –  has a maximum transfer speed of 985 megabytes per second (Mbps) on each channel.

NVMe drives are already able to utilize 4 PCIe lanes, which means the theoretical maximum speed is 3.9 Gbps (3,940 Mbps). At the same time, one of the fastest SATA SSDs – Samsung 860 Pro – has the highest read and write speed, about 560MBps.

There are several different form factors for NVMe drives. The most common of these is the m.2 rod, as shown above. They are 22 mm wide and 30, 42, 60, 80 or 100 mm long. These rods are thin enough to lie flat on the motherboard, so they are very suitable for small computers and laptops.

You need to notice that some SATA SSDs use the same form factor, so you need to pay close attention and make sure you don’t make the mistake of buying a slower drive.

SATA vs. NVMe. Which One Is Your Best Choice?

SATA vs. NVMe is introduced in this post which can give you some information when you want to replace a SATA SSD with an NVMe one.

Read More

How to Clone System from HDD to SSD

If you have gotten the NVMe SSD or the NAND SSD, you may want to use it to replace the traditional hard drive to improve the performance of the computer. To do that, you can choose to migrate HDD to SSD.

To migrate the system and files from a traditional hard drive to NVMe SSD or NAND SSD without data loss, the clone tool is required. So, the professional SSD cloning software – MiniTool ShadowMaker is strongly recommended.

To clone OS from HDD to SSD, MiniTool ShadowMaker is competent with the Clone Disk feature. And now, we will show you how to migrate the operating system to the NVMe SSD or NAND SSD with MiniTool ShadowMaker.

Step 1: Download MiniTool ShadowMaker from the following button.

MiniTool ShadowMaker TrialClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Step 2: Install and launch MiniTool ShadowMaker. Then, click Keep Trial to enter its main interface.

Step 3: After entering the main interface of MiniTool ShadowMaker, go to the Tools page. Then choose Clone Disk.

Step 4: Next, click the Source module to choose the disk clone source. If you are trying to migrate OS to NVMe SSD or NAND SSD, select the original hard drive as the clone source. Then click Finish.

Step 5: Click the Destination module to choose the target disk. Here you need to select the NVMe SSD or NAND SSD as the target disk. Then click Finish. Next, click the OK button.

Step 6: Then you will receive a warning message which tells you that all data on the target disk will be destroyed during the disk cloning process.

Step 7: Then the disk cloning process will begin. Please do not interrupt the cloning process until it is finished.

When the disk cloning process is finished, you will receive a warning message which tells you that the source disk and target disk have the same signature. If both of them are connected to your computer, one of them will be marked as offline. So, you need to remove or disconnect the old hard drive.

In addition, if you want to boot your computer from the target disk, please enter BIOS to change the boot sequence first.

When all steps are finished, you have successfully migrated the operating system from the traditional hard drive to the NVMe SSD or NAND SSD. After that, your computer performance will be improved.

Further Reading:

In the above part, we show you how to clone the system from HDD to SSD free with MiniTool ShadowMaker. In addition to MiniTool ShadowMaker, MiniTool Partition Wizard is also a great tool to clone a hard drive. Here is how to clone the system with MiniTool Partition Wizard.

Step 1: Download and install MiniTool Partition Wizard.

MiniTool Partition Wizard DemoClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Step 2: After entering its main interface, choose the hard drive you want to clone. Then, click Copy Disk Wizard from Wizard in the action panel.

Step 3: Choose the target drive to copy the content of the source drive to. Then, you will receive a warning message – All data on the disk will be destroyed. Click Yes to continue.

Step 4: On the next page, you can check some copy options, the layout of the target disk, change the size of the selected partition. Then, click Next to continue.

Step 5: You will receive a warning message – To boot your computer from the destination drive, change the boot order in the BIOS settings. To only copy the hard drive, ignore this warning.

Step 6: Preview and ensure all partitions are being copied to your new SSD. If everything is OK, click Apply. It requires you to reboot the computer and you need to wait for the process to be finished.

Related articles:

• Clone OS from HDD to SSD with 2 Powerful SSD Cloning Software
• How to Clone a Hard Drive to SSD in Windows 10/8/7?

Bottom Line

This post has introduced information about NVMe vs NAND. Besides, we also have introduced 2 clone tools for you to migrate OS from traditional hard drive to SSD without data loss.

If you have any different opinions of NVMe vs NAND and MiniTool software, you can leave a message in the comment zone or contact us via [email protected] and we will reply to you as soon as possible.